Morning with my boys

I wanted to sleep in so badly this morning, but I'm just used to being up early (6:00) and I was wide awake, so I just got up. Since Saturday is a rest day, I didn't have to run this morning, but I wanted to get in a little activity on my ActiveLink. I actually convinced my kids to go for a walk at 8:00 this morning, in the freezing cold!

We dressed warm, but I still wasn't expecting it to be quite as cold as it was. When I run, I start to get warmed up pretty quickly, but walking didn't really help. We planned to go all the way around out neighborhood (one mile), but we decided to take a shorter route because it was so cold.

I had plans of taking the kids to the movies, so we walked to the liquor store and I let them pick out candy to bring to the movies, then we walked home. It started snowing pretty hard on the way home, and we even tried catching snowflakes on our tongues (it's harder than I thought).

We stopped for a picture on the way home. When we got back to the house, both of the boys said they liked going for a walk, and wanted to go again after the movies. I told them I'd walk with them anytime! I was really surprised that they enjoyed it--they usually complain about stuff like that.

The movie theater was showing Wreck It Ralph for free, so we went to the 10:00 show. Kids are free, and adults are only $1--a great deal! But naturally, the boys wanted to spend their money on food there, so they got "kid's packs", which was a small box of popcorn, fruit snacks, and a drink. I brought a little baggie of almonds with me to have if I was hungry, and I was glad I brought it, because I was starving when the movie started.

During the movie, I volunteered to go get the kids a refill on their drink--with the intention of getting in some extra activity from all the stairs, because we were sitting at the very top row. The movie was just okay, in my opinion, but the kids loved it.

When we got home, we went over to my mom's house so I could help her upload some pictures. Then we came home and I made lentil chili for dinner. I haven't made this in a while, because I'd kind of forgotten about it, but it's SO good. And it's only 4 PointsPlus per cup! I had a cup and a half, and topped with fat free cheese and sour cream, and the whole bowl was only 8 PP.

I'm going to make that more often, because leftovers make a good lunch, too. Here is the recipe.

I've been eating more than usual this week, because my ActiveLink is giving me more activity points than I normally would have counted. So I'm going to try and eat ALL of them this week just to see what happens with my weight. I've been having a little extra peanut butter on my oatmeal, a little extra wine at night, and an extra snack in the afternoon, usually a Clif bar.

I don't think I'm going to get in all of my activity today for my ActiveLink challenge. It's really hard to be that active! I really have sat down much all day (just at the movies), but I'm only at 70% of my target right now. I don't know how people do it without doing some sort of aerobic activity for at least 30-40 minutes. I do like having that challenge, though, because I'm always looking for ways to get in a little movement (like going down the stairs for refills at the movies--normally, I don't do refills, because I don't want to leave my seat!)

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A true run for cookies

Early this week, someone tagged me in a photo on Instagram (for the life of me, I can't find it now--I tried!) It was a photo of a cookie sandwich (two cookies with buttercream frosting sandwiched in-between), and she said that she had saved up 20 PP all week to eat that cookie.

I love that people think of me when they eat well-earned cookies! ;)  Anyway, it looked SO good, and I decided right then and there that I was going to get a cookie sandwich after my long run this week. Yes, I could have just used my weekly PointsPlus to get it on any old day, but for some reason, indulgences like that taste so much better after I've worked hard for them.

I thought about that cookie all week, and that is the only reason I was looking forward to my long run today. It's actually kind of pathetic how much food motivates me, hahaha. Anyway, I had it in my mind to run 12 miles. I don't know why I've been picking 12 lately for a long run.

I debated whether I should do the treadmill again, so I could watch Sons of Anarchy; or if I should run outside. Running outside is always preferable--it's better practice for racing, I feel like it's harder so I get a better workout, and it's not nearly as boring. So, despite the fact that Jax was calling me to watch SoA, I decided to run outside. The temperature was great for running, there was no slush or snow or rain, or anything like that, so I had no other excuses.

As soon as I headed out, I realized, "Oh--it's pretty windy outside!" But I felt like I was running at a decent pace (my Garmin was under my sleeve, so I couldn't see my pace without some effort). A few miles in, I felt like I was running too fast--I was getting tired, so I figured I'd better slow down. But first, I checked out my pace to see how fast I was actually going.

9:10/mile. What the heck?! I hardly ever see miles in the 9's anymore. And I felt like I was running so hard. The wind was ridiculous, and even though I was putting in a lot of effort, I felt like I was running in place at times. I wanted to get my overall average pace below 9:00/mi, so I pushed harder. After a couple minutes, I looked down again--9:03.

Then it was a challenge to get my pace under 9:00. But it seemed like no matter how hard I ran, the pace wouldn't drop below 9:01. I was so tempted to turn around early and make it a shorter run today, but I kept thinking of that damn cookie sandwich!

After running out for five miles, I made a right turn and the wind was now coming sideways instead of right in my face. That helped a little. I ran one more mile and turned around to head home. It was a relief to have a tail wind for most of the run home! You can definitely see from my mile splits when I had a head wind and when I had a tail wind:

I'm just hoping that I have a nice, calm day when I run my half-marathon next month. I was so glad to be done:

See the little white spots on my headband? Those are ice crystals from where my sweat froze! I compared this run to last week's 12 miles on the treadmill, and saw that I finished four seconds faster today than on the treadmill, but my heart rate was much higher today. Usually, for a long run outside, my heart rate is about 145. Today it was 157, which shows how hard this run was today.

As soon as I went in the house, before I showered or anything, I wanted to see how many Activity PP I earned from my run. I plugged the ActiveLink in, and was shocked at what I saw:

I'd earned 19 PP and it wasn't even 10:00 in the morning! I think I actually did a happy dance when I saw that. Surely those 19 PP would cover my cookie sandwich, right?

First, I showered and then headed to Weight Watchers before going to Mrs. Fields. Hahaha, two opposite ends of the weight loss spectrum, no doubt. I was terrified to go into Weight Watchers--the last time I went in there was when I left really upset at being treated rudely by the receptionists.

I kept praying that there would be different receptionists there today--normally, I go on Thursdays, so I figured going on Friday, maybe I wouldn't have to deal with it. I walked in, and the ONLY two people in there were the two receptionists that I had an issue with a couple of weeks ago. From the moment I walked in, however, they were super nice and friendly. I don't know if they read my blog, or maybe they were just having bad days all the other times I saw them, but they were super nice today.

Also, when I weighed in, I didn't get any comment on my weight--which I was grateful for. Later, I looked at it and saw that my WW weight was down over 4 pounds from two weeks ago. Whoops! I forgot to rehydrate after my run today before weighing in, so I'll probably be up next time. Anyway, I got my weekly materials, and a new code for the e-tools, and was on my way. I'm going to plan on going to my meeting on Thursday, and hopefully I have the same (good) experience.

Next, I stopped at the mall and went straight to Mrs. Fields. I already knew what I wanted--a chocolate chip cookie sandwich--and went home after that. I was so tempted to start eating it in the car, but I wanted to sit down at home and really enjoy it, so I tried to have a little patience ;)

I also needed to calculate the PointsPlus in it before eating any of it. It was roughly the size of my palm, and I figured it probably wouldn't even add up to the 19 PP that I'd earned. I took the top off, and weighed just the cookie (63 grams). Then I weighed the other cookie with all the frosting on it (114 grams). Since there were two cookies, that meant there were 126 grams of cookie, and 51 grams of frosting.

The WW website lists a Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookie as being 48 grams in weight for 6 PP. Since my cookies were 126 grams, I was having 16 PP worth of cookie. Then I looked up butter cream frosting, and the 51 grams of that came to 7 PP. So 16+7=23 PP for the cookie sandwich.

I was surprised it was so high! I know cookies and frosting are pure junk food, but it honestly wasn't ginormous. Regardless, I'd earned every bite of that cookie, so I savored it. It was heavenly! And I didn't feel any guilt for spending that many PP on junk, because I worked really hard for it.

It was pretty rich, and after eating the whole thing, I felt a little nauseous. Not horribly, but I probably should have split it in half and ate half of it after dinner or something. I can't believe I used to eat two of those (at least) when I was obese. And I honestly didn't even enjoy them as much as I did this one. It's funny how that works!

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Getting in more daily movement

Yesterday was a rest day. I was curious how it was going to go with the ActiveLink, because the ActiveLink gave me a goal of earning 3 PointsPlus per day. When I run, I earn those PP very quickly. But yesterday was the first day that I had a rest day while doing the ActiveLink challenge.

Wearing the ActiveLink has certainly gotten me motivated to move more. I love to eat, so if moving more earns me more PP to spend, then I will do it ;)  I had some errands to run yesterday, which involved me getting in and out of the car a few times, crossing parking lots (I made sure to park far away, but I do that most of the time anyway), and just moving around in general. I was surprised to see by lunchtime, I hadn't even gotten to 25% of my goal for the day!

I did laundry after lunch, and to get in a lot of steps, I put away the laundry one article of clothing at a time--ridiculous, right? Jerry was making fun of me the whole time. I had the basket of clothes on the living room floor, and I would pick up one item and go put it away before getting another. I spent at least 15 minutes doing that, and I just barely reached the 25% mark.

My house is super clean right now--I've been looking for every excuse to move, so I've been cleaning counters and floors and everything a couple of times a day. I continued with that yesterday, and by dinnertime, I was just over 50%--which was my baseline (the minimum movement I'm supposed to do on a daily basis). It was exhausting!

I was very determined to get to 100%, however, so I created a little game with the kids--and they had a blast with it! We walked single file around the house in a big loop--through the living room, kitchen, and hallway. For each loop, we added something else that we had to do during that loop--first, we had to pet each cat as we walked by; then we had to touch each chair and pet each cat; then we had to give Jerry a kiss, touch each chair, and pet each cat; then march the loop instead of walking it while doing all those things; and so on. (It reminded me of that Father Abraham song, where you keep adding a body part to move for each verse).

It sounds completely ridiculous, but both kids said, "This is the most funnest thing we ever did before bed!" and they loved it. After doing that for a while, I was at 91%. I was totally ready to just sit down and watch The Middle with Jerry and the boys, but being so close to 100%, I walked in place for the first 10 minutes or so of the show, and finally... FINALLY... reached 100%!

I cannot believe how much activity it takes to earn just 3 PP in a day when I don't run. This morning, I ran four miles after the boys left for school, and by 8:40 AM, I'd already reached 100% of my goal (3 PP). I did the four miles on the treadmill this morning, because outside is full of slush--so hard to run in. Also, I needed to get my fix of Jax on Sons of Anarchy ;)

Anyway, I don't know how people reach their ActiveLink goal on rest days! Especially when their goals are higher than mine is, at 3 PP. By the end of the challenge, I'm supposed to be earning 5 PP per day. When it gets nice out, I'll probably go for a walk in the woods, but for now, I'll have to make up silly games with my kids, I guess!

Today's run got me to my goal of 100 miles in February. Having this month be a few days short of all the other months makes a big difference in my mileage--it was tough the last two weeks to reach that goal! Two weeks ago, I saw that I was only at 40 miles for the month--so as of today, I ran over 60 miles in 2 weeks. Now I'll go back to my regular schedule.

Yesterday, Jerry and I had to go to the courthouse to pay his "impeding traffic" ticket--TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS, can you believe that? While we were out, we went to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone. I was craving something a little more indulgent, but I didn't want to blow all of my weekly PP on the first day of my week. After looking up the PP values of the flurries, I saw that a snack-size Oreo McFlurry is only 9 PP. I was going to spend 5 PP on a cone, so I figured 4 more was worth it for the splurge.

I've actually never gotten a McFlurry in my life, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I guess I pictured it to be tiny like the Wendy's miniature Frosties, but I was really impressed when I got it. It's the perfect size! Not big enough to feel guilty for eating it, but big enough to feel like you're indulging. I think it's a 10 fluid-ounce cup, so that's a perfect-sized treat. I'll stick with my vanilla cones most of the the time, but I would definitely get the McFlurry again if I have some extra PP.

I will leave you with this photo that Jerry took of Phoebe--it's SO adorable! She fell asleep wedged between the couch cushion and the back of the couch...

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Weight fluctuations

Everyone has been talking for days about the big storm we were going to have last night. At school, the teachers even sent home extra homework because school was sure to be canceled from the nine inches of snow that we were predicted to get. I could hear it raining all night long, and then this morning, it was quiet. So I looked outside to see the mountains of snow we'd gotten...

Needless to say, the kids were disappointed that they did, in fact, have school today ;)

Yesterday, I was so tempted to run on the treadmill because I was dying to watch some more of Sons of Anarchy, but since the weather was supposed to get bad, I ran outside instead while I was still able to. I felt good, and went farther than I'd planned so that I could be a little closer to my 100 miles/month goal. I was happy I went a couple miles extra, so that Thursday will be a sure-thing to get in my 100th mile.

I was excited to check my ActiveLink and see how many activity PP I'd earned. At that point, I'd already earned 6 PP, and it was only 9:30 in the morning. So the rest of the day, I kept moving as much as possible--cleaning the house, doing laundry, taking extra trips while putting laundry away, etc. Last night, I plugged it in again and saw this:

That extra activity made a huge difference! For the whole day, I earned 12 PP (reaching 204% of my activity goal). Before ActiveLink, I would have counted that run as 6 PP and that would be it for the day. So I'm interested to see how all these extra PP are going to affect my weight. I'm going to eat them and see what happens.

Speaking of weight, today is Wednesday Weigh-in. I was happy to see 131 on the scale this morning...

That's up 0.5 from last week, but I'm not worried about that at all since 131 seems to be my body's "happy weight" that it keeps going back to. On Monday, the scale was up to 134.5(!)--no doubt from all the salty food I ate during the two days before. It was that olive tapenade, I'm sure of it. It's not unusual for my weight to fluctuate a couple of pounds like that after a salty meal.

This brings me to a question I got from a reader in an e-mail last night, and I thought it would be perfect to write about today. She asked, "I'd love to hear your thoughts on fluctuations in your weight now that you're maintaining.  Do you weight yourself daily?  How does that affect how/what you eat?  What weight 'counts' each week, etc."

My mindset over weighing in has changed quite a bit over the past couple of months of maintenance. I've always been a daily weigher, and that hasn't changed. I know weighing every day is not for everyone, but I like to see how certain foods affect my weight (like the tapenade, for example). I know that small fluctuations are normal, and I don't get bothered if I see the scale go up a pound overnight. 

Since reaching maintenance, I still weigh every day, but I only "count" the weight that I am on Wednesday mornings. (I picked Wednesday just because it was the day that I started losing weight back in 2009). Throughout the past couple of months, I've seen numbers as low as 129 and as high as 134.5, but if it's not on a Wednesday, then I don't pay much attention to it.

I don't let the number on the scale affect my eating habits at all (assuming that I'm staying on plan, and not binge eating!). Since I'm doing WW, I just follow the program and trust that my weight will stay pretty steady on a weekly basis. I tend to use my weekly PP in large chunks at a time, so my weight might go up by two pounds overnight, but then I don't have a lot of weekly PP left to do that every day, so my weight naturally goes back down a little.

But I don't look at the scale one day and see, for example, 134, and think, "Oh no! I'd better eat a little less today" or "I'd better cut back on sodium" or something. I just follow the program and trust that my weight will stay fairly steady on a weekly basis.

Here is a graph of my daily weight for the entire month of February... see how it fluctuates each day?

But my Wednesday Weigh-in numbers were much more consistent: 131, 132, 130.5, and 131. 

Maintenance has made me much more relaxed about what the scale says. When I was losing weight, I always used to focus on my Wednesday Weigh-in being lower than it was the previous week. Now, I just follow the program, and my weight is what it is on Wednesday, and I don't stress about it. If it's up a little, I know that's normal. 

Because this is the first time in my life that I'm not actually trying to lose weight, I feel a huge sense of relief. Until December 12, 2012 (the day I reached goal weight), I was always either actively trying to lose weight, or wishing I was losing, or angry with myself for not losing--it was stressful and unnecessary, and I wasted a lot of time thinking about that stuff. Now that I'm not trying to lose, I feel a sense of freedom from all those negative thoughts, and I'm much happier with myself.

It's all kind of hard to explain, but if you've struggled with your weight for your entire life like I have, then you probably understand. I just wish I had been able to reach this place of being happy with my weight before I actually hit goal! But I guess the struggle is what makes it so rewarding to be here now.

If there is one bit of wisdom I can share from all this, it's not to put too much focus on the scale--if you're doing everything right, and the scale isn't showing what you'd like, just trust the process and don't give up! I could easily see 134 and think, "I'm up 3 pounds! This is ridiculous. I might as well just eat ____" (sounds dumb, but that's how I used to think back in the day!) Instead, I just think, "Holy tapenade!" and keep on doing what I've been doing, and trust that my weight will go back to normal ;)

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Oscars party!

As you may remember, Special K gave me the opportunity to host an Oscars party--they sent me Special K Popcorn Chips, a red carpet for decoration, some OPI nail polish, some beaded coasters, and a $100 Visa gift card to buy party supplies. They even generously allowed me to give away the same package to a reader! I was super excited to invite my girlfriends over for some snacks, wine, and of course, the Oscars.

On Sunday evening, Stephanie was the first to arrive, which was convenient since she's my own personal photographer ;) (Thank you Steph for all the pictures I'm about to post!) She looked AMAZING in her jeweled pink gown...

She wanted to get a picture of each of us girls on the red carpet, which was fun...

Me, in my "Vanna White" gown

Tammy

Jessica--I said on the invite that black-tie
attire was optional, and Jess had a long day...
So she chose comfort ;)

Renee

Emma (she made this dress in about 15 minutes
 from a huge choir gown)

Rachael (she came in the best of both comfort
and classy--a dress on top, and pajama pants
underneath)

(Not pictured is my friend Alicia, who would prefer that her photo is not on the blog). I had lots of snacks and wine to go around...

This Olive Tapenade with Crostini was a big hit, and I totally
blame it for my weight jumping two pounds the next day ;)
The rosemary makes it unique and delicious! This was 1 PP for
2 Tbsp, and a little goes a long way.

This Red Pepper & Feta dip was my personal favorite (I used
fat-free cheese, and this came out to 1 PP for 1/4 cup!) I liked
it best with tortilla chips, but it was also good with vegetables--
particularly the red pepper strips.

Citrus Tahini Hummus (a typical hummus recipe, only it
includes adding an orange to the food processor with the
rest of the ingredients--it was good!)

And of course I included the Special K Popcorn Chips--but rather than just throw them in a bowl next to all this food, I wanted to take them to the next level--Oscars level. (The chips they sent me were the Sweet & Salty variety). Since I had recently bought some chocolate-covered potato chips from Trader Joe's, I thought, "Hmm... I bet these would be great dipped in chocolate!"

So I melted 3/4 of a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave until it was dip-able, and I dunked one corner of each chip in the chocolate and laid them out on foil to harden the chocolate before putting them in a bowl.

They turned out to be really good! I did try the chips plain, and I also like them that way. They are kind of like a rice cake, but they're really thin, so they're crunchier; also, you get a lot of chips in one serving. I actually bought these chips before, so I already knew I liked them before Special K contacted me.

Anyway, I calculated the PointsPlus in the chocolate-dipped chips, and I could eat four chips for just 1 PP--awesome! I estimate that I probably ate about 16 of them, however--whoops. I was sitting right next to them, and it was hard not to keep reaching for "just one more".

I did make the Guacamole Deviled Eggs I'd mentioned, but they were so ugly that I just couldn't bring myself to take them out of the fridge. I used chili powder instead of the minced serrano chile, so the red powder + yellow yolks + green avocado made for one really gross looking filling. They tasted really good, though! Thankfully, Jerry loved them, so he took them all to work with him yesterday.

For dessert, I made single serving Boston Cream Pie in jars. They were very easy to make, and I love single-serve desserts, so that I don't go overboard.

And what Oscars party would be complete without champagne, right? So we did a champagne toast...

I had so much fun chatting with my friends that I didn't pay too much attention to the Oscars! But I hadn't seen any of the movies that were nominated, so I just blindly picked my winners, and was wrong with all of them ;)

I did pretty well in regards to staying on plan, but I ate more than I'd counted on. I kept picking at the Special K chips and the tortilla chips, which were right in front of me. I plugged everything into my tracker after everyone left, and I was 13 PP in the hole for the week! So I've been working on earning extra activity PP to make up for it. Regardless, I had fun and I don't feel I went overboard, so I wouldn't change anything.

(Very big thanks to Special K who made this happen--I wasn't paid for this post, but like I said, Special K sponsored the party in exchange for my reviewing the chips. This was, by far, the most fun review I've done yet!).

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Motivational Monday #4

Motivational Mondays make me so happy! I absolutely love to read all the positive changes that you have made for yourselves. No accomplishment is "insignificant"--that's why I like to focus on one week at a time. All those little accomplishments add up to BIG accomplishments in the long run :)  

Here are some super inspirational readers and their photos to prove it!

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Libby Dilard (who lost 90 lbs last year!!) completed her first marathon--the National Marathon To Finish Breast Cancer (a.k.a The Donna).

Libby, you look fantastic, and I absolutely LOVE how happy you look in that photo! Great job!

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Laura has lost 60 lbs over the last year, and celebrated with her sisters in Orlando by doing the 5K on Saturday & Princess Half on Sunday! 

Congrats, Laura--both on the weight loss and the races. What a great way to celebrate!

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Allison ran a 10K with her son (who is just 7 years old!) on Sunday. Her son placed third in the 20 and under division!

I got goosebumps when I saw this--he looks so tiny to be running a 10K! That is SO amazing. Congrats to both of you!

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Amber rode her stationary bike over 60 miles last week after nearly a year of not working out. "I feel so great and strong--I started riding 30 minutes, then went to 40, and then 45... today I'm going for an hour!"

Amber, I imagine your picture is blurry because your hands were shaking from all the work you just did! ;) What an AWESOME accomplishment--great job!

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Britt tried on some designer skinny jeans... "I'm not longer too big for the biggest size!!" 

That is such a fun milestone, Britt! You look great in those skinnies!

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My motivational event happened Saturday night at a local 5k. It was called Freezin' For a Reason and the money raised was to benefit a friend of mine who has cancer. He is a volunteer firefighter and a paramedic. I would have never been caught dead in a costume let alone wear one for a race. But I made my costume top to bottom and wore it all night for the race. After the race, myself (I am a firefighter and EMT), his manager at the ambulance base, and two other friends/coworkers took an icy plunge in to a dump tank of water at 8 pm in 20 degree weather as a show of our support to Chris. There was a huge crowd there to watch but I sucked up the courage and jumped out of my comfort zone the whole night. It was a huge success and I am proud that I stepped up and dressed up in a wild costume and also took the plunge.

First off, your costume is ADORABLE--you should be so proud to show that off! And I know just how hard it is to step out of your comfort zone, but you went all out for this. How fun!

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For Motivational Monday, I like to focus on small mini-goals (which is why it's a weekly thing); but I got a few e-mails with before/after photos that were very inspiring, so I'm going to share those as well today. I think that soon, I'll do a special version of Motivational Monday that is just before and after photos, because those are always fun to look at!

Emily lost 12 pounds (2 pant sizes!) in 6 weeks. "I worked out 4 times a week and stuck to my 1 month vegan diet challenge! My endurance has increased incredibly."

That 12 pounds made a huge difference--you look fantastic! Although I have to say, you look great in the "before" photo as well... ;)

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Ashley has lost 47.6 pounds, and is super excited to reach the 50-lb. mark soon!

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From Margaret:
"I teach in an elementary school - each spring we do a 'Colonial Day' with our 4th graders.   Teachers, kids and parents dress up in colonial costume, play colonial games, create colonial crafts and even dance traditional colonial dances. Seven years ago, a parent made this costume for me - LOVED it and wore it each year.   Last year it barely tied...this was just before I made the decision to really get serious about losing weight and running. I started last year on President's Day--this year, I could only wear the hat from the costume!   The apron wrapped all the way around and the vest and skirt just wouldn't stay on! One year and nearly 100 lbs!"

Margaret, that is AMAZING--I'm stunned at what a difference a year can make! Congrats on all your hard work!

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And as always, you can find a ton more on the Motivational Monday Facebook post, so make sure to check that out. Here is a small snippet:

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Anyone have a small goal that you hope to accomplish this week? Please share in the comments!


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First day with the ActiveLink

Finally! My assessment phase for the Weight Watchers Active Link is done, and today I was able to use it to earn PointsPlus. I plugged it in right when I woke up, just to check out what it said before I started my day.

First, it said that I'd earned approximately 3 PP per day while I was in the assessment phase. I was surprised by that! I thought it would be lower. I didn't wear the ActiveLink during a couple of my runs, because I've been running farther than usual to reach my 100 miles in February goal. Here is what it said I earned last week:

The days that I wore it on a run were Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I ran 4, 4, and 5.4 miles respectively. The other days, I either didn't run or I didn't wear it while I ran. If I had been counting activity PP manually, by the book, I would have earned 5, 5, and 6 PP on those days; but the ActiveLink gave me 7, 7, and 9... I'll take it! It said this was my activity pattern...

Basically, I do get in a good workout most days of the week, but other than that, I'm not very active. Which is exactly what I expected it to say, and that's the reason I'm looking forward to using the ActiveLink--to motivate me to move more!

From now on, I have to reach my "baseline" of activity each day--this is a fixed number calculated by my age, weight, sex, etc. It has nothing to do with how much I moved during my assessment. So each day, once I've moved enough to reach the "baseline", any movement beyond that will earn Activity PointsPlus.

They've also set up a challenge for me--since I earned 2-4 Activity PP per day during the assessment phase, I'm supposed to gradually increase that until I'm earning 5 PP per day in 12 weeks.

At the end of the day, I can plug in the ActiveLink and it will automatically add those earned PP to my tracker, so I can eat them :)  Today, I started the day off with a four-mile run on the treadmill.

As soon as I was done, I plugged my ActiveLink into the computer to see if I'd earned any PP for it, or how close I was to reaching my baseline. It turns out that I didn't need to run very far to reach my baseline, because I'd already earned 4 PP and it was only 9:00 in the morning! Since I'd reached my baseline, any movement for the rest of the day would earn me PP (not as much as running, but every little bit of movement helps).

So I spent most of the day cleaning, prepping more food for tonight, and moving around a bit. Just now, when I plugged in the Active Link, it shows that I've earned 6 PP today.

This shows that I woke up at around 6:30, moved around in the morning (got the kids ready for church), ran on the treadmill, then went to the grocery store for a couple of last minute things, and cleaned the house during the afternoon.

I'm happy with the results of this! I was worried I wasn't going to be earning as many PP as I was used to, but it looks like it will work out to be about the same, if not a little more. And it certainly is an incentive to move more during the day!

I hate to cut this short, but my computer is running on battery alone and I have no way to charge it--Jerry accidentally broke my charger today :( 

See that little metal piece? It broke completely off. I called around to buy a new one, but nobody carries it, so I wrote Microsoft to see if they'll let me exchange it. I can use Jerry's computer (my old one) to blog on if needed, but I hate not having all of "my stuff" on the computer.

I'm excited for my girlfriends to come over tonight to watch the Oscars with me! I've actually never watched the Oscars before, so this is new to me. But any excuse for wine and girl talk is a good excuse, right?

I forgot that tomorrow is Motivational Monday, so I'll post about the Oscars party on Tuesday instead of tomorrow.

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