ramble on...

a brand new year

Happy New Year! Does anyone even follow this blog anymore?

Sorry...it's been a rough few months around here and haven't really had the urge to blog much.

For my WW friends, I did start another blog specifically about my weight loss journey. If you want to read it send me an email or leave a comment and I'll send over the link.

I also decided to give the photo a day project everyone is doing a try. So far they've all been iPhone photos, and they may stay that way. I added a little link on the right to the gallery if you want to take a peek. Just a little disclaimer...these are average, everyday photos of things going on in my life - so nothing fancy and not photoshopped.

Here's my image from today...

Reward

Earlier I posted on Twitter & Facebook, "The only thing I'm looking forward to about today's boot camp class is the protein shake I'm rewarding myself with afterward. Is that bad?"

Then I hemmed and hawed and thought about not going to class, mostly because I felt lazy...and my to-do list is growing by the minute. But the shake...it's so good. And filling. And makes me feel like I'm getting a little dessert for lunch.

Then I started thinking about how far I've come. How I'm aiming to lose another 20 before the end of summer. I've been at a plateau for a while and I'm trying to be patient and hang in there and be good to myself despite the frustration of it all. I have to remind myself daily that this is a lifelong thing - not a quick fix anymore. Life long. Like, for the rest of my life. And it's up to me to make good choices (or bad ones...) regardless of the reason.

So I went. And we ran stairs. There was lots of stairs and sit-ups. And sweat. It was good.

And the protein shake? Yep, it was pretty dang good, too.

weather - under it and about it

this has been the week for crazy weather. it's been raining (flooding) most of the week - which is a wonderful change for us. we've been spending a lot of time on the bleachers at the high school watching iain's soccer games lately. unfortunately, all iain's games got canceled this week because we (as a state) can't really function unless the sun is shining around here. 

and because i jinxed myself by telling john i'm staying out of the rain and not going to the game wearing a garbage bag to stay dry, i'm the one who came down with a cold. nice. and then two days later tatum caught it. and now john is catching it. 

good times in the heffy house.

okay, enough about the weather. just to update the weight loss effort. i'm loving this new program at the gym. did you hear that? i said LOVING this new program at the GYM.

oh yes, i did.

i've been to the gym a total of 13 days this month so far, which is a pretty darn good average for me. i'm now working out 5 days a week. i use my elliptical on saturday and then sunday is my down day. i missed one day this week because of my cold, but i picked myself off the couch this morning and forced myself to get to the gym anyway. and i'm really glad i did. and proud of myself. that's a big deal for me. big deal.

and the bonus is that i've lost 5 lbs in the last two weeks. yes!

[a new] game on

So I'm sitting here on the couch trying to use as little energy as I can. My body is sore from the hydro training class I took this morning. I was on such a high after class that I ran upstairs and committed myself to a 12 week weight loss/excercise program.

What?

Oh yes I did!

I'll keep updating the blog with my progress/pain reports as the class starts. I'm 2 classes behind the group so I have to play catch up this coming week. I'm hoping the nutrition counselor can incorporate the ww points into my food plan.

Thanks for the words of encouragement, too. I prepaidS for my blog through July so I'm not going anywhere just yet. I also figured out how to update with my itouch so I will try to keep up with regular updates. If only the itouch had a camera...

So thanks for hanging in there with me.

food find friday

Kashi Heart to Heart

These are basically just like triscuits, but the fiber content makes them a little more point friendly. 

For 7 crackers you get:

120 calories

3.5 grams of fat

4 grams of fiber

That's 2 points. I add in a stick of string cheese for a 4 point snack. Very filling, especially between lunch and dinner. In fact, I usually grab this on my way out the door to pick Tatum up from school - so it's like an after school snack all for me.

food find friday

activia yogurt. It's not a very exciting food this week, but let me tell you...your digestive system will thank you for this little cup of love. i got the strawberry flavor and it's only 1 point for the cup. you could even add some grape-nuts or fruit or almonds to fancy it up a little - but it's good all by itself, too. 

and they have a money back guarantee on it - so you really can't go wrong. move those bowels, girls...move those bowels.

speaking of a load of crap...

 

i can't tell you how annoying it is when the scale says POINT TWO. seriously. even when it's a loss you just kind of shake your head and go "what the heck?" so i'm moving on and getting over it and stepping up my game a little. i already added another day of water aerobics, so that puts me at five days a week. and my goal for this week is to not be so sloppy with my eating on the weekends. i tend to look at thursday, friday and saturday as freebies and just try to maintain portion control. clearly that's not going to work for me so i'm putting a new plan in place.

make it a great weekend!

food website find

i came across this website while looking for some fiber one points (too lazy to go look in the pantry...now that's kinda sad). anyway...it's sponsored by general mills, but not too advertisey. all of the recipes have pictures (which is a big deal for me) and they look to be fairly easy to make. they have a section for 30 minutes or less, which is another big deal.

also, they have nutritional info at the bottom of each recipe, so you can convert to points, which is always a good thing, right girls?

and you can sign up for their newsletter, so the meal ideas & recipes show up right in your inbox.

go see!

biggest loser, blisters and bananas

hey! sorry about the short hiatus there. we were in vegas at a tradeshow for a week and then life kept me hopping. i'm looking forward to posting more often again. i picked up a sweet little point and shoot digital camera while in vegas - so be prepared for all kind of random pics, too.

okay, onto the b's...

biggest loser - the tv show. i'm thinking of trying out. seriously. no clue how i would even swing it if i even came close to being on the show. it's this saturday. i'll keep you posted on that one.

biggest loser - the diet program. i decided to look further into this and see if it's something i can even do. turns out it's a really good, calorie counting, simple program that follows the simplest formula - burn more calories then you consume. and make the ones you consume GOOD calories. easy enough. so...i'm gonna give this a shot and see how things go. in my entire life i've never been a calorie counter. i've always done the ww thing and counted points (or exchanges - remember the old days?). so this should be eventful.

blisters. so...in light of trying out for a tv show where they bust your butt and make you do a lot of physical stuff...stuff that i haven't been doing much of around here, i decided to get back into a workout program. i talked my wonderful neighbors into doing it with me. so this morning after dropping tatum off at school i dusted off my runners and met up with my (skinny, long-legged, fast walking) neighbor and we took off for our morning walk. if i had a pedometer i could confirm that it was at least a mile - maybe more. but it felt like 5 miles. and judging by the big ass blisters on the backs of my heels you'd think it was a 5k. i'm a hurtin' puppy. i've never had blisters like this before. my blisters have blisters - and it's not just one tiny area...it's like my entire heal is a huge giant blister. it's awesome. time to dust off the elliptical i guess.

bananas. okay...really it should be 1/2 bananas. what is up with that? my breakfast this morning was a bowl of special k, some lean sausage and a 1/2 banana. i don't do 1/2's. look at me. 1/2 is not in my vocabulary. i think it's just wrong. do i throw it away? put it in the fridge and then throw it away later when it turns brown? will eating the other half really push me over the edge?

seriously.

a brand new day

why is it that whenever i proclaim a new goal to the internet i crash and burn? like seriously. it's beyond frustrating that i once again am not going to hit a goal that was so reachable just a few weeks ago. somewhere between my last post and now i stumbled and fell, but not completely off. it's like someone grabbed hold of my ankle and is desperately trying to pull me back on.

so it's a new day. i'm going to accept the helping hand and get back at it. maybe i can hit the 40 pounds by the end of february. or march. i'm okay with slow and steady.

turkey d-light sausage sandwich - 5 pts
grapefruit cup - 1 pt

have we talked about hungry girl?

Do you guys know about Hungry Girl? It's a great resource if you don't know about her - go there now and sign up for her newsletter. Definitely worth the daily read in your inbox. She puts together a master grocery list every year and the 2009 version is out. Click here to see the list. You can also download it as a pdf file and keep it handy for your grocery trips. I love that she organizes it in sections like I make my own grocery list - makes it easy for me to make a quick list of what I need.

Also, I wanted to thank you guys for commenting on the last post and offering support. I will take all that I can get - so please visit often and feel free to share, too. I will be checking in on you guys, too. Game on!

p.s. today is weigh in day. i lost the 3 lbs i gained over the holidays so i'm back on track.