Weigh-in Week 108: The Cheese & Crackers Did Me In!

Well folks, I was up 1.1lbs at weigh-in for a new total of 161.3lbs and a total loss of 90.3lbs.  So this up and down is getting really old, really fast for me. But hey, at least it wasn’t a 3lb gain again. Sigh.

But I’m actually serious about the cheese and crackers – I had a lot of both, and quite a bit that never made it to my tracker. Clearly I can’t do this. I can’t assume I am eating within my points.

The worst part is actually my reaction yesterday. I came to work after weigh-in and proceeded to eat a bunch of cookies around the office. Blah! And then while baking cookies last night for a function I munched on some of the dough. Blah again! Oh sugar…you are so addictive. I do so well without and then once I start, it’s so hard to stop. But let’s be honest here – I wasn’t exactly trying to stop myself either. Well no more cookies at work (we have about 4 boxes currently open left over from events and cookies my co-workers eat).

But let’s also be honest…I didn’t track them until today afternoon. I REALLY didn’t want to track them. It was so frustrating. I was deeply unhappy with myself for having let myself lose control. But let’s be honest for a third time here – it could have, and has been, much worse. I went over my daily points by 5. So not that much in the greater scheme of things, and not that much that I can’t get my week back. I do have an event on Saturday I have to be ready for. I won’t be able to track as I go, well maybe I’ll take photos with my phone so I can track afterwards.

This gain definitely hit me where it hurts, the ego. I was actually hoping for a small loss. Wasn’t expecting a big one, but the gain through me for a loop. I had run 4 times this week and thought that would help. But alas.

This was also a long weekend in Canada, Victoria Day, which tends to mark the unofficial start of summer. It’s usually the weekend the BBQs get dusted off, and a friend and I did just that! Here is the BBQ getting fired up:

My strategy for eating with the BBQ was to only cook as much as we could eat. We grilled three tandoori chicken breasts – 2 for him and 1 for me, some red and green peppers, and asparagus. (And a couple papadums we made on the stove!) Along with a couple (fine, exactly 2) gin & tonics it worked out very well (and was not responsible for my gain this week). Delicious food:

I plan to be more on track this week and write down EVERY SINGLE bite.  Weight loss is mostly about what you eat, so I can’t let that fall off by the wayside. Nope. Not an option.

Hope everyone is having a good week. And tell me, have you broken out the BBQ yet? What are your BBQ strategies for not overeating?

 

Summer! and a New Blog Design

Yup! That’s right – I’ve changed the theme of my blog. A fresh new design for the summer. The old one was feeling a bit heavy and dated. This one is lighter, and I think a more contemporary design. I’ve been looking for a new theme for some time now and I finally found one that let me keep the same widgets I wanted and allowed for a certain amount of customization. Yay! I’ve thrilled with it . Please do come by and check it out! Most things are where they were before, but a couple small changes and updates so feel free to take a spin around the block. I’m planning some more small changes in the near future – please do stick around!

But the most important thing of all! Summer has officially come to Montreal! It has been GORGEOUS the last few days. I have trouble not taking advantage of the weather and I have been out running. On Friday I ran my longest run since January – 7K! It took me 47 minutes, so a nice comfortable slow run. It was surprisingly easy. By that I mean I didn’t have to talk myself out of wanting to walk or push my legs forward nor was I huffing and puffing. I ended feeling great! And yesterday I did a nice 5K. I’m running slower than my race, but boy am I enjoying my runs more. I push myself when I want to and slow down when I need to.  So much fun!

Well this early afternoon I was headed home from a recording session – I’d intended a nice leisurely 30-40 minute walk home with a swing by the grocery store. Well, last minute I made a change and decided I would walk to the market. In Montreal we have four major public markets that are glorious! Okay, well 2 of them are, I haven’t been to the other 2. I changed course and made my way for Jean-Talon Market. It was a 40 minute walk to the market and then an hour long walk home. A wonderful way to spend the early afternoon. I bought some flowers for a pot on my balcony, some red lettuce, green onions, and locally grown gala apples. I also had some mango sorbet…delicious! To bring in the summer, enjoy the photos of my day:

Flowers at the market

Gorgeous!

Fresh vegetables

Mango & Passion Fruit Sorbet. It was amazing.

Tulips on the walk home

Flowers on my balcony planted. This year’s colours are purple and white!

Weigh-in Week 55: Hello 170s again!

My plan worked! I am down 2.8lbs this week for a new weight of 177.2lbs and a total of 74.4lbs lost so far 🙂

So what was my plan? Cutting down the nibbling and eating proper meals with healthy snacks in between. Wow, I forgot how much I enjoy proper meals! How much more filling they are.  I did get to the gym on Sunday night as well and had a good long run on the treadmill as well as getting back to my weight-training schedule. I have 2 weeks before I have to go out of town for work so I plan to keep this up until the end of May to help me get back on track.

Update on the race – I haven’t signed up yet. Mostly because I got it in my head to sign up for the 10K instead. But I’m not sure. I really like the idea of pushing myself, but I also get pretty bored with running after about 40 minutes so I’m not sure how that’s going to go. I’m going to mull it over a bit more, but either way I’m either doing the 5K or the 10K!

At today’s meeting we talked about summer. My leader was saying that one could easily gain upwards of 30lbs over the summer if one wasn’t careful. I totally see how this could happen. The summer means BBQs, summer drinks like margaritas and daiquiries, more socializing, iced coffee and ice cream…and humidity (depending where you live!) which makes Montreal unbearable at times and the only thing you can do is sit still in front of fan sipping ice water. It really is the city of extremes. None of that is conducive to working out. Oh and sunburns! Who wants to work out when they have a sunburn?!

I realized that the last time I lost my way with my weight loss was around summer time. I didn’t gain 30lbs, but I can definitely say that I wasn’t as committed because of all those things I’ve listed. This year will be different – I can all ready tell. I will keep at it.

Do you have a plan for dealing with the upcoming summer socializing?