Shrink Yo Self - Final week

Starting Weight - 230 235
Current Weight - 226.3 221.3
Goal Weight - 220
Weight lost so far- 13.7 lbs

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I was successful and not successful in this challenge, but I am very happy with the results no matter what!

My original goal was to lose 10 pounds in 9 weeks, going from a weight of 230 to 220.  Then I discovered that the scale I had been using was 5 pounds off and I was really starting at 235.  I was successful in losing more then 10 pounds but I'm still 1.3 pounds shy of 220.

Having a clear goal and number of weeks to reach it was key for me.  This is the first time, ever, that I have been so focused on losing weight and getting in shape.  And the scale is reflecting that.  Not to make excuses, but I might have been successful in hitting 220 if we hadn't had our big Oscar part this past Sunday!  And I have been struggling with a sinus cold for the majority of the past 9 weeks.

All of that means that I can will be even MORE successful with the next challenge and goal!

Week 9 - Enjoy Time Alone (2/27/12)

To recap:
Week 1: Drink 14 cups of water a day - √
Week 2: Get 8 hours of sleep per night - √
Week 3: Keep off the couch - √
Week 4: Keep a food journal -√
Week 5: See the glass half full - Working on it
Week 6: Multi Vitamins -  I remember about 50% of the time... need to work harder on this one.
Week 7: Keep the outside out - 75% yes, 25% no
Week 8: Eat your Veggies-√

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Carve out a minimun of half an hour for yourself on a daily basis.

 Ahhh... alone time.  That coveted dream of many parents (and some non-parents too I'm sure!)

I do try to find time for myself:

• I purposely get up 30 minutes before Hilary and Liam so that I can be alone.  That is as much for their safety and well being as it is mine.  I am NOT a morning person and need that alone time with my coffee before I am ready to talk to others and start the day.
• When we aren't in the middle of a bus strike, I consider my hour long bus commute "me-time" because I can throw on my iPod, listen to music of my choice and read my book.
• I've been trying to exercise for 30 minutes after work each day, so that is some time by myself.
• I also head to bed before Hilary so I get some "me" TV time then too.

I'm hoping once the weather warms up to be able to get out for walks or bike rides. I would love more time to read or blog, or chat on the phone with friends, but alas, there are only so many hours in the day.

I'm sure I could do better and I will certainly start making the effort.

Shrink Yo Self - Week 8

Starting Weight - 230 235
Current Weight - 222.5 220.9
Goal Weight - 220
Weight lost so far- 14.1 lbs

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So. Very. Close.

Since I'm using the Wii for weighing myself I get my weight in kg and have to convert it to pounds to having any idea what it means.  But it does mean that I get a more precise measurement, so I am fully embracing the .9 because that means that the first three numbers are my goal numbers! 220.

I truly believe that a good percentage of weight loss strategy is playing mind games like this with yourself.

There is 1 week left to go on this challenge and I have 0.9 lbs to lose.  So far this week it's not looking good.  I am sitting here typing this while I'm full to the gills from a huge sushi feast we had at the office. I know that an occasional slip here and there isn't going to completely derail things.  However, we also have our big Oscar party this coming Sunday.  For us, the Oscars are as much about the food as they are about the show.  There will be 10 of this year and Hilary and I are putting together a Mexican feast.

So I have some extra work to do this week.  This is the first time that I have managed to lose weight every week for a sustained amount of time.  To make my goal by next week would be amazing!

Week 8 - Eat your Vegetables (2/20/12)

To recap:
Week 1: Drink 14 cups of water a day - √
Week 2: Get 8 hours of sleep per night - √ Yeah!  I'm finally sleeping well.
Week 3: Keep off the couch - √
Week 4: Keep a food journal -√
Week 5: See the glass half full - Working on it
Week 6: Multi Vitamins -  I remember about 50% of the time... need to work harder on this one.
Week 7: Keep the outside out - 75% yes, 25% no

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Consume at least four to six servings of fibrous vegetables per day. (One serving = 1/2 cup of non-leafy vegetables or 1 cup of leafy vegetables.)

This one is almost comedic given what I eat for breakfast every day.  I've never measured it out in cups, but I would guess that I average 6-8 cups of raw non-leafy vegetables every day just for breakfast.  Add in that I try to eat a salad every day (and usually a big salad, 4-5 cups of lettuce or spinach plus lots of other veggies) and that we have vegetables with dinner every night and I think I might actually be going overboard on my vegetable consumption!

I love raw vegetables, no dip required.  I snack on them like chips over the course of the morning and they fill me up.   My favorite is raw zucchini, but I really do enjoy them all.  Except raw broccoli, but that is more of a texture issue than taste.

I don't think I can add anything to make this week's challenge any better!

Shrink 'Yo Self - Week 7

Starting Weight - 230 235
Current Weight - 222.5 222
Goal Weight - 220
Weight lost so far- 13 lbs

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 This past week has been pretty awful!  I had a cold last week, but by Wednesday night it had gotten the better of me.  I called in sick on Thursday and crawled back into bed once Liam was out the door to school.  Since then I have gotten better.... but not completely well.  It is mostly in my sinuses, with a bit of a cough.  And I am JUST. SO. TIRED.

So the concept of exercise is pretty laughable right now.  I did get in 40 minutes of Wii step while I watched an episode of Lost (my new current addiction... re-watching from season 1) one day this week, but that is it.

And I have made some pretty lousy food choices this past week: chocolate bar, chips, wine, Ah Caramel.... and that was all in one night!   Then we had a Valentine's Day pot luck at work and I couldn't stop myself from grazing on these yummy cream cheese pinwheels.  And of course I HAD to treat myself to a Skor desert bar. And there seems to be little chocolates everywhere that are so easy to say, "Sure... just 1" eleventy-billion times a day.

While it does show that I lost a pound this week, my weigh-in day for myself is Sunday.  Now that it's 3 days later and I've eaten a tonne of crap, I'm pretty sure that pound is back on and it probably brought a friend or two with it.

I vowed to get back at it today.  I did great all day at work... till I started sampling Valentine's Day chocolates at 3:00....but I did limit myself to only 4 little ones.  For supper I made a great choice of a huge fresh salad.  And I drank all of my water!  And I walked 20 minutes to and from the mall.


and then I ate FIVE homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

I was so close............

Onward and upward..... I start again tomorrow.  There are 2 weeks left in this challenge to get myself to 220.

I WILL DO THIS.

Week 7 - Keep the Outside....Out (2-13-12)

To recap:
Week 1: Drink 14 cups of water a day - √
Week 2: Get 8 hours of sleep per night - Still struggling with waking up in the middle of the night.
Week 3: Keep off the couch - √
Week 4: Keep a food journal -√
Week 5: See the glass half full - Working on it
Week 6: Multi Vitamins -  I remember about 50% of the time... need to work harder on this one.

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Change:
Remove shoes at the door and create a transition space to minimize unwanted outdoor pollutants in your home.

Hmmm... this one might be tough at my house:

• I take my boots off  90% of the time as soon as I come in.  Carrying groceries is usually the only exception.

• Liam takes off his shoes/boots.  Heck, we have trouble convincing him to keep pants on at home, so footwear is a no-brainer.

• Hilary however wears her boots all day long, never taking them off.  This is mainly because they are hard boots to take on and off, and since she smokes outside, she is in and out more often.

The reasons for making this change are really good ones.  Keeps your house cleaner and easier to maintain; keeps allergens out of the house; cuts down on dust. And really, it's not that hard to do.  My plan of attack is to super clean the house on Saturday, get the floors all scrubbed up and then I will start the no shoes rule.

Maybe I will have to buy Hilary some slip on smoking shoes!

Shrink 'Yo Self - Week 6

Starting Weight - 230 235
Current Weight - 222.5 223
Goal Weight - 220
Weight lost so far- 12 lbs

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Only 3 pounds to go!  With only 2 weeks (maybe 3) left in this challenge, I think I might actually make it!  It's such a great feeling to see the scale going down, bit by bit, every day.

This week has not been the best for exercising.  I have a sinus infection and just don't have the energy or the ability to breath well enough to do any serious exercise.  I've still tried to a bit and I've really been watching what I eat because of it.  Obviously it's working!.

Week 6 - Take a Multivitamin every day (2-6-12)

To recap:
Week 1: Drink 14 cups of water a day - Doing well.
Week 2: Get 8 hours of sleep per night - Still struggling with waking up in the middle of the night.
Week 3: Keep off the couch - Doing well.
Week 4: Keep a food journal -Doing well.
Week 5: See the glass half full - I took care of myself by getting a hair cut!  the rest... not so much.  I'm sick, I'm tired, I'm grumpy... 'nough said

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This week our small change is to take a multivitamin. Every day. Not just for a couple of days and then the bottle gets shoved to the back of the cabinet and forgotten until you purge expired stuff in 2015. You know what I'm talking about!

Too funny. How do they know that I have bottles at the back of my cabinet? Forgotten? From 2002?

Other then the Flinstones I took as a kid, I've never been a multi-vitamin taker.  I figure I eat a very well balanced diet.  However... the last time few times I've had blood work done my B12 has been low....so low that for a while I had to go into the office every week for a shot.  I'm supposed to take B12 and Calcium every day.  Do I?  No... they are shoved in the back of the cabinet and forgotten.  Till now!

So thanks to the Sisterhood and our 52 weeks of challenges, I'm going to dust off the bottles, check the expiry dates and start taking my vitamins!

Breakfast!

I attribute some of my recent successful weight loss to my love of raw vegetables.  I chopped up this huge bowl of celery, carrots, radishes and cauliflower today to take in my lunch all week.  I eat a huge bag of these, augmented with cherry tomatoes, cucumber and zucchini that I add in each morning, every day for breakfast.  

The folks who sit around me at work think I'm crazy.  It doesn't help that eating crunchy raw vegetables give me the hiccups.  And I am NOT a delicate, lady-like hiccuper. It's quite embarrassing when someone 2 rows of cubicles over can be overheard saying "oh don't worry about that noise, Andy must be eating her carrots."

New me.

Now that I've lost 10 pounds (WOOT WOOT!) I decided it was time to do something about another part of me....my hair! I've had the same nondescript hair cut for the last 4 years.  I decided to change it up a bit this time.

So I went from this:

It was definitely time for a cut... it was wingy!

To this:

Now I need product and stuff, but I'm happy with my new look.

Shrink 'Yo Self - Week 5

Starting Weight - 230 235
Current Weight - 222.5 227.5
Goal Weight - 220
Weight lost so far- 7.5 lbs

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7.5 pounds in 5 weeks... this is the longest that I have been able to stick to a plan and actually see significant weight lose!  Now I just need to keep it going.  I'm coming down with a cold and I'm worried that this will interfere/be my excuse to not exercise.  And we've rented a car for the weekend which means a lot of running around - without actually running.

Overall though I've done well this past week, sticking to my calories and exercising 6 out of 7 days.  I'm still enjoying the Wii Fit and am finding my stamina improving.  I was also at the doctor this week so I weighed myself on her scale and the Wii is pretty bang on to the weight, so I'm glad I made the choice to add in the extra 5 pounds and use a more accurate scale.

I'm really enjoying the comraderie at The 'Hood and having a place to turn to for support.  It makes a huge difference to know that I'm not alone in my journey.