WW Update, Short Vacation Update, Personal WW Challenge
So I didn’t lose weight the past couple of weeks. I missed weigh in the day before I left on vacation and missed weigh in while I was on vacation. So, after two weeks “away” from meetings, I only gained .8 pounds. That’s pretty damn good, when you consider that I just spent a week with my family, which is pretty much guaranteed to trigger emotional eating before, during, and/or after the visit.
I love my folks, don’t get me wrong. I actually had a pretty good visit with my mom (more on that later). This time it was my sister that was the problem. The nicest thing that I can say about my relationship with my sister is that we’re estranged. This is my sister who has an eating disorder, doesn’t like the family that she was born into (and is thus stuck with), radiates her disapproval of us during every family visit, usually has some kind of screaming scene within 24 hours of landing, but doesn’t want to be treated like she’s the problem in the family. ::sigh:: I find her very trying, and try to avoid her as much as possible. Which is sad, because she’s my only sibling.
When I say that my sister has an eating disorder, I’m serious. When she was in high school her weight got down to 98 pounds at one point. Right now she weights 123 pounds (according to my mother), which is at the low end of her healthy weight range (according to my WW materials). And it’s clear that she is unhappy and feels fat at this weight. Which is sad, because to my eyes she almost looks too thin. Helen has a heart shaped face, and when she gets too skinny her face is no longer attractively rounded and her chin starts to look too pointed. Five more pounds and her face probably wouldn’t look so sharp.
So my mother, who has been on a diet for just about her entire life, always wants to know what we’re eating, just in case we somehow have found the magic key. (Just divorce dad, that will cure your emotional eating!) I told her that I was doing Weight Watchers, but not the week of vacation. So she keeps asking me how many points in things. And I tell her, because she says she’s going back to WW next week, but I remind her that I’m not counting points while I’m on vacation. I’m just trying to make good choices and enjoy my vacation without any guilt. Even though my mother is constantly dieting and not losing weight, the food that she keeps around the house is pretty damn healthy, so it wasn’t hard to eat right while I was there. Well, except for when we went out to eat. At buffets. Twice. =0
I’ve been doing pretty well with the food part of Weight Watchers, keeping within my daily points range, eating healthy stuff instead of crap. But I was flipping through my tracker and I noticed that we’re supposed to be aiming for 28 Activity Points a week. I think I’ve been earning about 10 AP a week. Since I’ve been in kind of a rut, up and down the same pound or two, I decided to set myself a challenge, to try to hit that 28 AP points a week for the next ten weeks. Which means that, at my current weight, I have to get an hour of moderate intensity exercise EVERY day. Since I plan to take one day a week off, that means I’ll have to work out a little bit more than an hour a day to hit my weekly goal.
I learned something about my body while I was on vacation. I learned that even though I haven’t been in the pool for months, I can still jump in, swim a half mile without stopping and keep pace with the old lady. Who happens to swim six days a week. And wears flippers. It’s also nice to know that in addition to a half hour in the pool in the morning, I can put in an hour and a half walk in the afternoon, and then do it all again the next day and not feel tired or sore. So I can put in two hours worth of workout time a day if I want to (and can find the time). My body is capable of that.
***
I got a really nice compliment at my WW meeting this week. A couple of us stayed after to chat with the leader, who made some comment about how she’s just about to one of those birthdays that ends in a zero (50). I said something about how I just turned 40. One of the ladies said, “No way.” I offered to show her my license, which she did ask to see. LOL. “I would have said you were in your twenties.” She told me. I consider that a HUGE compliment. Yep, I got those youthful genes from my mom. ::blows kisses:: Thanks mum!
***
I finally found the 1 Point Weight Watcher’s cakes that I've been looking for for weeks. No wonder they’re only 1 point, they’re frigging tiny! In the advertisements they look like they’re the size of Twinkies, but they’re actually about one inch wide and two inches long. I could eat one in one bite if I wanted to (but since I’m trying to enjoy my treat, they’re four bites). Both the carrot cake and the chocolate cake are tasty little treats. Yum.
I love my folks, don’t get me wrong. I actually had a pretty good visit with my mom (more on that later). This time it was my sister that was the problem. The nicest thing that I can say about my relationship with my sister is that we’re estranged. This is my sister who has an eating disorder, doesn’t like the family that she was born into (and is thus stuck with), radiates her disapproval of us during every family visit, usually has some kind of screaming scene within 24 hours of landing, but doesn’t want to be treated like she’s the problem in the family. ::sigh:: I find her very trying, and try to avoid her as much as possible. Which is sad, because she’s my only sibling.
When I say that my sister has an eating disorder, I’m serious. When she was in high school her weight got down to 98 pounds at one point. Right now she weights 123 pounds (according to my mother), which is at the low end of her healthy weight range (according to my WW materials). And it’s clear that she is unhappy and feels fat at this weight. Which is sad, because to my eyes she almost looks too thin. Helen has a heart shaped face, and when she gets too skinny her face is no longer attractively rounded and her chin starts to look too pointed. Five more pounds and her face probably wouldn’t look so sharp.
So my mother, who has been on a diet for just about her entire life, always wants to know what we’re eating, just in case we somehow have found the magic key. (Just divorce dad, that will cure your emotional eating!) I told her that I was doing Weight Watchers, but not the week of vacation. So she keeps asking me how many points in things. And I tell her, because she says she’s going back to WW next week, but I remind her that I’m not counting points while I’m on vacation. I’m just trying to make good choices and enjoy my vacation without any guilt. Even though my mother is constantly dieting and not losing weight, the food that she keeps around the house is pretty damn healthy, so it wasn’t hard to eat right while I was there. Well, except for when we went out to eat. At buffets. Twice. =0
I’ve been doing pretty well with the food part of Weight Watchers, keeping within my daily points range, eating healthy stuff instead of crap. But I was flipping through my tracker and I noticed that we’re supposed to be aiming for 28 Activity Points a week. I think I’ve been earning about 10 AP a week. Since I’ve been in kind of a rut, up and down the same pound or two, I decided to set myself a challenge, to try to hit that 28 AP points a week for the next ten weeks. Which means that, at my current weight, I have to get an hour of moderate intensity exercise EVERY day. Since I plan to take one day a week off, that means I’ll have to work out a little bit more than an hour a day to hit my weekly goal.
I learned something about my body while I was on vacation. I learned that even though I haven’t been in the pool for months, I can still jump in, swim a half mile without stopping and keep pace with the old lady. Who happens to swim six days a week. And wears flippers. It’s also nice to know that in addition to a half hour in the pool in the morning, I can put in an hour and a half walk in the afternoon, and then do it all again the next day and not feel tired or sore. So I can put in two hours worth of workout time a day if I want to (and can find the time). My body is capable of that.
***
I got a really nice compliment at my WW meeting this week. A couple of us stayed after to chat with the leader, who made some comment about how she’s just about to one of those birthdays that ends in a zero (50). I said something about how I just turned 40. One of the ladies said, “No way.” I offered to show her my license, which she did ask to see. LOL. “I would have said you were in your twenties.” She told me. I consider that a HUGE compliment. Yep, I got those youthful genes from my mom. ::blows kisses:: Thanks mum!
***
I finally found the 1 Point Weight Watcher’s cakes that I've been looking for for weeks. No wonder they’re only 1 point, they’re frigging tiny! In the advertisements they look like they’re the size of Twinkies, but they’re actually about one inch wide and two inches long. I could eat one in one bite if I wanted to (but since I’m trying to enjoy my treat, they’re four bites). Both the carrot cake and the chocolate cake are tasty little treats. Yum.