Thoughts on Weight Watchers

It was hard getting back to reality this morning. After coming home from Indiana yesterday, I felt like I needed a weekend to get back into our usual routine, but the kids had to go to school today. After I got them on the bus, I was debating if I should skip my run today--it was raining outside, and I really didn't feel like running in the cold rain.

Even though I always think about skipping out, I never do ;) But thankfully, the rain stopped long enough for me to get a run in! I had four miles at tempo pace on the schedule. It wasn't too cold this morning, and felt perfect for running... until I realized just how windy it was.

The first couple of miles flew by at an 8:18/mi pace, but I had a tail wind. When I turned around, the wind was SO strong I felt like I was running in place. I pushed harder, to try and hold the same pace I was running, and I felt like I was. But when I looked at my Garmin after mile three, I saw 8:36. The wind made a huge difference! I had a headwind the entire way home, so the last mile was pretty challenging as well. 8:18, 8:18, 8:36, 8:28.

But I still finished with a great overall pace, and felt like I got a good workout.

When I got home, I showered and got dressed to go to my Weight Watchers meeting. When I got there, I weighed in (stayed the same as last week, which was good). There was a woman in the meeting who reached her Lifetime status today, and she was really excited about that. I have three more weeks of maintenance until I reach Lifetime.

I've been asked quite a bit recently if I think that Weight Watchers is worth the money, and if I like it better than counting calories. I really think it depends on the person. I've already proven that I can do Weight Watchers on my own, without paying them a dime--so in my instance, I would say that it's not worth the money. HOWEVER--I know that I wouldn't have stuck with it if I hadn't paid them when I joined online a few months ago. I didn't want the money to go to waste, so I followed the program. If I hadn't paid for it, it would have been easy to just quit on Day 1, like I wanted to.

Some people really thrive off of the meetings, and getting weighed in. If you're one of those people, then I think that the money would be worth it. It's pretty expensive--I believe it's $12 per week, which includes your weigh-in and all the meetings you want to attend that week.

However, the whole thing still boils down to whether you're willing to put in the effort to making lifelong changes. Weight Watchers can give you the tools you need to count PointsPlus, and the support you may want, but they aren't the ones making decisions about what/how much you eat. I've been following WW program for the past few months, and I've lost over 20 pounds--but I'm the one that made every single decision about what I ate, how much I ate, how much I exercised, etc. I had to have that self-control to make the program work. You get out of the program what you put into it.

In that sense, if you have that self-control, then you can make any program work for you. There are many free programs for weight loss (SparkPeople is my favorite, and what I used to lose the majority of my weight); but again, those will only work if you make the right decisions.

The WW plan is very similar to counting calories--you can eat anything you want, but you measure out your portions and count the PointsPlus/calories for that portion, keeping your daily PP/calories within a certain range. The biggest difference between the two plans is that WW has "free" fruits and vegetables, that you don't have to count against your daily target. When counting calories, you count EVERY calorie that passes your lips; on WW, you don't have to count the fruits or most veggies.

Counting PP is also much easier to tally than counting calories. For example, it's easier to remember that you had 8 PP for lunch than it is to remember that you had 378 calories for lunch. It's especially easier to add up your meals in your head--6 PP for breakfast + 8 PP for lunch + 10 PP for dinner + 6 PP for snacks instead of adding up 248 calories for breakfast + 378 calories for lunch + 569 calories for dinner + 431 calories for snacks.

Those are the two main reasons I like Weight Watchers at this point. The biggest downside is that it's expensive; but there are ways around that. I followed WW without paying for a while in 2009-2010. I bought the materials and did it on my own. I used SparkPeople to calculate the nutrition info in recipes, and then I used that nutrition info to calculate the Points. All you really need is the PP calculator; and there are free phone apps for calculating PP.

I'm getting way off track here! Basically, I am really liking the WW program right now; I think it's expensive, but worth the money if you're willing to put in the work. In a nutshell :)

Anyway, after my meeting, Jerry and I wrapped the kids' Christmas presents. Estelle was in heaven with all the bags and paper all over the floor...

Here she was getting ready to attack Phoebe, who was innocently poking around.

Jerry and I discovered that we are a couple of gifts short for Noah--not sure how that happened! So I'll have to go get him a couple more presents, probably tomorrow. My sister gave the boys a Kinect for the Xbox, and I'm actually pretty excited about that. I've heard that there are some good exercise games for the Kinect, so I think I may do another six-week challenge when I get home from Key West. I haven't been strength training (yet again) so I need to get back at it!

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Wed. Weigh in, and paying it forward

It feels so good to be home right now! I had a lot of fun with my family, but I am definitely ready for a good night's sleep. I probably slept a total of six hours in the three nights we were there. We packed up and left this morning, and got home at around 12:15. I expected the cats to all come and greet us like they usually do, but I think they were mad that we left. ;)

When I got home, I was curious to see what my weight was. I'm used to weighing myself every day, and now that I'm on maintenance (which means eating more PointsPlus than I'm used to), I was curious to know what happened with my weight while I was gone. There was SO MUCH temptation the whole time we were there, and it was extremely difficult for me to stay on track.

But I felt really good about all of my choices, and on the way home, I was thinking about whether I would have done anything differently. Honestly, I feel like I did pretty awesome, and I wouldn't have changed anything.

I had already eaten breakfast and had a quart of water this morning, so when I got on the scale this afternoon, I wanted it to be around 134 or less. I stepped on the scale to the nice surprise of 133! That's my goal weight, and the same weight I was last Wednesday. So the first week of maintenance was a success--during vacation, and the holidays, at that :)

I've been eating a little over 40 PointsPlus a day (32 is my maintenance target, and then I use some activity PP and weekly PP every day). That is a good amount to where I can have a treat every day, but I don't feel like I'm gorging myself, either. I get a grand total of 273 PP per week PLUS my activity PP... so that averages out to 39 PP per day (plus activity PP, which always depends on how much running I do that day). I'm happy to know I can eat all the PP available to me and still maintain (so far, at least... it's only been a week, so it's too soon to look for a pattern)

I went to the school to pick up homework for the boys (they had to miss three days of school) and then I went to Kroger to restock some groceries. While I was in line to pay for my groceries, I came across the perfect "pay it forward" type of opportunity.

Two years ago, just before Christmas, Jerry and I were at Goodwill with the kids. I love Goodwill, and shop there regardless of our money situation, but we happened to be strapped for money because I had just broken my jaw and we had a ton of medical bills (and Jerry had taken time off work). Anyway, while we were shopping, an elderly woman came up to Jerry and held out her hand to shake hands with him.

He was a little confused, but just thought she was being friendly, so he shook her hand and she said, "Merry Christmas." He felt a piece of paper in his hand, and looked down to see a $50 bill. He was startled and looked up to ask her what that was for, but she had already walked halfway out of the store. She left with who I am assuming was her husband.

We were totally shocked, and it really made our day! I thought that was a really cool way to do something nice for someone, and I think of that all the time, especially around Christmas. And now, when an opportunity presents itself, I think of that woman and I take advantage of the "pay it forward" opportunity.

So anyway, at Kroger today, there was a young woman ahead of me in line, and she had already scanned her groceries. She had two kids with her, and they looked very young--maybe 18 months and 3 years old? She seemed a little frazzled, and I saw her explain to the cashier that she forgot her wallet at home, and she would have to go home and get money and come back.

She started to leave, and I told the cashier I wanted to pay for her groceries ($25). It was the self-checkout, so I quickly swiped my card and paid for them, while the cashier got her and told her that I'd paid for them. She was really grateful, and thanked me over and over. I told her that I know how hard it is to go shopping with your kids as it is, let alone bring them to the store twice.

She said that they were buying the stuff for her and the kids to make Christmas cookies tonight, and when she realized she'd have to go back to pay, she wasn't sure she'd have enough time to make the cookies. I felt so good about helping her out, especially when she explained about the cookies--after the Newtown tragedy, I think it's more important than ever for parents to spend quality time with their kids.

After that, I came home and just threw together a very quick dinner of pita pizzas. I bought some thick, square pita bread that turned out to be perfect for pizzas!

The kids had a ton of homework to catch up on, so Jerry and I spent two hours after dinner helping the kids get that finished up. I felt like I needed a really strong drink when I was done halfway through--what a headache! But at least they'll be caught up when they go back tomorrow.

Being away the past few days made me pretty far behind on blog comments and e-mail and all that, so I'll try and catch up this weekend. Tonight, I'm going to catch up on Dexter! ;)

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Indiana, Day 3

I slept horribly last night. The bedroom Jerry and I are staying in at the rental house is right next to the family room, and everyone else stayed up MUCH later than me. Nathan and Shawn (my brother-in-law) were up until 6:30! They were being pretty loud, so I didn't get much sleep at all.

This morning, I went for a run as soon as I got up. Everyone else was still sleeping (except for my parents), so I headed out for the same route as yesterday--three miles. Today, I deliberately tried to run fast. It was really nice outside, and perfect for running!

When I got back to the house, my sister was awake and she said she was a little disappointed, because she was hoping to go for a run with me (I had told her that if she brought running clothes, I'd go with her while we're here). I had only run three miles on my own, so I told her I'd go with her anyway.

She's been doing really well with Couch to 5K training. She's been doing all of her training on the treadmill, and she said she was nervous about going outside to run. I knew she would enjoy it, so I was glad that she wanted to give it a chance. The plan was to run 3/4 mile, then walk 1/4 mile, and repeat one time. Jeanie had been doing her running segments on the treadmill at a 4.5 mph speed (a little slower than a 13:00/mi pace); so I told her that she could set the pace, and I'd just run along for company.

She really liked running outside, and was surprised how quickly the time went by. She went faster than she thought she was, too. These are the run/walk splits:

She planned on a 13-ish pace, but she ended up running under a 12:00/mi pace on the running segments! I find when I run outside, I feel like I'm going slower than I actually am. When I run on the treadmill, I feel like I'm flying, but the pace doesn't reflect that. But anyway, I'm glad she enjoyed running outside, so hopefully she'll feel confident enough to do it again.

This afternoon, my sister asked me if I had a bathing suit to wear in Key West. Um, no. The last bathing suit I bought was a size 12/14. I hate to swim, so I never have a need for a bathing suit. But I started thinking about how I should probably get one for Key West, just in case.

I'm super self-conscious of my thighs and my stretch marks. My thighs have very saggy skin, and my belly still has stretch marks. So I wanted a bathing suit to cover those things, and it's hard to find a cute one that does the job! Jerry and I decided to go to JCPenny, so I could see if they had any suits. Being December, I wasn't hopeful.

It turns out they had just ONE left. And what's kind of funny is that I thought it was pretty cute! I tried it on, and it worked well enough. I'm still self-conscious of my thighs, but if I get really desperate, I think I can pull it off. I will not embarrass myself by posting a picture of me wearing it, but here is what it looks like:

Not a bad suit for being the very last one they had! It has an optional neck strap, so I would certainly use that if I end up wearing it. But anyway, I'm glad to have it in case I need it. My other bathing suit is so baggy that you can seriously see my butt cheek through the leg hole.

We leave for Florida two weeks from tomorrow!! I cannot believe it's coming up so fast. I'm super excited!

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Indiana, Day 2

Another rather relaxing day today. I did get up and run this morning, trying to maintain my routine. While everyone else was getting breakfast together, I headed outside to run a few miles. I was scheduled for 400-meter repeats today, but since I've never run around here before, and I had no idea where I was going, I figured I'd just run 3 miles and call it a day.

It was 40 degrees this morning--still warm for this time of year!--so I just wore my running tights and a long-sleeved shirt. It was kind of funny how many cars I saw running in their driveways, "warming up". It certainly didn't feel that cold to me! ;)

I didn't want to get lost, so I just ran out a mile and a half, with just one turn in there. It's always kind of scary to run in an unfamiliar place alone, so I left my iPod at the house, and just tried to get the run over with quickly. I wasn't intending to run very fast, but I was a little creeped out, so I guess my pace reflected that. Anyway, I turned around after a mile and a half, and then came back the same way I went out.

After that, I came in and made my breakfast. I made my usual as of lately--oatmeal with caramel, chocolate chips, and coconut, for a total of 6 PointsPlus. It tasted heavenly today, for some reason. I would definitely choose that over the greasy bacon and sausage and stuff that the guys were eating.

In the afternoon, my parents gave the kids a couple more Christmas presents, and Eli got some Army Legos. He wanted to put them together right away, and I happen to love building with Legos, so Jerry and I helped him.

He got two large sets, so Jerry and I built the first set, and then started working on the other. By that time, I was ready to be done. Eli had lost interest a while ago, so we were on our own. Yesterday's Subway was so good that I was craving it again, so Jerry went to pick that up for us for lunch. Unfortunately, it wasn't half as good as yesterday; the bread was pretty stale.

It was driving me crazy to see all the junk food on the counter in plain view (my mom actually asked me to help her make Reese's Cup Pie by unwrapping Reese's Cups--umm, no). So Jerry and I then drove a couple of miles to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone. That definitely hit the spot! Today's cone looked decent:

Kind of small, but that is the size that they are supposed to be--the "5-PointsPlus-size" :)  I always count them as 5 PP, but sometimes they are bigger, and sometimes they are smaller. I just go with whatever I get.

I've done really well with counting my PointsPlus and sticking to my plan while I'm here. It's been SUPER hard, with all of the junk food, but I want to go home on Wednesday at my goal weight, so I keep thinking about that.

My older brother and his girlfriend Becky flew in today, so now everyone is here. We'll probably be playing games tonight, and I certainly want to have my (rationed) wine ;)  Oh, speaking of alcohol, look what I saw at Wal-Mart when I stopped there for a minute today with my brother...

I really wanted it, but I am totally clueless when it comes to liquor, and would have no idea what to mix it with! A couple of people on Twitter suggested pineapple juice, for a pineapple upside down cake flavor--yum! But I didn't buy it. Maybe next time. :)

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Indiana, Day 1

Today has been pretty low key. I stayed away from watching any kind of news, and I'm glad. I just felt so awful yesterday, and watching the news made me feel even worse.

This morning, I was up early, and I've been kind of scared to run in the dark lately, so I got on the treadmill. On the schedule was four miles at an easy pace. I set up my computer in front of me, and just tried to forget I was running--not easy, when I really didn't want to run today! I kept increasing the speed throughout the run so that I could be done faster.

I guess that would no longer make it an "easy pace" run, but I really wanted to be done.

When I finished running, I packed for our trip to Indiana. Phoebe and Estelle helped me, obviously.

The cats knew something was going on, because they were all over me. A family friend is going to be house sitting/cat sitting while we're gone, so they won't be alone too long, but when we get the suitcases out, they know something is up.

We got on the road shortly after breakfast. The rental house is three hours from our house, so the ride wasn't too bad. My parents and younger brother, Nathan, were already there when we got there, and my sister arrived shortly after. We had a very relaxing afternoon, just hanging out and chit chatting.

My sister brought a little game for the kids to play. She wrapped a gift with many layers of wrapping paper and tape. Then the kids had to wear gloves (to make it harder to unwrap the gift); Eli started by rolling dice until he got doubles, and meanwhile, Noah was working on trying to unwrap the gift. When Eli got doubles, Noah had to pass the gift to Eli, and Eli had to try to unwrap it before Noah got doubles. And back and fourth, until the gift was unwrapped. A cute game for the kids!

There is a ton of food here. My dad, whom I got my sweet tooth from, brought doughnuts, Reese's Cups, Coffee Crisps (the full-sized ones!) and other stuff. My mom brought a ton of chips. But I don't want these few days to turn into the disaster that was Tennessee last year, when I gained all kinds of weight in this same situation.

Yesterday, I wrote out a meal plan for all three days, mapping out exactly what my meals and snacks are going to be. That way, I don't overdo anything, and I don't gain weight while I'm here. I bought running clothes to go for a run tomorrow and Tuesday. My mom made tacos for dinner, so I made my Mexican Lentils and Rice, and made a huge taco salad with it for 10 PointsPlus. (The PP would have been lower, if I had thought to bring my fat free sour cream and fat free cheese, but I had to use the full fat stuff that my mom brought).

It's been really hard to resist the candy--I just wrote about how much I love Coffee Crisps!--but I know that if I start, I won't stop. I was also worried about spending all of my PP on alcohol, but I decided to buy those little single-serving bottles of wine, and I brought six of them with me--to have two per day. I wanted to keep my routine here almost the same as at home, with just a little splurge. And my little splurge is an extra glass of wine each day ;)

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Sad

I've been feeling so sad all day today. I know I should turn off the news, but I can't stop watching. And I can't watch it without crying. I feel so, so bad for all the people who were somehow involved with the horrible tragedy in Newtown.

I keep thinking of how scared those poor kids must have been, how those teachers had to make split-second decisions that could impact whether they lived or died, the parents who were waiting to hear if their children would be coming home, and even the police officers who had to walk in there and see all of those children's bodies. (I can't even type all this without crying).

My boys are both in elementary school, and the thought of them going through something like that is almost too much to bear. I asked them if they do lockdown drills at school, and they do--they explained to me what they were told to do. Eli asked me a bunch of questions about it, and I answered them the best I could without scaring him. Schools really ought to have panic rooms in all their classrooms--sad, but true.

This whole thing makes me scared to even let my kids out of my sight. It seems like kids aren't safe anywhere anymore. And they have to grow up so fast, seeing and learning about things that they shouldn't have to at this age.

Anyway, sorry this is a depressing post--but I'm sure most everyone is feeling this heartbreak today as well. Will hopefully have a most positive post tomorrow :)

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Starvin' like Marvin

Last night was fun! My kids had two events to choose from--their school was having an open house for Christmas, so the families could go and play games and see Santa and all that; and my aunt had invited us to go decorate cookies at her house. When I asked the kids what they wanted to do, they both said they wanted to go decorate cookies. I thought that was cute, and told my aunt how much they love going over there.

Eli was 100% better yesterday, no issues at all with his stomach. I'm glad, and just hoping it stays that way!

I was debating what to do about dinner last night--I knew my aunt would have food, but it wouldn't be very WW friendly. I had a CLIF bar before I left, and then at her house, I planned to not eat anything. There were cupcakes and a zillion cookies, hamburgers, macaroni and cheese, and tortellini soup. I could pass on it all, but the cookies were really tempting.

I finally decided to make a small one, load it up with frosting, and just estimate the PP in it. I ended up eating another half of one after that, but I'm happy I didn't go all-out and stuff my face with them.

Noah was eating his as fast as he could make them ;)

My mom said she would drive the boys home so that I could go to the Advent Tea that Renee had invited me to at her church. I left my aunt's house and went right to the church. There was more temptation--Biscoff cookies!!, and a lemon tart that Renee had made (plus tons of other desserts that I didn't even go look at). I put a two-pack of the Biscoff cookies in my purse to take home for later, and then was trying to decide if I should have a piece of the lemon tart.

I ultimately decided to have a piece, and look up the PP later. What's the point of being at goal if I can't enjoy these things? I ate a piece of the tart, and it was delicious! (When I looked up the PP later, I saw that it was 12!! That's a lot.) The tea was fun though, and it was nice to chat with adults for a couple of hours ;)

This was Renee's table--in front, Renee, me, Jessica, and Kerry; in back
is Stephanie and Andrea (photo from Stephanie)

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Jerry was off work today, so after the kids left for school, we had breakfast. Oatmeal with caramel, chocolate chips, and coconut...

I was hoping the carbs would help fuel me for my long run this morning. This is scheduled to be a step-back week (reduced mileage), so my long run was supposed to be seven miles. But since I'm going to Indiana for a few days, and I'm going to want to have extra PointsPlus to use there, I decided to run 11 miles instead. After last week's 10-miler, I was actually kind of looking forward to another long run on my new route.

I turned on Jillian Michaels' new podcast on my iPod, and headed out for an out-and-back run. After about a half-mile, I really had doubts about finishing. I normally run on an empty stomach, and I think maybe the fact that I ate before heading out made me feel crappy. I was debating in my head for a couple of miles whether to turn around, and I figured I could turn around at the 3.5 mile mark if I wanted, and just do 7 miles after all.

After mile three, I started to feel a little better. Not great, but certainly more bearable. I turned around at mile 5.5, and then at mile 8 or so, I was hit with a horrible hunger. I never feel hungry when I run, but this was awful. My stomach hurt badly from being so hungry! I was hoping Jerry would drive by to check on me or something, so I could hitch a ride (I should have brought my phone). The last couple of miles dragged, but my pace was great! My current half-marathon PR pace is 9:23/mi, so I was on pace for a half-marathon PR. With some more work, I can get my sub-2:00 half-marathon time.

When I got home and heard the beep of 11 miles, I ran into the house and started making a protein shake before I even showered. I threw some almond milk, protein powder, frozen raspberries, blueberries, and spinach, and some lemon and orange flavored Stevia (I'm working on a review for these, which I will post soon--I love them so far!) in the blender. It was really, really good! But it wasn't very pretty, that's for sure:

I showered, and was still hungry, so I had lunch immediately after (an omelet and some toast with peanut butter), and the Biscoff cookies from the tea last night. And later, Jerry and I got a vanilla cone from McDonald's. They did a good job with the cone today--we always look forward to seeing how our cones will look ;)

Today was one of those days where I just felt ravenous all day. Good thing I opted for 11 miles instead of 7, because I could surely use the extra PP!

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I had all of the above written before I heard the news about the elementary school shooting in Connecticut. I normally keep my blog pretty light-hearted, but I was completely heartbroken today when I heard about it. I feel absolutely horrible for the families of those poor kids. Please keep the families in your thoughts and/or prayers this Christmas. I can't even begin to imagine how heartbroken they feel right now.

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Virtual Active videos review

Thank you so much for all the nice comments on my post yesterday. I am still so, so excited to be at goal!

Yesterday afternoon, Eli was complaining about a stomachache. He's not the type to make that stuff up, so I felt bad for him. He was moaning and lying on the couch. At around 6:00, he said he felt like he was going to throw up, and he started crying because he hates the feeling of throwing up. I took him into the bathroom, and sure enough, he threw up everything he'd eaten that day. Poor kid. His stomach felt much better after that.

I had plans to meet Stacie at Tim Horton's again at 7:00, so I left as soon as Jerry got home. I spent about an hour chatting with Stacie, and when I got home at 8:15, Jerry said Eli threw up again a few minutes prior. He didn't have a fever or any other symptoms, and he felt better after that, so he went to bed.

At 1:00 in the morning, he came into our room and said he felt like he was going to throw up again. So again, into the bathroom he went, and again, he threw up. I'd already decided to keep him home from school, but I really hoped that it was just a short stomach bug or something. He hadn't eaten anything that I thought would be suspicious of food poisoning.

This morning, I kept him home, but he was much better and hasn't thrown up again. He's been eating just fine, so who knows what was going on.

I went to weigh in at Weight Watchers, then came home and ran 4 miles on the treadmill. Last week, I got some DVD's from a company called Virtual Active. I was really excited when they asked me to do a review of them, because when I looked at their website, I remember wanting to order those DVD's a LONG time ago. I don't remember where I'd heard of them, or why I didn't order them, but they looked interesting.

The DVD's are for viewing while you're on a treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike. The videos are supposed to give you the feel that you are running (or hiking, or biking) through different places in the world. They sent me a variety...

Since I did a few treadmill runs recently, I was able to try them out. I did the American Southwest run and the Northern Italy run. It was fun to try something new, and here are my thoughts:

Positives
*There is an option to have a (rather good-looking) "trainer" on each video, telling you when to change up your speed or incline, so you're not running the same speed the entire time. It's nice variety within the workout.
*The trainer doesn't give you specific speeds or incline--he may tell you "easy pace, moderate incline" and YOU choose the numbers. He'll give you a PRE number (perceived rate of exertion). It's a scale of 1-10, 1 being very easy and effortless, 10 being as hard as it gets. So again, YOU choose the speed and incline numbers to hit that PRE. Anyone (fast or slow, beginner or experienced) could do it.
*There is a little graph that pops up occasionally to show you were you are in the length of the workout, and its difficulty level. I liked seeing this to know how much I had left.
*It's easy to watch while exercising--sometimes it's hard for me to watch TV shows when I exercise hard, but this was so simple that you don't have to focus or think much.
*If you choose, you can watch the video without the trainer, and just go whatever speed you want. But I really liked the trainer. He talks to you about the scenery that you're seeing and gives you running tips occasionally.
*Each video is broken up into a handful of different locations, spending roughly 5 minutes in each. This would be great for beginners, to try and make it through one location first, and then two, and then three, etc. But they all play back-to-back, so advanced runners/bikers/walkers don't have a lag between each location.

A screen shot of the workout. The 6 is the PRE, and the arrows pointing to
the right are the speed (moderate, because two are highlighted);
the arrows pointing up are the incline (also moderate).

Negatives
*I think I would get bored with the same DVD after a few workouts. Part of the reason I liked it was that I didn't know what was next, so if I watched the same one a few times, I would know what to expect.
*A couple of times, I actually felt a little dizzy watching it! I would get caught up in the scenery, and not realize that I was getting off-center on the treadmill. That could just be my clumsiness...
*The workouts are short (at least compared to what I'm used to). They are 35 minutes (which includes a 5 minute cool down). It would be nice to have a longer option, or even a "continuous repeat" option.
*Cost. The DVD's are priced at $19.95, and I think that's a lot for a 35-minute workout. However, there is a download option (where you download the video instead of getting a DVD) and that is much more reasonable at $7.95. You have to choose between "guided" and "basic" download--the "guided" means with the trainer; the "basic" is just the scenery. Personally, I would choose guided.

Anyway, you can see sample videos on their website--and what you see in the samples is what you get (except the samples change scenes much faster than the video)--which is nice so that you aren't disappointed when you get it. I am going to be giving away at least one, if not two, of the DVD's as a prize in the virtual 5K next month. They sent me a biking one, which I know I won't use, so if you use a stationary bike, you might like it :)

(In full disclosure, I was given the Virtual Active DVDs for free to review and/or give away; but opinions, as always, are my own).

I've got a busy evening today. We were invited to go to my aunt's house to decorate Christmas cookies. She has her grandkids over every year to decorate cookies, and she always includes my kids as well--which is very nice, because my kids don't have any cousins to do stuff like that with! From there, I'm going to an "Advent Tea" at Renee's church.

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I DID IT!! My goal weight!!

I woke up to a very unexpected, but pleasant, surprise on the scale this morning for my Wednesday Weigh-In:

MY GOAL WEIGHT!!

I've never reached my goal weight in all my years of dieting. I did see 133 a couple of years ago, but my goal was 126 at the time, so I never actually reached goal. I later revised my goal to 133, and I've been trying to get there ever since.

It's kind of strange though, that I don't really feel any different than I did yesterday. Technically, I can switch over to "maintenance" mode, where I get to add more PointsPlus to my day; but I'm scared to. It's not that I'm afraid of gaining weight, because I'm not. I've just never, ever been to this point where I can stop trying to lose weight. It's so strange!

I don't know what I was expecting from Weight Watchers when I logged my weight, but it wasn't very exciting ;)

I decided to take my measurements, just to see how they compare to August 2009, when I was my heaviest. It's kind of amazing how many inches I've lost:

I think the most shocking is my neck. I can't believe I lost 4.5 inches in my neck! I never even thought of my neck as being fat, but looking back at the pictures, it definitely was.

Some snippets from my blog from 2006 about my goal weight:

"My goal weight is 150. I'd LOVE to get to 135, but I've never weighed less than 152 in my adult life, so I'm being realistic." 

"I can't even describe the hatred I feel right now for myself. I hate that I screw everything up. I hate being fat. I hate that I can't just stick to WW for long enough to reach my goal weight. I hate that I love food more than anything else."

And here are some from 2009:

"I wanted to binge today SO BADLY. I made the mistake of weighing myself and got really discouraged at the not-so-big number. I was expecting to have lost a lot so far, and I haven't, and it made me want to binge because I felt like all this effort wasn't paying off. But, I stuck to it and try to keep my mind off of it, and I chose not to binge. I want to see this through to the end--to finally reach my goal weight." 

"I can't believe I've gone 29 days now without bingeing. It's been a LONG time since that happened--probably over 2 years. I would much rather eat whatever I want, whenever I want, however much I want; but I'm hoping that reaching my GOAL weight will make it worth it. I don't know if it will, because I've never been at goal. The only reason I keep doing this is to reach my goal."

It's so interesting to see how my mindset has changed, even since 2009. I went from feeling 100% hopeless to actually believing that I would reach my goal--not IF, but WHEN.

I would really like to get some great goal weight photos (Stephanie?? I'll pay you with lots of wine!) but for now, here is a picture from today vs. my before picture. I chose that before picture because it looks like I'm laughing at the "new me".  The new pic is a little blurry, because Noah took it. ;)

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When the scale doesn't budge

Interval run today. I really didn't want to do it, and I realized that I've been dreading my runs a lot again lately. After the marathon, I loved the short, fast running. I decided that I'm going to rework my running plan, so that I won't dread it (as much) anymore.

I've liked running five days a week, so I'm going to continue to do that. And I have to include a long run up to 12 miles once a week. For the other four runs, I'm going to keep them short instead of increasing distance like my schedule calls for. The shorter runs will be 3-4 miles; two at an easy pace, one at a tempo pace, and then one for intervals. The interval run will include eight 1/4 mile repeats. That's how the schedule was shortly after the marathon, and I really liked it.

So today was an interval run, and I decided to do eight repeats instead of nine. I also decided to do them on the treadmill; not sure why. I set the treadmill for 9.0 mph (that's a 6:40/mi pace--yikes!) and then hopped on. I ran like hell for 1/4 mile, and then hopped off and took a breather while the treadmill kept going for 1/4 mile. And I repeated that for a total of eight time.

That speed was HARD. It took me roughly a minute and 40 seconds to do each interval at 9.0 mph. That's a long time to run that fast! I used to do my 30 second sprints at that speed, and it was tough then. After doing eight intervals, I'd only run for a little over 13 minutes total, but I was completely spent and dripping with sweat.

After I was done, I took Noah to the doctor--he's had a stubborn cough. He gets asthmatic bronchitis every year at this time, so I was sure that's what it was. I have have to give him breathing treatments three times a day until it clears up.

When I got home, I started working on a cover for my Weight Watchers 3-month journal. I had just made the denim one when WW went and changed the size of their journals, so I wanted to make a cover for the new one. I used a giraffe print fabric, and I love how it turned out!

Tomorrow is my Wednesday Weigh-in, but I don't think I've lost this week. Last week, at 134, I was just a single pound from goal--but these last few pounds have been killer to get off. I still haven't binged (93 days now!), and I've counted my WW PointsPlus religiously, but I've seen 134-135 all week on the scale.

Speaking of that, my sister called me yesterday to ask about weight loss and running. She signed up for the virtual 5K next month, and she said her goal is to run the whole thing. She sent me a text about a week ago saying that she ran a whole mile without stopping, which I was super excited about. She ended up running about four miles total last week.

She's also been completely religious about counting WW PointsPlus, and she was expecting to see a big loss on the scale--but she "only" lost 0.4. That's completely discouraging for her, which I totally understand. My mom had the same thing happen when she started training for the 5K as well. As soon as she started the C25K program, her weight loss stalled, even though her diet was great.

I get e-mails all the time asking the same thing, and I just want to say that it's normal! It happened to me when I first started running, as well as after I've taken a week or more off of running (after my surgeries and after my marathons). I wrote a post about it a while ago, which you can find here. But basically, your muscles hold on to water when you start pushing them by exercising.

The scale may stall, but if your diet is good, you're probably still losing fat. It might take a couple of weeks to start moving again, which can be frustrating. In the past, that always used to make me give up on my efforts. In 2010, when I started training to walk the Indy half-marathon, the only reason I didn't quit exercising was because I had committed to that race. I knew if I stopped exercising, my body would drop those few extra pounds of water that my muscles were holding onto, but I wanted to do that race--so I stuck it out. And after a few weeks, the scale picked up again.

I've posted this picture before, but I sent it to my sister last night, so I post it again here:

I weighed the same in both of these pictures--152 pounds. In the picture on the left, I was wearing barely squeezing into size 12 jeans. I had just lost about 50 pounds before my wedding by doing Weight Watchers; I didn't exercise at all, I just counted WW Points. In the picture on the right, I was wearing size 4 jeans. I had just lost 101 pounds from diet AND running. The only variable is the running.

Think of this when the scale isn't moving, but you're doing everything right--you WILL see progress if you keep moving forward!

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