Points Planning

My friend Rachel, the October recipient of the blog award has recently lost over 50 pounds with Weight Watchers. She looks amazing and has been such an inspiration to me. Here are her before and after pictures.

This post is first to congratulate her but secondly it is to share with you a new awesome resource! She has recently started a new blog that can be so helpful. http://pointsplusplanning.blogspot.com/

The basic concept of her blog is to show how much good, REAL food you can eat while following the points plus plan. They are all things her family eats together. She started the project doing 29 points in 29 days--the base number for most people doing weight watchers ends up being 29. She tracked points for each item, and has included pictures and recipes. You could potentially add or remove certain things if you wanted to substitute for other things in your day--or pull from your weekly points (since they are okay to use!!!) and she has also figured in a dessert on several days.

It is a really great resource. Check it out!! I mean look at her results. The picture below has her and her husband in that same skirt she was wearing in her before pics. I am even contemplating doing her exact 29 day diet.

Valentine's Day

This week is Valentines Day. Many people are probably going to celebrate this weekend since it falls on a Monday this year. Tonight we were fortunate enough to have a babysitter so we treated ourselves to sushi & some japanese cuisine. I knew we were going; so through out the day I was really careful about what I ate, saving my calories for dinner. I also drank 72 oz of water and committed to doing the Shred video twice. I started with level 2 at around noon and then did level 1 as soon as we got home from our date.

It is fun to celebrate holidays and it is our culture to celebrate with food. Enjoy something yummy but try to make good choices and do a little extra exercise to help. Here is a picture of us from tonight. By the way, I posted my pic from my new jeans on Facebook and got 52 likes/comments. I think that is a record! I didn't get that many comments on my birthday. It felt good to get support from all those people. Several of them are still not aware of my blog :)

When Travis came home from work, he surprised me with a big bouquet of flowers. He is a good man. He has been very supportive through my journey. I even convince him to workout with me or do the shred every now and then. He is always willing to watch the kids when I go to my training sessions, etc but most of all he has always loved me unconditionally. No matter how I looked he always told me that I was beautiful every day. I feel so lucky to have him. I think his love language is "words of affirmation". Not a day goes by that he doesn't tell me some compliment.

I once read that "love is knowing all about someone and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk in the room and smile at you." Happy Valentine's Day Travis. I love you more than anything.

Size 14 jeans

Tonight before CPR class I had Travis quickly snap two pictures of me in my size 14 jeans. I had promised to post a picture, so here they are. I still have a long way to go...but I am celebrating my success! I got super brave and even posted the full body pic on Facebook. It is super encouraging to see all the support that I have!

Intervention

Tonight I had a CPR class at the Boys & Girls Club. I had to leave the house right at five and hadn't had time to eat any dinner. I quickly ran thru taco bell and got their Fresco burrito. If you haven't tried their Fresco menu, it is a good option for when you are in a hurry. It has less calories and is still yummy. Anyway, it isn't a huge portion so I easily could of eaten more but I am trying hard to stay within my allotted calories.

Well, when I got to the class they had provided pizza for everyone. There were 7 steaming pizzas and the entire room smelled wonderful. I love pizza! There were several different types and also the garlic dipping butter. I was still a little hungry and wanted a piece so badly, actually I wanted two pieces with garlic butter. Yet, I knew if I ate it I would regret it.

What to do?? A public intervention. Right then and there I told my class. I told them that I was recently trying to lose weight and that while the pizza smelled wonderful and I wanted some that I would refrain from eating any tonight. By making a public announcement and telling them, I knew there would be no way for me to eat a piece. Everyone in the class ate the pizzas and I left not even feeling tempted to have any.

I know it seems extreme but it was what had to happen. I know that if I hadn't of done it that I would of had at least two pieces. I recently read hat making your goals public will lead to your success. I think that is so true and which is why my blog has helped me so much to be successful. I publicly tell you all my goals, struggles, etc and who wants to fail among their peers. Not me. So tonight, I had an intervention!

Rediscovering Oatmeal

Oatmeal is seriously Hudson's favorite food. He would eat it three times a day if I would allow him to eat it. He asks for it all the time. I like a hardy bowl of Oatmeal but don't eat it very often. Since Hudson eats it so much I usually just buy the Original instant pack for him. I don't care for instant oatmeal but it just seemed convenient for Hudson. I would boil some water in my teapot, pour it over and in a few minutes viola! it was made.

The other day I ran out of instant oatmeal but I always have real old fashion rolled oats too; I prefer these for cookies and baking and for the rare occasion that I eat oatmeal. I read the side and found out that I could make the oatmeal in the microwave. It was easier than making instant and tastes so much better that I may never buy instant again.

Yummy Oatmeal
1/2 C rolled oats
1 C water
1/2 tsp butter
(Microwave for 2.5 minutes)

Add TBSP of brown sugar or agave nectar and 1/4 C of milk

This is a big serving. I usually split it with Hudson or with Reese. So you could make it less. It was so good. Hudson loved it too. I have now been craving Oatmeal and eating it for a good, hardy breakfast. I actually made this oatmeal faster than I could boil the water for instant. I really want to try steel cut oats too but I know they take a lot more time and usually it is time I don't have. I am not a breakfast eater, I have to force myself. So making something quick is great for me.

Shred It-Level 2

So last night was my first night of Shred It, Level 2. To say these workouts are challenging for me would be an understatement. This DVD will kick your booty yet its only 20 minutes, it's fun, doable, and I think the exercises themselves are interesting — things like skaters (a motion like speed skating), plank jacks (plank position/jumping jack hybrid on the floor), squat thrusts and high-knee kicks. This video has me dripping in sweat, cussing the TV and even feeling a little sore the next day.

It is a 3-2-1 system. 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, 1 minute of abs. Level 2 is by far harder than level 1. I am going to keep at it though. I know I am getting stronger and that a year ago I would not have been able to do level 1. Every time I successfully complete a session I feel more and more confident. I seriously need to give her workouts an A+ as a winter workout. In the summer you can go for a jog on the greenbelt and do more active stuff such as swimming, etc. but it is hard in the winter. The days are shorter, it's cold outside and working out is the furthest thing from your brain. However, just pop in the shred and 20 minutes later you're sweating like it's August.

I have two other friends that are also shredding with me. It has been fun to chat with them about it. Its like a have a pseudo workout buddy. Tonight I am going to do level 1 again and then level 2 again tomorrow. I have CPR tomorrow night so will be missing my time with my trainer. I also need to get on the treadmill and do some walk-run intervals. I'd really like to be able to do the fun run and be able to at least do intervals of walking 1 minute, running 1 minute.

Heading Back to Chicago

So I will be heading back to Chicago in March. I am very lucky to have an all expenses trip paid to go. I will be staying in the heart of downtown on Michigan Avenue for a National annual meeting for an organization that I am involved with. I am really looking forward to it even though I am really sad that my family can't come with me. Just don't think the little kids are quite ready for such a big city and I will be pretty busy with meetings and educational offerings. I am finding time to fit in some fun activities though. A group of us are going to dinner at a top chef's, Stephanie Izzard, restaurant called the "Girl and Goat" and me and girlfriend are going to see a Broadway show.

I was just there in September and made friends with several people. There aren't many of us in our thirties in this group so all of us guys and gals just bonded. It will be fun to see them. Any who, a couple of weeks ago I got a Facebook message from one of the people I met last time. I had worked out with them a lot at the hotel and they asked if I would be interested in doing the fun run. The organization I am involved in is having a 5K run one of the mornings that I am there. I responded back yes and their response was "I can't wait to see how great you look". I had told a few people about my weight loss when I was there in September. So to make a long story short....I have a race to prepare for and I need to lose 10 more pounds before my trip. I haven't done as well as I thought I would have from Sept-March and I want to make sure people can tell a difference.

I am also excited about getting a new dress. There is welcome reception as well as the dinner/show night that I'd like to dress up for and wear something new. I like to dress up and now days I don't hardly ever get an excuse to. I am looking around and going to my friends to see if she might have something I can borrow. I'll be sure to post pictures. Here is to 10 more pounds!!

Super Bowl Sabbotage

So for those of you that know me...you know that I love to throw a good party. It is seriously my gift and I am proud to say that I am the "hostess with the mostest". I can come up with all sorts of excused to throw a party and the super bowl is one of them. Now, I love college football. I keep up with the rankings, watch the games, read ESPN but I do not watch pro football at all. I have no team that I really care for and to be honest I couldn't even tell you who was playing in the superbowl until about 24 hours before my party (after I googled it). But...I love to party so we had a get together with some friends.

It was a great time but as you all know Super Bowl Parties are not nice on the waist line. I totally over did it. It wasn't that I ate so much (however I did eat two cupcakes) but that the food was calorie dense! This is why I always say that you can't exercise off a bad diet. It took me less than 10 minutes to probably consume over 1000 calories; chicken wings, ritz & dip, chili, cupcake, etc but it would take me 2.5 hours to burn that off on the treadmill. I am not proud but I totally gave in and indulged...over indulged.

Tonight I am definitely doing the shred! It is my daily goal to do both level 1 and level 2 with no more than a 15 minute break between the two. This week I have got to be spot on! I have to drink my water and log my food. I'll be posting my weight on Sunday.

If you too over indulged I encourage you to just start fresh today. Don't beat yourself up about it. You can't change the past. Just do good this week and try to get in a little extra exercise.

3 Things to keep me going

This weekend I had 3 great things happen to me:

1) A person at church came up to me and said "wow, you are like melting away"...felt nice to have the compliment and for someone to say something

2) I ran into my grandparents at the grocery store, I was wearing my new 14 jeans and a new shirt. My grandma immediately said "Wow Cheryl you're really starting to look like your trimming up. Look at her Russ (my grandpa) can't you tell she is losing weight"...This is huge! My grandma rarely says much about my weight loss. It was kind of aggravating cause it seemed like when I was gaining we talked about it every time I saw them but when I start losing no one said anything. It was just nice to know that they both could tell.

3) A friend at church told me that she had a dream about me that I got down to my goal weight and was "super smokin hot"....I hope that her dreams come true!