Weekend Woes

Well it seems that “getting back on the horse” is not as easy as I’d hoped it would be. I woke up early on Saturday morning for weigh-in and had a slight head-ache. Instead of shaking it off and getting dressed for my meeting, I chose to go back to bed and skip it. I knew I had gained weight on vacation and that I was not back to where I was before it. I allowed this reality to weigh me down (no pun intended) and it set my weekend off on the wrong foot. I completely disregarded tracking my food for the weekend and found myself eating way more than I should have. I went out to eat and even to Cold Stone afterward. It was as if the old me was creeping back in. I even said (out loud), “if I’m going to blow it – I might as well blow it big!” So that is what I did. I of course felt like crap about it later but I chose to let go of the weekend and start fresh this morning. I am well within my points and my body seems to be thanking me for reverting back to healthier choices. The weight on my shoulders seems a little lighter and I feel like I have more energy.

As of yesterday, I decided to start and end my day with devotion. I have a book that is based on the Left Behind series. A series of books that I read a few years ago and that really changed my life. It has been very good for my soul and has reminded me that my faith will never fail me – as long as I don’t fail it. There is a song on KTIS and the first verse is:

Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you're stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

This song seems to come on my radio every time I need to hear it, including this weekend. It was the song that I “adopted” as my anthem after being laid off from my job over a year ago. Every time I listen to it, I realize that it really applies to my life in general. And it is the inspiration that has allowed me to let go of my past hurts and failures and move on. Today I forgive myself for losing my way this past weekend and I accept my mistake and will move forward and strive to do better. It is all I can do because dwelling on my mistakes will only drag me down and enable me to give up.

So onward and upward I go. I will attend my meeting on Saturday come hell or high water. I will weigh in whether the scale shows a loss or a gain. I will accept accountability for every part of my journey and I will use my failures and mistakes to rise from the ashes and become stronger than I knew.

My mom’s 70^th birthday party is on Saturday which will prove to be a challenge with all of the good food I know will be there. I will allow myself to eat some of it but I will carefully track every morsel that goes into my mouth so I know exactly where I stand at the end of the day. I am excited to celebrate my mom and have family and friends together in her honor.

As far as school, I was surprised to realize I will be graduating with my bachelor’s degree in 3 ½ weeks!! I cannot believe everything happened so quickly. I am excited and scared all at the same time. I am ready to be done with school but it also means that I will need to work harder than ever to find a job and re-enter the “working world”! I have had a hard time finding any HR jobs in my area but of course there seems to be an over abundance of accounting jobs. So I may find myself back in accounting depending how the job market goes. I like accounting and I am good at it, I just hoped to find a position that allowed me to interact more with people (which is why my degree emphasizes human resources). I will leave it in God’s hands and believe that the right position will find me and that it will be exactly what I need!

Well, I’d better get back to my Monday and at least look at my school work for the week.

Have a Healthy Day!

~Heidi

Set Backs

Well, I can say that vacation was a major set back for me. I had the best of intentions to track my food and even to weigh in while I was in Savannah. Neither of these things happened and my body definitely paid the price! When I started this blog I promised that I would share everything, not just the success stories. I can tell you that according to my home scale, I gained 7 pounds on vacation. This number has taught me 7 things.

1. Tracking your food is crucial to your success.
2. It is much easier to gain weight than it is to lose weight.
3. I need to be held accountable (i.e. weigh-in every week) in order to be successful.
4. Gaining weight is not failure, it is a set back. It is only failure if I chose to quit.
5. I need to work really hard in the next few weeks to get back to where I was.
6. The only person that was hurt by my set back is me.
7. I felt like crap when I ate like crap.

So it is with this knowledge that I happily continue my journey with Weight Watchers and a total lifestyle change. Sometimes we need to encounter set backs in order to understand how to change future behaviors.

I will tell you that I did a lot of physical activity while on vacation. I am so proud to report that I made it to the top of the Tybee Island Lighthouse. This was 178 stairs and it was brutal! I made it up much quicker than I thought I would and the views from the top were amazing! Coming down the steps seemed to actually be harder than going up. My legs literally ached for three days afterwards. My quads have never worked so hard in their lives and they let me know it. It was so amazing though and I am so happy I pushed myself not to quit and make it to the top.

The other activity I did was walking around downtown, historic Savannah. We went on an on/off trolley tour and spent most of the time off the trolley walking around and shopping. I would say that I walked a good five hours that day. It was an amazing experience and I did more activity than I knew I could.

This week has started off well and I have already dropped 2 of the 7 pounds that I gained on vacation. My body is thanking me for getting back on track and I physically feel much better. Now if I could just figure out the emotional and mental feelings that have been plaguing me, I’d be all set. I think that I have some kind of post-vacation blues. It was like I had something to look forward to for so long and now it’s over. Also going from beautiful 70 degree weather to 12 inches of snow is enough to damper a mood. I do have graduation to look forward to but I think that scares me as well because then I need to focus on finding a job and that stresses me out and scares me all at once!

I will say that I have total faith that I am where I’m supposed to be and whatever happens is what is meant to happen in my life. I know God has a plan for me and I trust that with all my heart.

Have a Healthy Day!

~Heidi

Vacation!!

I am so sorry it has taken me this long to post on my blog. This has been an amazing vacation and the most fun I’ve had in a long time! I did not make it to the weigh-in this morning in Savannah. I was too tired to pull myself out of bed that early! I am almost positive that I have gained a little weight but that just means I’ll have to work harder this week so that I at least hit my 5% goal a week from Saturday!!

We have done so much here in Georgia that I don’t even know where to begin… I guess I will start at the beginning. I will skip the drive here and jump to Sunday when we drove from Paducah, KY to Atlanta, GA. In Atlanta we dropped Bella off at a doggie daycare for a few hours. We visited the Jimmy Carter museum and had lunch at a really cute little pub. Then we were onto Savannah where we settled into our hotel for the week.

Monday we took a 90 minute trolley tour of downtown Savannah and then went off to explore Tybee Island. I think that was my favorite part of my vacation. We rented an open-air electric car (looked like a golf cart) and tooled around the island for about 6 hours. We walked on the beach and had lunch overlooking the ocean. It was about 71° and sunny – a perfect day to enjoy an island!!

Tuesday was our Paula Deen tour. We were supposed to have lunch at Uncle Bubba’s (Paula Deen’s brother’s restaurant) but they were closed for renovations so we got to eat at The Lady and Sons instead (which is Paula Deen’s restaurant)! I was happy about that but the food was definitely NOT Weight Watchers friendly!! J After the tour, we picked up Bella and went to Fort Pulaski (dogs are welcome there). We then drove to South Carolina so I could say I’ve been and get a spoon for my collection!

Wednesday, we drove to Middleburg, Florida (about a 2.5 hour drive). We got to visit my cousin Brett’s wife and their adorable little boy. Brett is deployed right now so we weren’t able to see him but glad we could visit with Meghan and Andrew and see their beautiful home!

Today we took an on/off trolley tour that allowed us to explore as much of Historic Downtown Savannah that we wanted to! I shopped and we had lunch at a little Irish pub that had GREAT food!

 

Although I am sad to be leaving tomorrow, I think I am ready to go home. It’ll be nice to sleep in my own bed and get back into my routine! Weigh-in will be a week from Saturday and I hope that I am able to report that I have achieved my 5% goal by that day! Although I have not been counting points and I have enjoyed many goodies, I have been getting a lot of exercise and trying to be semi-conscious of what I am consuming! I think I may have gained a little weight but I am not worried about it begin a set-back in any way!

For those of you who don’t have Facebook – I have taken a TON of pictures that I’d be happy to share with you when I get home.

Have a Healthy Day!!

~Heidi

Georgia - Here I Come!!!

Sorry about the lack of updates. I’ve been busy getting ready for my road trip. I did all of my homework for this week and next so that I won’t have much to do while I’m on vacation. I will still have a few things to do so I am bringing my books and computer with me. I’ve been looking at the forecast and Sunday is supposed to be 65° and sunny and Monday is 67° and sunny! That sounds perfect to me!!

Because I have so much still to do, I decided to go and weigh in today. I am thrilled to say that I am down another FIVE pounds. That is awesome seeing it hasn’t been a full week since my last weigh in. I have the address of a Weight Watchers in Savannah and will weigh in again next week on Thursday. I am not expecting to lose next week but I would at least like to see where I’m at and make sure I don’t get too far off track. I won’t be discouraged no matter what though. I am only a half pound away from hitting my first goal of 5% of my starting weight!!

So, we are so excited to get on the road that we decided to leave tomorrow instead of Saturday. Bella is being groomed at 11am and my mom and I will do some last minute shopping and have lunch during that. Than we will pick her up and head out! We are going to drive to Madison tomorrow and stay there for the night. Then on to Paducah, KY and stay there Saturday night. Then onto Savannah on Sunday with a stop in Atlanta for the Jimmy Carter museum and lunch! I have Bella set up for daycare for a few hours in Atlanta. We hope to be in Savannah by 8pm at the latest!

I have gotten SO much done in the past week – it’s amazing! I am so ready to go and glad that we are taking our time with the driving since I am the only driver…

Well, I will do my best to blog on vacation and not let too much time go between posts! I know some of you check everyday and are disappointed when I haven’t updated (sorry Val)!! Have a great week everyone and the next time you hear from me – I will be on the road to Savannah!!

Have a Healthy Day!!

~Heidi

Weigh-In #4

I went to weigh-in today with a number in my head that I wanted to lose. Three pounds. Three pounds would get me to a total of ten pounds since I started. That would be ten pounds in one month or an average of 2.5 pounds a week. I thought that sounded good and I knew it would make me feel good. But I did not lose three pounds this week – I lost FOUR!!! Woo-Hoo!!! And I was right – it felt great! I knew I had done pretty well this week because I could feel a difference. I did not do as much “structured” exercise like the treadmill, but I did do little things that made a difference. I would park at the back of the lot at the grocery store. Or when I took Bella out to go potty, I would walk her a little farther even if it was cold (as long as she had her Mutt Luks on to protect her paw pads)! Whatever I did, it worked and I’m going to keep doing it!!

I had planned on not counting points on my vacation but I think I may have changed my mind about that… I think that I will write down everything I eat while on vacation and then at night in the hotel, plunk the food into my online tracker to see where I’m at. I will happily use my activity points and my indulge points for the week and even if I go over, I think it will be important to track so I can see where I’m at. I also thought I wouldn’t be going to weigh-in for two weeks but I think I have found a solution to that as well… I am going to weigh-in Friday morning at the WW in Maple Grove this week. Then, while I am in Savannah, I am going to weigh-in Thursday or Friday morning at a meeting in Savannah! I will not be discouraged if I gain weight on vacation but I think knowing I am going to weigh-in will keep me accountable and more mindful of my choices while on vacation!

I had a very nice end to a fairly stressful week. I had some maintenance done on my car in order to get it ready for the road trip. A friend of mine from high school is married to a guy that manages Discount Brake & Auto Repair in Blaine (http://www.dicountbrake.net/). I was very happy with the service! I had quite a few things done and I know I got a great price. They even told me my car was in pretty good shape and everything looked good for a road trip. If I had taken it to Tires Plus as I have in the past, I know there would have been a list of things that needed to be fixed before they would tell me it was ready for a road trip!

While the work on my car was being done, my friend Val picked me up and we went to lunch with some of the Home Valu “loser group”. Those would be those who lost their jobs at Home Valu and are still unemployed! LOL I had a great time catching up with them and eating some Subway. I even passed up Dairy Queen when two of them decided to get a treat. It wasn’t that I felt I couldn’t have it, I just didn’t want to waste points on it so I could have a good dinner.

After I picked my car up, I headed to Bob’s Produce Ranch in Fridley for their annual meat sale and stocked up on meat for the freezer. Now we just have the freezer that is part of our refrigerator so we don’t have much room but we got a lot packed in there! I got ground beef (5 lbs), a pork roast, bone-in pork spare ribs (4), thick cut pork chops (2), smoked pork chops (4), a sirloin tip roast, a whole beef tenderloin, boneless bottom steaks (4) and beef stew meat (2lbs) along with some onions, green peppers and Snickerpoodles dog treats for $92.47 – for a total savings of $40.90!! I thought that was a great deal and Bob’s has really good quality meat!! Then I went to Cub where I bought a few staples we needed and I also bought myself some WW ice cream treats as a reward for passing up the Dairy Queen earlier. I am proud to say that I am starting to make good choices!

This weekend is going to be a homework weekend again. I have to watch a documentary and create a presentation on its persuasion techniques. I have chosen to watch Super Size Me and I think that is fitting for my current situation and new change of lifestyle. Then I have a few minor assignments to do and turn in by tomorrow evening. I also need to get a start on next week and the following week’s work so I am read for vacation! We are having our annual city inspection here at the apartment on Wednesday so I want to clean my room and bathroom. They aren’t too bad so it won’t take long but it needs to be done anyway so it’s a good excuse to get it done.

This week is going to be busy getting everything ready for our road trip! I have so many things I want to get done before we go. I will have to make a few lists. I am one of those people who like to make lists so I can check things off and see my accomplishments on paper! So I will make a list of what needs o be done, what needs to be purchased and what needs to be packed. Then by the end of the week, I will hope to have everything checked off and ready!

So, I am off to start my weekend (and maybe catch a few more winks of sleep)! Have a wonderful weekend and a Healthy Day!!

~Heidi

Hectic Life

Sorry it has been a few days since I posted. Some probably thought I gave up after my weight gain but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I am on track and feeling pretty good! The last few days have been crazy hectic and I sure hope that stress doesn’t hinder weight loss or I may gain 50 pounds this week alone!

Yesterday I was so frustrated because my computer cord was not working. I apparently had a bad power source. I really had to work on some homework so I went to Office Max. Nope, they don’t carry power cords for laptops. WHAT? REALLY? So they sent me to Radio Shack. I purchased a $100 cord and got it home to find out it didn’t fit my Toshiba! Went back to Radio Shack where the salesman was baffled because he’s never had that happen. Got my refund and went to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart tried to sell me the identical one I had just returned to Radio Shack. When I told them it didn’t fit, he too was baffled. Then he asked me to get my computer so he could try the other cord they had. I went back out into the frigid air (I had forgotten my coat because I was so frustrated when I left) and got my laptop. Hauled it back in and finally found a cord that fit! Walked out the door and the alarms went off. Apparently, they forgot to deactivate the security tag. He had to call back to electronics because the thing was out of the b x from when we tested the cord. Finally he deactivated the tag and I was able to leave.

Now fast forward to this morning. I get a call from my mom saying that my dog can’t walk! She is dragging her back end and shaking and breathing funny. I put my niece in the car and off I go back home. I called the vet in town and they said, hmm – that’s weird. We can see her at 10am. Now mind you it is currently 8:25am and they want me to wait until 10am. I called her regular vet in Coon Rapids and they said bring her in and we will get her right in. I got home and she met me at the door. My mom said that was the first time she was able to get up. She still seemed a little off kilter but she was at least walking. I decided since she was walking I would take her to Coon Rapids. We saw my favorite vet, Dr. Elton (who loves Goldens) so I felt good about my decision to bring her there. He checked her over and did a neurological exam and found nothing out of the ordinary. He then suggested a heartworm test and blood work which I immediately agreed to. All tests were fine with the exception of low phosphorous levels. He said this could mean she may have had a seizure or it could just be low because she hadn’t eaten yet today. He was very nice and answered all my questions. He said to keep an eye on her and be comforted by the fact that all the tests showed she is in good health. He gave me his card and said to call him if we had any problems now or even on the road in a few weeks for our trip. Bella seems to be doing fine now and we are hoping it was a one time thing. I was a mess because this dog is my world. She really is like my child and I adore her!

I have stayed on points this week but my activity has not been as much as it has been in the past few weeks. I really need to get back in the habit of heading over to the fitness center on a regular basis and quit making excuses! I stepped on the scale this morning and was encouraged. I hope the trend continues to Saturday. Saturday will be my last weigh in for two whole weeks because of vacation. Here’s hoping for a great number to keep me encouraged all through vacation!

Sorry about the lack of updates, but know that I am on track and not giving up!

Have a Healthy Day!

~Heidi