Update on ActiveLink

I am loving this ActiveLink! It monitors all my movement. You can choose where you want it placed. This is what the daily view looks like:

Made my 100% by my lunch break at work! Which is the 10 o'clock hour. I got off at 1 and sat and did some paperwork and then went to the mall so it shot up some more. That's all the activity I did yesterday but just moving more really adds up!

This is what the weekly view looks like:

Thursday & Sunday were my days off this week. Clearly I need to get my ass up and move on those days. On Easter Sunday. O-M-Gawd. I went ape shit on some garlic & artichoke dip and some M&M's....not together of course. I went over to Nicolas's house with good intentions, I ate a little before I got there so that I wasn't super hungry and arrived at noon and chewed a lot of gum. I stayed clear of the chips & dip for as long as possible. I brought my water cup with me and had 4 things of water before lunch was served, around 3:30. I wasn't expecting to eat that late so I nibbled on some chips and that delicious dip and by nibbled...I mean devoured! 

I feel like I did pretty good with lunch because I filled half my plate with salad and carrots and only had 1 roll...which for me is a BIG deal because I love me some bread. & then came dessert O.O. So Easter wasn't great for me. I'm certain I gained back the 3 lbs I lost last week. Lesson learned! Just got to get back on the horse and keep going! 

How was your Easter? Did you rock it or did you fall off your horse too? Let me know in the comments :)

Activity

Today's Weight: 191.0, -3.6 lbs from last week
Total loss: -93.6

WOW! A nice drop from last week. What did I do differently than the week before? I made smarter choices. Nick & I have decided to only eat out once a week, with a few exceptions, like special occasions. Since Thursdays are my weigh-in day, I usually choose that day to eat out after I weigh in. It's my "cheat" day. & by cheat day, I don't mean I eat everything in site and whatever I want, etc. I still track all the junk I'm eating and let me tell you. It's better that you do because you'll see you probably wouldn't want to eat like this every day. WW gives you a daily Points Plus target, then on top of that you get an additional 49 weekly points, that you can use all in one day or use it all week, but they're use or lose it. I can also earn activity points, which for the 5 years I've been on WW, I have never ever done...until now! I got WW new ActiveLink & I'm really excited about it!

I didn't post yesterday because I wanted to finish my assessment for the ActiveLink, it takes 8 days and it monitors you and your movement. After the 8 days, it gives you challenges so that it helps you increase your activity and it tracks your activity points for you! At the start of the assessment, it tells you NOT to increase your activity during the assessment, it wants to monitor your current routine so that it can see what you're currently doing and challenge you to do more than that. I was going to steal images from google and post them here so that you can see but I thought maybe that's not a good idea. I'll post pictures in a few days or you can google search ActiveLink if you're interested.

If you're anything like me, activity is hard. I have to really want to do it and most times I don't. First of all guys. Don't EVER get a personal trainer. Waste of freaking money. I've been going for almost a year and I have very little results, except for I'm a little bit stronger but let's face it, for $50 a month, I wanna look like I'm going to F you up. JK, I don't want to be buff, I just want to tone my body. I like being at the gym, I would say going but going to the gym is the problem I have most times. Once I get there, I'm good and I feel great afterwards. I want to increase my activity, not just my gym time. I am looking to go at least 3 times a week. It's warming up so I also want to start riding my bike and going on walks. This is an open invitation for anyone who has similar interests, to join me! Buddies are great!

How are you going to be more active?

Stressed spells desserts backwards.

Today's Weight: 194.6. Maintained from last.
Total loss: -90lbs.

WHOO! This week has definitely been super stressful! I've been running around like crazy, very little sleep & just too much stuff to do in very little time!

I'm very happy with myself that I maintained this week! As much as I wanted to grab junk food and eat in the car on the way home, I didn't. I knew I was going to be running around so I packed snacks, like a bag of carrots or an apple and threw them in my bag. Usually when I am tired, I make poor decisons. Like not packing a lunch so I can sleep in for 15 more mins then either go hungry (never a good option) cuz I'm broke or go get something cheap and delicious or worse, just buy a candy bar at work and eventually pig out later because I'm so hungry. All bad.

What I took away from this, something that I already knew but had forgotten: I won't always have a fantastic week, I won't always lose, but maintaining is a success too! I may not have been successful at the scale but I was aware of what I did and tried to correct it.

What I will try in the future: If I know that I am going to be swamped like I was this week, maybe try packing lunches the night before.

My goal this week: track one more day than the week before until I can do the whole week, consistently.

Pizza Salad

This salad is HUGE & delicious :) I measure out the cheeses and pepperonis. The rest is as much as I want. I got the idea from Hungry Girl a long time ago, I kind of add ingredients that I like on my pizza.  Here is mine:

Handful of spinach
Handful of butter lettuce
1 oz. Of mini turkey pepperoni
1/3 cup of mozzarella
1/4 cup of reduced fat bleu cheese
I sprinkled in some tomatoes, red onions, fresh jalapenos and crushed red pepper.
And I have 2 tbsp of light house Italian on the side.

7 points plus for this whole thing! #NOM. Pizza is my favorite food and typically the kind I get is 7 Points Plus per slice! 1 slice doesn't fill me up either so this is a great alternative. What's your favorite kind of pizza?

Troubles with Tracking

Today's Weight: 194.6, +1.6 from last week
Total weight lost: -90.0 lbs

Took a gain this week. Was I surprised? Nope. I did not exercise & I did not track. A deadly combo. Now, I can make every excuse in the book but I won't. I am just going to get over it & just do it. If you're a WW member or you've been a WW you know all about tracking. If you have no idea what I am talking about, with Weight Watcher's you get so many points plus values (PPV), given to you based on science, this daily target is to help you lose weight at a steady pace. To stay within those PPV it is best to write down what you're eating & how many PPV's you're eating=tracking. 

There are different ways to track. You can use an app or a journal or the least successful, in your head. I recommend one of the first two. I like using a journal, it's just easier to go back and look at weeks that I was more successful. My biggest problem area is the weekend. If I don't track before I eat, then I forget & if I forget one day to track, I don't do it for the rest of the week. I don't recommend doing that. You're never going to get anywhere doing that. If you have an issue with tracking, stop and think about why you have that issue. Be honest with yourself. No one is going to see your tracker but you. Write down what you really ate. If you went over your PPV, then as my leader says, start over with the next meal! That has been the biggest lesson for me. If I mess up, just start over, try again. I have to say, that this journey, will be never ending, and I don't say that in a bad way. Once you reach goal, it's not over, that's why it is so important to think of this as a lifestyle instead of a diet. 

What are some of your habits? Do you recognize what they are? Some of mine are going for long periods of time without eating because I don't feel hungry and then I'm starving by the time I get the chance to eat and usually end up over eating or instead of sitting down and eating, I'll just snack a lot. I eat out of boredom. I help my self to seconds, even if I'm not hungry just because it tastes good. I have BLT's (Bites, Licks & Tastes) and I don't track those because it was just a little bit...they add up. 

Today starts a new week for me. It's my Monday. My goal is to track every day. I'll let you know how it goes! What is your goal?

Grocery Shopping

Your kitchen plays an important role in your weight loss effort. So does planning. I use this menu planner to help build my shopping list and plan out my meals. Planning meals ahead of time just makes life so much easier & helps me stay on track. I get asked a lot about what I eat & with Weight Watchers, I can eat normal food, I just try to make smarter choices. These are some of my favorites that I usually have on hand all the time. This picture may look like ingredients for a very weird recipe but it's just some of my favorite foods!
1.Sara Lee 45 & Delightful. 2 slices are 2 Points Plus Value (PPV). More pricey but worth it.
2. Hillshire Farms Pastrami lunch meat. Hands down my favorite lunch meat.
3.A little hidden but under the Pastrami is salsa. I LOVE salsa!! This kind is Mrs. Renfro's Ghostpepper salsa, it's super hot, just the way I like it!
4. Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits. 1 tablespoon is 1 PPV. I love putting this on my eggs or in salads, I even cook up fresh green beans with onions and sprinkle this in. Super good!
5. Diet Gingerale is my all time favorite drink right now, then Coke Zero.
6.Tyson Grilled Chicken Strips. These are amazing. I heat them up & put Frank's Red Hot sauce and put it over rice, or BBQ sauce and baked potato. Teriyaki and pineapple chunks & stirfry. I just like these because I can take what I need & keep the rest in the freezer.
7. Trader Joes Plain Non-fat Greek Yogurt is my favorite plain greek yogurt that I've found. I use it in place of sour cream. I put it on everything.
8. String Cheese, my go-to snack when I'm in a jam. My favorite is the black pepper <3
9. Land O Lakes Light Butter....This stuff is soooo good! 1 tbsp is 1 PPV & it's spreads super easy.
10.. Morning Star Soy Crumbles. SO GOOD!! I use it in place of ground beef.
11. Laughing Cow Light cheese, my favorite flavor is the queso, these are good in place of mayo, good with hamburgers or I use it to dip carrots or celery in it.
12. Silk Light Chocolate Soymilk. This stuff tastes so good and is 2 PPV per serving.

Besides fruits & veggies for snacks, which I have on a nice fruit stand on my counter ready to go.

I usually have these on hand:

1. Quaker Popped chips, these are yummy & I like to throw them into my lunch bag.

2.Special K Multi Grain crackers, for only 3 PPV you get a nice serving size of 24, as opposed to Ritz where you get only 15 crackers for 6 PPV.

3. Jolly Time Healthy Pop. Believe it or not, I do not buy this because it is WW endorsed, I buy it because it's less expensive & I usually have a coupon, besides that it's yummy! Popcorn is a great snack, I add different seasonings to spruce it up in awhile. I also love to eat mine with jalapenos. Bit of advice, don't eat it the day before a weigh in or you'll likely be up on the scale. 

4.Fiber One Brownie bars. The Peanut Butter ones are nasty, the cookie ones are okay but the original brownie. Bomb.com. I am addicted to these.

5. Trader Joes Cinnamon Apple straws, there is another brand that makes these, I believe their brand is called "Simple Servings", they're in the chip aisle, that you can get at Wal-mart, they were sold out so I picked these up instead. If I'm craving something sweet, these are my go-to.

My tools! Measuring is super important when you first start out because then you realize what a real serving should be, yes, you might be surprised what you think a serving was. I use mine all the time! When you measure, make sure you skim off the top and make it a true measurement! Underneath the measuring cups is my digital scale. This particular one is WW's and it tells me the PPV of items & I can store items in there too, which is great if you're a WW member but if you're not, any food scale works. I really like the digital ones though, this is a life saver when it comes to measuring things out like chips, pasta, meats, etc. I also pictured my WW calculator, which if you're not a member, then you don't need this tool. Baggies! When I am done grocery shopping I chop up my celery, cucumbers & divide up my baby carrots into snack baggies so they're ready & on hand to go in my crisper drawer.

Here is what my grocery list and menu plan looks likes, my snacks are not planned out, which is also nice to do sometimes but I don't always have time to think about that so I try to make my snacks as easy & grab & go as possible.I go grocery shopping once per pay period. Produce is where the bulk of my food budget goes. This list is particularly light because I got my tax return last pay period and was able to stock up on a lot of stuff so I did not need a lot. 

Some other tips for grocery shopping:

Stick to your list, don't shop hungry & chew gum! That way you're not tempted to try samples or break into a box early & snack. I'll be posting tomorrow after I weigh in! Adios :)

Or Maybe I'll start on Thursday.

Today's Weight: 193 lbs, down 1.2 from last week.
Total weight lost: -91.6

Good hello to whoever is reading this. I am horrible at introductions & new to bloggin, I don't know how this thing works so I'm just gonna do my own thing & here it goes: My  name is Christina & I am 25 yrs. old, I will be turning 26 next month on April 6th. I am a previous "big loser", having lost 145 lbs. I started Weight Watchers (WW) on February 1st 2008 & made goal sometime close to that same date in 2010. I maintained my weight for about a year & slowly over the last 2 years I have been gaining my weight back. I never stopped attending WW meetings but I stopped making it a routine & old habits die hard. I stopped tracking, I stopped planning, I was emotional eating, yadda yadda. I am quickly approaching the 200lb mark and I just cannot do that to myself again. So, here I am. Putting all my shit on blast for the entire internet to read. I get asked a LOT about my weight loss and I have been feeling like the hugest hypocrite because I was not taking my own advice. It makes me feel so good knowing that I have inspired a lot of people but at the same time, it makes me cringe with guilt because of how I have been living the last 2 years. My biggest advice to people who want to lose weight is that you have to wait for your AHA moment. When you've had enough and you really want to change yourself. I had my 2nd AHA moment, seeing me creep back up close to 200. That's why I am starting this blog. To hold myself accountable, to track my weight loss & progress, to give me something to do & hopefully, help others along the way.

I find the title of my blog to be appropriate for me because I found myself telling that lie again. I'm sure you've told it to yourself too. Mondays are a crappy day to start anything. That's why I like Thursdays. Thursdays are my weigh in day so I will post my progress once a week. Some other things I plan to post: routines I have, food favorites (with pictures), & recipes. You can leave comments with questions or other ideas you'd like to know about down below, you can even do so anonymously if you wish. Once I get the hang of this thing, I will try to make this a daily blog. kthxbai.