#2765 weekend wrap-up

 It has been a busy and eventful weekend for me. I meant to write on Friday, then it got to be 11 pm and something had to give, so sleep won out over writing. Let's catch up...

On Friday, I went to the gym for the first time in awhile. My work friend told me she was going to a Zumba class at the Vasa near my house and encouraged me to come dancing there. I think the last time I went to a Zumba class might have been in March. I do love to Zumba, and I was planning to go to the gym anyway, so what the heck? I went and we danced our faces off. 

Note that I said I was planning to go to the gym. I set a goal for myself this month that I would go to the gym at least once a week. CHECK!

After dancing, I came home, heated up some leftovers, talked to my mom, picked T up from work, and then I was done with being awake. 

On Saturday, MT and I drove up to Pocatello to attend an open house baby shower for our best friend's son. Caz. He and his wife are having their first baby, and we had to go wish them well. I hadn't seen Caz in awhile, so it was nice to catch up with him for a few minutes. Of course it was wonderful to see my bestie, LA, and her husband. MT always says that they are our oldest friends, which is true. We have been solid friends for over 30 years. 

MT had some work thing he needed to do, so I hung out at Linda and Jake's house (my in-laws). The three of us sat out on their back deck, read, and snoozed. The temperature was in the 70s and it felt wonderful. It was a little smoky because of fires in the area, but it wasn't bad enough to send me inside. They live in a quiet neighborhood, their yard is nice, and my seat on the deck was shady and comfy.

Sitting there with an iced PSL and reading my book was exactly what I wanted to do that afternoon.

MT and I had an early dinner with LA and Rob at a cute little BBQ place. The restaurant had a groovy patio. We enjoy sitting outside to dine, so it was pretty wonderful. The food was good and the company was even better. 

We drove home in the early evening, and the harvest moon greeted us when we got home.

Kind of a cool photo, huh? I don't know how that line got involved, but I like it.

This morning, the day started slow, just how I like it. I made a cup of coffee, grabbed a book, and sat out on my deck for 10 minutes or so before the rush of the day started. So good.

After that, it was all go. I did the docent gig. It was beautiful up at the Garden this morning, of course. 

Wouldn't you like to sit on that bench and let the sunshine warm your face on a cool morning? That's the bench I sit on when I'm in my feelings. That isn't where I hang out when I am being a docent, though.

After the docent shift, I needed to record blooms. I was unable to get to the Garden after work last week, and I will often do blooms on Saturday morning, but I couldn't do that this week, so I had to do them today. The blooms are really winding down now. The anemones and asters are going strong, and there are still some roses and a few others, but not too many fresh new flowers. The leaves haven't quite started to turn yet, except in the highest branches of the tallest trees, like this guy:

I actually took this pic last week, on the 2nd. He's a little more orange and gold up top now. 

I got home around 3 and let myself chill out with football and phone games for about an hour before I started on some chores. I picked T up from work at 6:00, and we went to Lowes. I bought some mums to plant in a pot on the deck. I also bought a coleus plant. I've been wanting one for a long time, and today was the day. He will live inside the house.

After that, it was dinner time (orange chicken from Trader Joe's), a quick walk with the dogs, then helping MT with some paperwork. I just took a cool shower to relax, and now here I am, writing and thinking back on the weekend's good times. 

I really need to get to bed, but there are pages that I want to read. I've gotten myself into another book situation. I can't help myself! Here's the thing: I'm reading Wrong Place Wrong Time and it is really compelling and I need to find out what happens to Jen. That one is an physical book from the library. I am also reading Carrie Soto is Back. Will Carrie win a Slam, five years after she retired from the WTA? Will she become a better human? I gotta know! That book is also from the library, but it is on my Kindle. On Friday I got a notice from the library that a book I had on hold had arrived, and I've been wanting to read it for so long that I couldn't let it go back into circulation. That one is called Beach Read. While I was at the library, I couldn't help but look at what else was available, and on the Lucky Day rack, there sat the new book by Sarah Addison Allen. I LOVE HER BOOKS! I had to get it. The twist on that one is that I can only have it for seven days, no renewals. I just started it this morning, so I only have five days to finish it now. PLUS, I just got a new book from Ekpe for book club. I've got to read 150 pages of that by Saturday at 1:00. To recap, I am reading one book on my Kindle, plus three physical books, and one book impatiently waiting on my nightstand. I know. I'm a nut when it comes to books. #bookworm #problems

So I'm going downstairs to lay on the couch and read for 20 to 30 minutes, hopefully. Honestly, I'll probably fall asleep with ten minutes, but what can I say? 

What's coming up this week? Not too much, really. I'll go to the gym at least one time (#goals). I will finish Other Birds, the book by Sarah Addison Allen. I don't have any concerts or events this week, so it ought to be pretty calm, hopefully.

Take care! Write on your blogs! I want to know what you are doing :)

#2017 WW Wednesday: don't give up

Not this past Saturday, but the Saturday before, Leader Lana's sister was in our group. One of the other ladies, I think it was Amber, was talking about how she was losing weight so slowly and getting discouraged. We've all been there, so there was a lot of nodding and sympathy murmurs. Lana's sister looked at Amber and said, "...it took me 14 years to lose 100 pounds..."

Those words struck such a chord with me. Obviously. I mean, it's been a couple of weeks and I'm still thinking about it. The thing is that I have been on-off WW for 10 years in June and when I started, my goal was to get rid of 100 pounds. Nearly 10 years down the road and I'm half-way there. I have quit and re-started, fuddled around with it for months at a time, yo-yoing the same five pounds up and down, so hearing Lana's sister speak her truth went straight to my heart and I know that I can do it. Clearly it's gonna take me a lot more time than some other people, but this is my journey and will be done at my pace. But it will be done.

100 pounds is a daunting number. I can't and don't think of it like that. This past month, I have thought only of going down one whole number at a time. So like it I was 109.2, I want my next weigh in to be 108.x. It could be 108.9 and I would be happy because it is down to the next number, even though it wasn't a big loss. So far so good with that plan. I focus on doing the things that will get me down to the next number, which for me is to plan my meals ahead of time and stick to the plan. I haven't been great at it this week, but I'm still trying.

WW has always been about hitting five pound goals. They don't give us little gold stars for our five pounds losses anymore, which I think is wrong. I love those little stickers. When I finally lose this five pounds, I'm totally rewarding myself with a sticker and some nail polish. :)

#2007 three things: fresh

1. A fresh month. I'm a big fan of the turning of the calendar. It seems like a fresh start is possible. March is one of my favorite months for three reasons (surprised? 3 is the magic number!)

First, it is T's birthday month, so it's automatically a fantastic month because he was born in it.

Second, two words: March Madness. Love it.

Three: it feels like winter may be winding down and that is always a good thing.

2. Fresh goals. Because I feel each month is a fresh start, I set new goals for myself. A major goal this month is to get all the exercise points (250) from my Apple watch provider so I don't have to make a payment for it. Each time I spend at least 30 minutes at the gym is worth 10 points, so I have to get to the gym 25 times this month. Seems like a lot out of 31 days. That means I can only miss six days! There are other ways to get the necessary 10 points, like walking 10K steps a day which I typically don't do unless I go to the gym. When I walk outside I can usually get all the steps, but it's cold and wintery and I don't like it!

Another goal I have this month is to get rid of four lbs. It is a lofty goal. I can't really remember the last time I lost four lbs in a month. It's something to shoot for and I know it's possible. A pound a week. Gotta focus!

I'm sure there will be other non-weight/exercise related goals, but I'm still thinking about it.

3. A fresh storm. The weatherman says that a winter storm warning is in effect for the Salt Lake valley this weekend. The snow is expected to start Friday night and last through Sunday. Well now the weather app is saying rain in the valley on Friday and Saturday and snow on Sunday. Rain in the valley? I can deal with that!

#2000 obsession

What?!? 2,000 posts! Wow.

*trying to lose weight

Last night I was talking to my mom and she said, "You seem to be a bit obsessed about your weight." She's probably right. I think what I'm really obsessed with is food. I think about food all the time. All. The. Time. When I wake up I think about breakfast. I finish breakfast and I'm thinking about lunch. I think about dinner all afternoon. At the end of the day, I think about what I'll eat the next day. If there is food in the office, I always look at it. Sometimes I can walk away, sometimes I can't. Sometimes I'll eat what I find even if I'm not hungry; I'll eat it because it's there. I basically have no chill when it comes to food.

I have been overweight most of my life. When I was a kid, I spent the summers with my grandparents in California and my grandma and my aunt loved me with food. If I wanted a hot dog, they gave me three, which I ate. Cookies, pies, cakes, donuts...all I had to do was ask. I didn't learn moderation or abide by the food pyramid.

Poor eating habits continued through high school and college. I didn't eat salads until I was in my 30s. I still don't eat many fruits or vegetables. I never developed a taste for them, although I eat way more fruits and veggies now than I ever have, and that's not saying much. On the other hand, about the only dessert I don't like is custard.

So because I have this obsession with food, I have become hyper-aware of my weight. Back in 2008, I was at my heaviest and I finally made the decision to join Weight Watchers. I've dropped 50 pounds and even though some came back, I got rid of it again, and I don't want it back. I'm still over 200 lbs, but "Onederland" (being in the 100s instead of the 200s) is in my sights and it is my most cherished goal at this time.

Please forgive me if I talk about food and my weight often. I'm gonna keep doing it.

#1999 WW Wednesday: not perfect

I usually write about Weight Watchers on Wednesday nights. It helps me stay on track when I think about the meeting. The topic of the meeting on Saturday was about eating at restaurants. Everyone shared their tips and tricks for eating out, like checking out a restaurants menu online before you go so you can make a good choice. If the restaurant isn't online, finding a food similar to what you had in the tracker and using the highest point value if in doubt. I didn't have any "aha" moments from this meeting. I didn't hear anything that I hadn't heard before.

Going to the meetings is good for me. I enjoy hearing about what is working for other people. I also like to hear when people talk about when they don't do as well. Everyone is supportive and both of the groups that meet on Saturdays are fun. Whether I go to the 8:00 or 10:00 meeting depends on whether I go to the gym or if I have other stuff going on that day.

This week hasn't been going very well, WW-wise. What I mean is that I haven't been doing a good job of planning and tracking, so I haven't been making very good food choices. On Monday I was in a day-long meeting for work and today is Valentine's Day and we had our famous "Dip Day" to celebrate at work. On Monday I stayed away from all the snacks and stuck with protein at lunch, but today I got right after the dips. (Delicious, by the way.)

My goal for this week is to maintain my weight from last Saturday. I went to the gym on Monday and Tuesday, and I'll go tomorrow night also. I've got a couple of days to pull it together and make good choices, so I think I'll be all right. Some weeks everything goes great and other weeks are life doing its thing and you just go with the flow.  It's all good.

Progress, not perfection is the motto.

I do have a medium-range goal that I'll share: I would like to lose ten lbs by June 1. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

#1860 three things: Jazz, goals, and looking forward

I've got three things on my mind tonight!

1. Jazz win! I wrote on Friday that I was watching Game 6 of the Utah Jazz/LA Clippers playoff game. Sadly, the Jazz lost on Friday night, which meant that the series came down to Game 7 today in Los Angeles. MT predicted that the Jazz would lose on Friday and win on Sunday. I thought if the Jazz lost on Friday they would lose in LA. For once, I am happy that MT was right! :) The Jazz did in fact win this afternoon, eliminating the Clippers and moving on to the Western Conference semifinals against the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors are a far better team than the Clippers and the Jazz honestly. They have been to the Finals two years in row, winning it all the first time and losing to the Cavaliers last year. They are GOOD. Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are amazing and they have a bunch of other guys like Klay Thompson and Draymond Green who are damn good too. It's gonna be a hard series for the Jazz, but I'll be watching and cheering for them every game. Series starts on Tuesday.

2. I have a goal! Back a few years ago when I was thinner, I had a pair of Levis jeans that I really liked. They were my favorite pair of jeans. They were the jeans that fit just right. I liked the wash, the style, the fit; everything about them was good. When I gained weight, I didn't get rid of those jeans. I vowed I would wear them again one day. Last year I pulled them out of storage and hung them on a hanger and told myself I would wear them on my 50th birthday. That did not happen. However, I think there is a real possibility that I may be able to wear them on my 51st birthday! I tried them on the other day. I could get them on and buttoned and zipped, but I don't think the seams would be able to withstand a lot of sitting and standing up. They were TIGHT, but I could see myself in them in the not too distant future.

My birthday is a month away, five weigh-ins away. In addition to the goal of wearing those size 14 Levis, I also have set a goal to be in "Onederland" - out of the 200s on the scale. I don't care if it's 199.9 on June 3. That will be success. I need to average just under two lbs lost/week which is a tall order, but I think if I stick to the WW plan, drink my water and exercise, it's doable. The most important thing will be to watch what I eat. That might get a little tricky with a trip to Savannah, GA coming up next month. I know I'll be walking a lot during that time at least. Wish me luck!

3. Hello May! April seemed like such a long month to me. It's probably because I am so looking forward to the trip to Savannah with my sister Lizzie. I bet these first two weeks of May fly by, then Lizzie will be here on the 15th and we leave on the 17th. I've been reading about Savannah and thinking about things to see and do. We'll be there Thursday - Monday. I think we may drive up to Charleston, SC one day and maybe out to Tybee Island another day, then exploring Savannah the rest of the time. So excited!

#1616 a big goal announcement

This past week I've been focusing on the food I'm eating. I've been watching my portions, not going back for seconds and really cutting back on sweets and snacks. The only exercise I did was 20 minutes of walking, and I didn't do that on Monday or Tuesday because I was ill.  I tracked (wrote down) everything I ate and focused on staying within my WW points limits.

Today is my weigh in day at Weight Watchers. How did I do? GOOD! I lost 4.4 lbs!!

YAY!! I really needed that loss to boost my spirits.

You see, I have set a goal for myself to be below a certain significant weight by my birthday. My birthday is about 90 days away, and I need to lose about a pound a week in order to achieve my goal. There's not a lot of room to mess up, but it is exciting to have a goal that I really want to reach.

In our WW meeting today we talked about fitness and activity. We were talking about apps we use to help us with our fitness. One was Map My Walk. I've used Map My Ride for when I go for a bike ride, and I think I would like Map My Walk. I'll check it out. Another app that was mentioned is for helping you track how much water you drink and it's called Plant Nanny. I guess you have an eplant and you have to keep it alive by drinking water and logging how much you drink each day. Sounds cute. I gotta check it out :)

I didn't wear my Fitbit today and I feel kind of lost without it. I took it off this morning and plugged it in to charge while I showered and then forgot to put it on. I even went for a walk today at Red Butte Garden and I felt sad that the Fitbit wasn't tracking all my steps. That thing is addictive.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend! Talk to you tomorrow.

#1574 already thinking of next year

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and loved ones. We enjoyed spending a couple of days in Pocatello with MT's family. As an extra bonus, we spent a bit of time with our oldest bestest friends Rob and LA this morning before we came back to Utah. It was all good :)

Now that Christmas is over, I'm already thinking about how I will be such a better person in 2016. HAHAHAHA Seriously, though, I totally love making resolutions, or maybe I what I love is the thought that I could make changes and be different and be better. The Almighty knows I have plenty of room to improve!

The past few years I have been doing a little practice called Unravelling the Year Ahead designed by a lady named Susannah Conway. Part of the practice is finding a word to guide you through the year - kind of a touchstone word. In 2015, my word was WORTH, as in "Know your worth" or  "Is it worth it?" or "Is that worthy of me?" My word was always in the back of my mind, but I feel like I may have lost track of my worth at the end of the year.

Next week, I'll be going through the exercise of finding my word for 2016 and then doing the Unravelling worksheet. Unravelling is fun because you look back at the past year, put it behind you and look ahead to the new year.

2016 is going to be epic for me. T will graduate from high school and start college. MT will turn 55. I will celebrate 50 years on Earth. 50!! I'm freaking out a little about it. 50 just seems so grown up. In my mind I have an image of what I think 50 looks like, and I don't look like that at all. Not necessarily physical looks, but that's part of it.  Aw, I don't know what I'm trying to say. Maybe the Unravelling process will help me define it. I'll let you know.

Two more posts to go in 2015. Talk to you Monday!

~~~~~~

I finished this book! Check out the 2015 Reading List page.

#1492 three things!

Three is the magic number, so it's time again for THREE THINGS!

T is back! He has returned home from his summer adventure in the San Francisco area where he spent a week with some friends. He didn't have too much to say to me about it except that he enjoyed himself and he liked San Francisco. I'm glad that he is home. I missed his face :)




A new treat from Trader Joe's.  Kelsie, Nicole and I made a trip to Trader Joe's at lunch today. In addition to the stuff I usually buy (Ak Mak crackers, Mandarin orange chicken, a bottle of marinara, jars of salsa, etc) I bought a bar of Swiss dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts. I had a square of it after lunch today and, oh! It was so good! It's 3 PP per square, but the flavor is so satisfying and wonderful that it will be worth it some days.

 

I changed some of my Fitbit goals. My mom posted a comment on yesterday's post about the Fitbit. She said she was scared to use it. I told her by text today not to be scared. The results might be a little embarrassing. I'm frequently embarrassed by my laziness when I look at the Fitbit stats. I told her she should wear her Fitbit for a week or so and take a look at her averages and set her goals just a bit above her average. I thought that was such fantastic advice that I changed some of my goals on the device! I've had my Fitbit for almost 2 months and thought I'd accomplished some of the standard goals, I was falling short a lot of times, too. I changed my step goal to 9,200 and my distance goal to 4 miles. I looked at my daily averages and set my goals accordingly. I want to have some success and not always feel like I'm falling short. When I can meet my goals consistently, I'll increase it. I think it's a good plan.

#1491life with the FitBit

I got a FitBit ChargeHR for my birthday in June. I've been wearing it every day and night since I got it. I wore it in Hawaii. I wear it to the gym. I wear it when I sleep. It measures lots of different things and there is a cool app for my beloved iPhone that I gaze at several times a day. What I love about the app is that each category has a graph that shows you what you're doing. I love graphs.

Here's what I have on my FitBit app that I see every time I open it:

The number of steps I've walked in a day. My goal is 10,000. Sometimes I get it and lots of times I don't. When I do hit 10,000 steps, my FitBit vibrates on my wrist and I feel a terrific sense of accomplishment. I can open the Steps to see how many I've taken in the past seven days. Sadly, from last Tuesday through today, I have only walked 10,000 steps one day, on Thursday and I went to Zumba that day. There's a lot of stepping going on in Zumba.

My heart rate.  The Charge HR monitors the heart rate at all times. It also shows your resting heart rate - that is, the heart rate when I am sleeping.

Miles walked in a day. I think I have a goal of five miles a day. Maybe that's not realistic because I don't get it very often. I think it was a default setting. Or maybe I should just walk more (see Number of Steps).

Number of Calories Burned. I think the default goal is 2,500. I'm usually right around there. If I did just a little more walking/physical activity, I'm pretty sure I could do it. I don't worry too much about calories though because of Weight Watchers. I just stay in my Points Plus.

Floors climbed. It actually counts the number of times I go up the stairs. The default goal is 10. I usually achieve that since my bathroom and bedroom is upstairs. Also, my washer and dryer are in the basement, so there some more steps and stairs.

Active minutes. Whenever I exercise, that is, my heart rate is elevated enough for the FitBit to acknowledge that I am doing some physical activity, it counts the minutes. My goal is 30 minutes. Last week I only had one day with active minutes. I was pretty lazy Three or four days of 30 minutes of activity is a good goal. 

Exercise. The FitBit Charge HR shows how many times I exercised and gives me the option to categorize the exercise. Tonight I went for a walk after work. I walked for 31 minutes. It tells me how far I walked (1.42 mi), the pace (22 minute mile - I'm pretty slow, but I have an arthritic knee and a surgically repaired knee. I'm glad to be moving at all!), and the average heart rate (mine was 112 bpm). The impact on your day is also shown: I had 3,374 steps in that 31 minutes, I burned 269 extra calories and had 31 active minutes.

Sleep. This is a big one for me. I love it and I hate it. Last night I went to sleep at 10:39 PM and woke up at 5:34 AM. You'd think that would be about seven hours, but NO. The FitBit ChargeHR says that I woke up one time (true - I went to the bathroom) and I had 23 times that I was "restless" and calculates that to be 43 minutes I was awake/restless so I only got six hours and six minutes of sleep. I have set my sleep goal at seven hours because after nearly two months of wearing this thing, I can tell you that I have not come close to eight hours EVER. I used to think I was a good sleeper, and then I decided that I wasn't and now I know for sure that I am not a good sleeper. That's why I love and hate the Sleep category. 

There are several other categories you can show, like amount of water consumed and your weight and probably other stuff too. You can also find friends that have a FitBit and do challenges with them to keep yourself motivated. I don't really like to compare with others because we are all doing different things and have different goals. I like to challenge myself, but it's fun to see what others are up to.

I won't say that my habits have changed since I got the FitBit, but I am definitely interested in the stats it gives me every day!

#1322 first travel class accomplished

Tonight I finished up my first travel class! I passed :) The online class was called Travel Destinations. There were seven lessons that focused on popular travel destinations for Americans. I learned about three Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. I learned about some states here in the US: Alaska, California, Nevada, Hawaii, New York, Washington DC, Florida and Illinois. Then I learned about Mexico followed by several European countries: England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain (sorry Mia, no Sweden) and finally Australia.

I wrote down lots of stuff and I spent a lot of extra time Googling all of the places that were mentioned in the course. What did I learn? There are some really amazing places in the world. There are a few places that I would really like to go after looking at photos online and doing a little extra research. I think I would really enjoy seeing some parts of England, especially the Lake District. I'd like to go to Ireland, too, and Australia. And Hawaii. And Italy! I have been in Spain before, in and around Barcelona. The course didn't spend much time on Barcelona, and I thought that was a short-coming of the program.

Now I'm trying to figure out the next class to take in the first part of the spring semester. I'm hoping to hear from Marcie (my mentor!) in the next few days to see what she thinks I should do. I can only really afford to take one class per half semester, so to complete the entire curriculum will take some time, but that's ok. I'm not in a hurry. It's fun and interesting. I think it could be something I would really like to do when my career in construction is done.  First though, I need to get T through high school and into college!

I finished a book! Click on the 2014 Reading Page and scroll to the bottom for the latest.

#1275 my day in 5 parts plus movie talk

Today Part 1: the weigh-in
  I went to WW. You know that goal I talked about a few weeks ago? The goal about losing 1.5 lbs a week every week through Christmas? Yeah, that's not happening. Today I gained .2 lb. It's not a big gain, but it's not a loss either. I'm not giving up, but I am preparing myself for an alternate outcome.

Part 2: the vet appointment
  Osi had to go to the vet today for her shots, a general check-up and to have her blood tested since she is on the anti-seizure medication. The thing about the medication, though, is that the seizures aren't stopping. She's been having a seizure at least once a week, and I know they happen when I'm not at home because I find evidence of the event, usually some pee-pee or occasionally, a poo-poo. It's bugging me that she is still seizing even with the meds, and I told the doctor about my frustration. He gave me another medicine to give to her; that will be three pills twice a day. Damn. I hope this third pill works and doesn't completely screw up her liver. Other than the seizures she is healthy and happy. She does have a really dry nose, though. The vet suggested bag balm or Neosporin. I put a bit of coconut oil on it the other day and the nose looked good and Osi thought the oil was pretty delicious, too.

Part 3: the haircut
  I just got a little trim on the ends and Lanna, my hairdresser or many many years, taught me how to do cute waves on my hair with a curling iron. I will have to practice, but I like the way it looks. My hair is down past my shoulders now. I'm feeling pretty happy with it but not loving all the white that is coming in. Some people at work ask me if I've had my hair lightened and I just tell them it's the grey hair and they laugh. I prefer my hair to be a little darker. I'm giving myself the gift of low-lights for Christmas at my next hair appointment in January.

Part 4: the furniture
  HOORAY! The furniture we bought on Labor Day was delivered this afternoon. We bought five pieces: a couch, a recliner, a coffee table, an end table and a lamp. (And the TV of course, but that was delivered a couple of weeks ago.) We are very happy with the couch, the coffee table and the lamp. The end table was just way too big for our smallish room and the chair...man, I searched the store over for the perfect chair. The size was right, the fabric was wonderful, it reclines, but it did NOT work in the room at all. I tried just about everything to make it work, but it just didn't look right no matter what I did. So we loaded up the table and the chair in the back of the truck and took it back to the store. The good news is that we found stuff to replace it: a micro-fiber upholstered love seat, a much smaller end table and a new rug for the room. The rug we have in there is too small for the room now with the smaller furniture, so we bought a beautiful big rug to replace it. Those three items will be delivered next Saturday. MT is convinced that our family room needs about four extra feet and he knows just how he would add it on. I'm much more willing to make do with what we have. I don't want to have the wall knocked down just as we are heading into winter.

Part 5: football!

The Utes are playing against UCLA tonight. Game time is 8:30 here. I hope I can watch the game on my new couch with the big TV, but T and MT might be watching a movie. I honestly don't have much hope of a Utah victory, but that won't stop me from watching. I'll be flipping back and forth with baseball, though. (Ha! There's my sports talk for the day!)






 Speaking of movies - we went to see Gone Girl last night. Whew. It was crazy. It was kind of awkward sitting beside my 16 year old son during the sex scenes (there were several) but those scenes didn't seem to phase him as much as a particular scene with Amy and Desi. Yikes. The movie was pretty much exactly like the book - the author, Gillian Flynn, wrote the screenplay, too. I left feeling yucky, just like I did when I finished reading the book. I thought Ben Affleck was good and Rosamund Pike was terrifyingly lovely and crazy.

That's all for today! Happy Saturday!

#1259 back to the gym

Guess what? I went to the gym tonight! It was the first time back in quite a long time, so I took it easy on myself. I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and 17 minutes on the treadmill. I did some crunches for my belly and some stretching and called it good. 32 minutes of activity is better than zero and it felt good to get a little sweaty.

I was extra proud of myself because it's been kind of a weird day and the ending didn't quite go like I planned. For one thing, my new contacts have given me a giant headache because the new prescription for the right eye is not right. I've been having a hard time seeing all day and had to wear my cheater spectacles for the first time in a year. The second thing is that I did not leave the office when I had planned. My thought was to leave work around 5:30 and go right to the gym. I even packed my gym clothes and had them at the office to change into before I left. As it turns out, I chatted with my boss, we'll call him Brian, for quite awhile, then took an important personal call, then finished my conversation with Brian and it was around 7 PM when I left the office.

I'm not gonna lie to you...I considered just going home and starting back to the gym tomorrow, but I didn't do that. I sucked it up and went to the gym. It was so nice and clean and familiar!

About that headache, I called the eye doctor office and told them my problem. I'm going to get a less strong lens, but by the time I left my office, their office was closed. I still have a lens from my old prescription. I'm going to use it tomorrow.

#1257 focusing on a big goal

Yesterday's WW meeting was good. It was about thinking why we came to Weight Watchers and focusing on our goals.

The first time I started at WW was in 2008. T was 10 and when he gave me a hug, his arms didn't reach all the way around me. There were some other reasons for joining, but the fact that my son couldn't hug me around my waist is one reason that I always come back to for a big reason for joining. At that time, I set a big goal for myself: I wanted to lose 100 pounds. I did not reach that goal, but I learned a lot and I worked hard and I felt like I was in a good place. I think the most I'd lost was between 85 and 90 lbs. That's a lot. I was so proud of myself!

I kept it mostly off for awhile, but I got lazy and complacent. I was having a lot of pain in my right knee and I wasn't exercising like I had been. I was falling back into my old eating habits, too. I wasn't paying attention to what I was eating; I was just eating whatever I wanted and in quantities that weren't responsible. The sad thing is that all during that time, I was still a WW member, but I was paying them as I was gaining weight. So I quit WW, then I started putting the weight back on in a serious hurry.

In January of this year, I decided to swallow my pride and get back on the program before I put all the weight back on. At least I wasn't where I had been in 2008, but it was close and it was going to happen. In the nearly nine months I've been back on the program, I've lost just over 12 lbs. It's not great, but it's waaaaaaay better than gaining 12 lbs!

So that's why I (re)joined, and now I need to focus on my goals. I have a weight in mind that I would someday like to be. I don't think it's necessary to share that number here, but I think it's attainable although far away. That's the long-term goal. The short-term goal is to focus on the five lb stars. At the meetings, you get a little sticker for every five pounds you lose. I love to get those stickers. I've only got two of them this year. I would like to get five more of them before the end of the year.

My goal is to lose about 25 lbs by the end of the year. That's a lofty goal. There are only 15 more Saturdays before the end of the year, so I'd need to drop just over a pound and half every week to achieve my goal. It's do-able, but difficult, especially with the holidays in there.

In order to reach my goal, I need to really focus on the WW basics: writing down everything I eat and staying within my Points Plus allotments, eating fruits and vegetables, drinking lots of water and exercising. I've been pretty good at two of those four things, tracking and drinking. I've got to get back in the groove with those other two things!

WW wants you to eat five servings of fruits or veggies every day. That's hard for me! Potatoes don't count and I don't really like vegetables all that much, but I've got to figure out a way to make it happen. I've done it before; I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do it again.

When I was in WW the first time, I really got into exercising. I liked it. It was fun and I loved watching my body change as I lost fast and gained muscle. Now I have a new knee and there are some limitations but I should be able to do most of the stuff that I enjoyed doing before, like spinning class. I also really liked yoga, but I do not like to be on all fours putting pressure on that new knee. It feels awful, so I'll probably try yoga again, but do some modifications for some of the poses.

Last year around this time, I joined a different gym because I was burned out on the classes and instructors at my regular gym. It was mistake. The new gym was yucky. It was dirty and smelly and the spinning room was a cave in which I got claustrophobic and nauseous. I haven't been there for months. MT was really cool when I explained my issues with the place. He said that we all make mistakes and that I should just go back to my regular gym and get back on the exercise habit, so that's what I'm going to do! I'm going to set up appointments with myself to get back to the gym and take some classes but also exercise on my own in the cardio and weight rooms. I figure I need to go to about five classes a month and hit the cardio/weight room about five times a month to cover the costs. Ten visits a month seems do-able, doesn't it?

All right. It's time to get serious about this. I'm tired of being chunky. I think I'll feel a whole lot better about everything in my life if I have this big goal to focus on and all the little mini-goals that go with it.

Okay! I'm going to go plan my attack on exercising and fruits and veggies this week! Wish me luck :)