Sanity Restored! Weigh-in Week 27

I’m back from the road trip to Washington DC! What an amazing weekend. It was my first rally and completely worth the 24 hours of driving over the weekend. Here’s a pic of the crowd – over 250,000 people!

And happy day, I weighed-in today and was down 2.0lbs! That puts me at a total loss of 31.8lbs.  Not only did I pass the 30lb loss mark, but I’ve also broken out of the 220s and offically in the teens! I am thrilled with my results this week.  That’s 3 bags of potatoes worth! I can’t even imagine now walking around carting that extra weight.

During my weekend away I’m happy to report that I made smart food choices. Usually a long drive would mean chips, pop, and other unhealthy snacks. Instead I brought along grapes, strawberries, water, and some dark chocolate to share with everyone.  Even while in DC I chose healthy options at the restaurants  – such as salmon and rice instead of a burger and fries, or a bowl of cereal with skim milk for breakfast instead of a muffin. I even left half the rice on my plate – I forgot how big restaurant portions are in the States!  I am very happy I was able to make healthier choices and still enjoy myself and not feel deprived.

I’ve also started a new challenge for the month of November on the WW forums. This one’s called Nifty in November and my goals are to lose 8lbs and do 1200 minutes of activity.  You can follow my progress on the page marked Challenges in upper right-hand corner.

My final stats for Outstanding in October were -4.6/8 lbs and 1185/1000 minutes. I had a slow month for weight loss, but I’m hoping I can reach my goal of 8lbs this month since I have 5 weigh-ins (hehe!), however I’m thrilled I surpassed my activity goal and hope to get even more in this time.

Weigh-in: Week 26 – So close, yet so far

Ahhh! So I weighed in today and was down another 1.4lbs. Woohoo! HOWEVER that made me 0.2lbs shy of having lost 30lbs. That’s right, I’m at 29.8lbs lost. I’m thrilled yet slightly frustrated – I kept thinking today, maybe I should have worn a lighter top, maybe I shouldn’t have had that coffee this morning, or the banana. But that’s silly really. I have confidence in myself that I’ll be down 30lbs next week.

I just wish this month had gone better. I was down a total of 4.6lbs which is only a little more than half of my goal of 8lbs. My body seems to have settled on losing weight at a rate of about 1.4lbs a week. I shouldn’t be complaining considering as I am well acquainted with the other option, but a part of me wishes I was losing more – like 2lbs a week.

I know, I know… this is the way to success and my activity WAS higher this month than any other. I’m already up to 1020 activity/exercise minutes and there’s still almost a week to go! I will not stop just because I’ve surpassed my goal, but rather I’d like to see how much I can do so I can set an even higher goal next month.

Here is my photo of the weight I have lost:

I just have to not give in to my impatience. Losing weight too quickly is not good for me. I need time to adjust to my body as it changes – both physically and psychologically.

Friday Nights at the Gym

I enjoy spending my Friday nights at the gym. In fact, I’ve started purposefully not planning events  – like nights out or dinners with friends on Friday nights. Instead, I go to the gym.

Firstly, I find the gym to be less full on Friday nights – not empty – just not packed to the brim. And secondly, I like to spend a couple hours at the gym and then come home to a nice relaxing bath with a good book and knowing that I can sleep in the next day.

Some of you may remember that back at the beginning of September I made a pledge to go to the gym at least once a week (here!), well I’m happy to report that except for one week, I’ve made it happen.  I keep track of my workouts in a log (an excel sheet I made up) so I can see how I’m doing and also to push myself each time to do just a little bit better.

Here are my stats from last night’s workout:

Elliptical: 60 minutes (same as last week)

Distance: 8420 strides (up 6 strides from last week’s total fo 8414)

Distance: 4.65 (down .36 from last week’s total of 5.01 – miles or km…I’m still not sure) I’m not sure how I got in more strides, but less distance. Maybe my strides were shorter? Or because I used a different machine?

I did however increase my resistance and the incline this week so I’m proud of that!

I also spent 45 minutes weight training:

Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 12 reps at 30lbs

Chest Press: 2 sets of 12 reps at 30lbs & 2 sets of 12 reps at 40lbs

Seated Row Machine: 3 sets of 12 reps at 30lbs

Leg Curls: 3 sets of 12 reps at 50lbs

Leg Extensions: 3 sets of 12 reps at 50lbs

All in all it was a really good workout. The plan for this weekend is an hour long walk tonight to get to a show (instead of taking the metro or bus) and tomorrow I’ll be doing my WW video for 30 mins and also trying out a new video. I bought a Gaiam Resistance Cord (light/medium resistance) and it comes with a 30 minute workout. I’m looking forward to trying it out tomorrow morning; I’ll report on how it goes.

My Outstanding in October challenge is going pretty well to, at least from an activity point of view. I’m up to 505 minutes of activity this month (out of my goal of 1000), but have only lost 1.8lbs so far (my goal was 8lbs). I don’t think I’ll make my weight loss goal, but as long as I’m losing and not gaining I’ll be happy.

Have a great weekend!

Outstanding in October

I think an update on the September challenge I took part in on the Weight Watchers message boards is in order! For the September challenge my goal was to lose 8 pounds over the month and do 800 minutes of activity.

Well I didn’t quite make my weight loss goal. I ended up only losing 7.4 lbs over the month, but I’m still very happy with it and I wasn’t too far off.

But…I blew my activity goal out of the water for a final total of 905 minutes! Woohoo! That is over 15 hours of activity for me! I’m very excited by this. I don’t count daily walking or anything like that in my activity (even if I’ve walked more than usual) – it’s really working out at home to a video, the gym, or my walks up and over the mountain that I include so I am really stoked.

With the new month comes a new challenge. This one is called Outstanding in October. I’ve kept my weight loss goal the same: 8 pounds over the month, but I’ve upped my activity. I’m going to try to get in 1000 minutes! 

These challenges really motivate me, the competitive spirit that I am, however I’m a bit worried for this one already. The month is not off to a great start. I’ve made some poor food choices this weekend (a big pizza night with a friend & a whole bag of pretzels!) and I haven’t been able to get to gym because of a project I’m working on. I have been walking a lot and did get in an exercise video at home both yesterday and today, but I’m worried. I have a feeling I’ve gained this week. Oh dear – well Tuesday isn’t far off. I’ll let you know how it goes…