HealthFest 09: Week 3

Week 1: 148.2

Week 2: 149.0

Week 3: 148.2

No lie. I'm back to where I started. Kill me. Last week went well, but not well enough. At this rate I'm going to continue to hover between my wedding weight (which was really only 144) and 150. Kill. Me. So. Hard.

Here's the thing - I was happy at my wedding weight. I didn't feel overweight (though according to a BMI calculator, I was).... but then again, I've never seen a bride that didn't look fantastically radiant. So I guess I had that going for me.

For those just joining us, here's me at my wedding a little over 5 months ago:

Photo by Bella Pictures

Right around our 6 month anniversary, I'll do a full on recap of our wedding. I'm not sure if my lovely readers will be into that... but who doesn't love wedding pictures??

OK, back to the weight loss issue. Back to square one. I'm thinking I may need the full on structure of WW. My sister recently lost a BUNCH of lbs with Weight Watchers; she does the Monthly Pass and goes to two meetings a week. If that's what it takes, then I guess that's what it takes. Secretly (not so secretly) I'd really like to just wake up skinny. Not going to happen? I'm not looking forward to dropping more money than weight doing WW, but it really may be my last resort. I'll be damned if I'm not buying something cute to wear out for my 27th birthday.

So, I don't really have any goals for the week except to LOSE WEIGHT. I'll keep you posted. Any tips you have would really be good.

HealthFest 09: Week 2 Wrap-Up

The Week 2 Wrap-Up is coming to you a day early this week because we have some fancy Easter plans tomorrow with some friends and I didn't want to leaving you hanging if I didn't get around to posting after dinner tomorrow.



So here we are - the end of week 2 and I hit EVERY single one of my goals! I drink all my water (I choked down every last drop. It was gross) and though I will not be upping my intake next week. This week I spent about a quarter of my days peeing and I'm really not trying to up that. I brought my lunch every day this week - that sort of sucked, since sometimes I reeeeallly just need to get out of the office. The up side would be that I ate a Smart One and a yogurt every day. The down side would be that I ate a Smart One and a yogurt every day. All in all, I saved calories and money, so it wasn't a total loss.

My other 2 goals for the week were 30 minutes of exercise x 3, and cooking dinner in 4x - and I met both! As I said last time, I do normally cook dinner 5-6 times a week, but some nights it's super thrown together (as in whats in the cabinets is this still good and does it go with bread type of dinners), but this week I planned out the menu in advance, bought only what I needed, and wouldn't you know - we saved money and had real dinner. I found a great recipe that tastes like buffalo mac 'n cheese... it sounds kinda gross, but it was really good: Buffalo Chicken Pasta. I also made a really nice chicken pot pie, chicken and veggies, and jambalaya tonight. I'll be doing to buffalo pasta and chicken pot pie again - they were both great and made enough leftovers for either lunch or another dinner.

As for the exercise, it was like pulling teeth but it got done. Wednesday night Ryan and I played Wii Boxing for about 45 minutes... and played hard enough that I was (again) sore the next 2 days. I went to cardio kickboxing yesterday (55 minute class!) and took the dog for a 45 minute walk this afternoon. The weird (and yet not so surprising) part is that I'm actually looking forward to meeting my exercise goals next week. I love feeling sore and knowing that I did something good.... but I also love ice cream, so Monday morning's weigh in is still up for debate.

See you on Monday after the weigh in!

HealthFest 09: Week 2

Week 1 Recap & Weight: 148.2

Week 2 Weigh-In..... 149.0

Disapointing, yes.... but I thought it was going to be WAY worse. And honestly, I thought that 149 was a lie. I was expecting over 150, so in a way, I was relieved. Of course, on the other hand, there goes a week down the drain. It's really time to take it up a notch. No, for serious this time.

Goals for the Week:

1. Drink more water! 3 water bottle-fulls per day. It was surprisingly easy to drink 2x day if I conciously thought about it, so I'm kicking it up to 3x a day.
2. 30 minutes of cardio 3x this week. I failed miserably last week, but I know that the only way to stop the arm jiggle is to lose so pounds, and healthy eating will only get you so far. Plus, it's good for my heart.
3. Cook healthy dinners 4x this week. Normally we cook dinner 6-7 times a week, but we're headed to a Yankees game on Thursday, going out on Friday, and having Easter dinner with our friends.
4. Bring lunch to work every day this week. I am guilty of caving to peer pressure and going out for lunch. It is no good for my wallet or waistline. Lunches in will be less fun, but at least I know how many WW points everything is!

So those are the goals for the week. I'll post what I make and recipe reviews, so stay tuned for that! Oh, and if you have any recipe suggestions for stuff that's delicious, healthy, and not terribly expensive to make (ie no $15 cuts of meat), leave it below... I'm always on the look-out for a good recipe!

HF09: Week 1 Wrap-Up

Wow. The week is finally over. I have two words - Thank God.

For those who are just joining us (me), I'm a week into HealthFest '09... and it sucks. I forgot how hard it is to get back on the WW bandwagon, especially after free-for-all eating for the past um, couple weeks. Let's just say that Week 1 was a bust and be done with it. Well, I did drink 2 bottles of water each day (and got some good advice) and got my mouth cleaned, so I guess it wasn't a total loss. I will say that I am NOT excited about getting on the scale tomorrow and reporting back. Wow, that's really going to suck.

What would suck more is being fat for my Roomie's wedding, my week in San Diego, my brother-in-law's wedding, and pretty much the rest of my life. So check back in tomorrow for the pathetic weigh in after stuffing my face all week. Or don't. I'll be embarrased enough for the both of us.

PS - Still not 100% sure what's up with my sewing machine. A more detailed post to follow.

Healthfest 09 - Week 1

Weight - 148.2

Goals for the Week:

1. Drink 2 bottles of water each day (don't worry, I'll refill each bottle 1x so as to don't waste lots of bottled water). This means I should be getting at least 4 of the 8 recommended cups each day this week. I normally hate drinking water. I actually don't normally drink anything at work. This is very bad, and I know it. So don't hate.
2. Hit the gym for at least 30 min three times this week. 90 minutes of exercise is a good start, right?
3. Follow WW points every day this week. Stay within my points range!
4. Get my mouth cleaned (this is easy - Ryan and I have dentist appointments this morning). OK, so that was a cheat. I wanted to make sure I'd at least get to cross one of these off my list :-)

OK, so those are the goals... I'll check back in a few times this week with updates, but for the most part, I'll do wrap-ups on Sunday and the new weigh in on Monday mornings. There'll still be regular post updates throughout the week!

27: My new motivation

I wasn't always +15 lbs. I won't get into the super boring back story (girl goes to college, girl loves dining hall a little too much, girl gets fat), but let's just leave it at this - I'm 15 lbs overweight and I want it gone. Lots of (probably just really nice) people look at me in shock when they catch me photocopying ludacris "Lose 5 lbs in 7 Days" articles at work, saying "But you don't need to lose any weight!". This is most likely because I am pretty good at not wearing clothes that scream "LOOK AT MY ROLLS!!!". I wear clothes that are the correct size and don't show a ton of arms (I might have flappy arms. Whatev.), and make sure nothing is super tight. That being said, I also don't wear clothes that are too big - it's a very fine line I try to walk. I feel like I do a pretty decent job of not drawing attention to my chubby-ness.

But this is the year that all changes.

I'll be 27 in May (the 22nd for those counting) and the bottom line is that I'm sick of being pissed off when I go shopping for summer stuff - they don't make a ton of summer clothes with 3/4 length sleeves and in my current state I'm not comfortable baring too much arm (Note to women's fashion designers: cap sleeves look good on no one. Honestly.). I also have 2 weddings coming up in June, though if my own wedding wasn't reason enough to lose the weight, I can't imagine their weddings would be either. To be fair, everyone looks good in a wedding gown - size 2 or 28 - so I guess I had that going for me.

The bottom line: I just want to buy cute clothes, damn it! (OK, and I want to produce some healthy off-spring at some point.) So I'm on a mission, and I figure posted all my stuff here might help me with the whole accountability factor.

Current Weight: 150
Goal Weight: 135

There's 8 weeks until my birthday, which means that if I really wanted to, I could be at my goal weight by then. I would LOVE to celebrate my birthday in a super cute outfit. So here's what we're going to do, folks. We're going to call this year's mission HealthFest 09. This includes dropping 15 pounds, working on my stress levels, and getting (and staying) active. I'll post regular updates (on Mondays) and let you know how it's going.


Note: I have some ideas for a headboard... I'll hopefully be posting something about that soon.

Note: I found a good sewing machine on sale at Sears for $80. I will probably be purchasing that on Friday. I should have something to show for this next week.