A goal without a plan is just a wish...

Thanks for the post in my journal - as always! Really your post on Monday was what got me to Kettle Bell and this morning I couldn't stop thinking about bad food but your post helped and is still helping! I stopped tracking the last couple weeks and I really want to start again starting this morning! Some of the items you purchased look really good but I have a feeling you can only find them in the US - especially those noodles - but I will have a look just in case. I think I need to run because I haven't done that once this week and it always makes me feel better. I really liked the idea about intervals on the treadmill with kettle bell swings inbetween - that must have been such a good workout! I would like to get a bell or two for at home because the ones at the gym can only be used during the classes and are locked up.
I bet you are going to have an amazing weigh-in this week - just stay strong and stay away from the cereal, lol!!! Really though just two days left and I totally know you can do it!! Thanks for the motivation this morning!!
 
I'm glad you're back Lisa :) I always look forward to hearing from you. Definitely get back to tracking everything! I learned how to make my own Weight Watchers calculator on Microsoft Excel by watching a tutorial on YouTube. So instead of using the slider card to figure out points, I can just enter in the numbers on my computer and it will calculate the points value for me! It's pretty cool - I made sure to test it out compared to the card and it is accurate. As much as I'd like to weigh in this week, I promised myself to wait til the day before my half marathon, May 30th, to do so. I want to see a big loss and feel PROUD! I'm hoping I won't cheat!

_____

I had an amazing workout this morning! Got to the gym RIGHT when it opened:

- 2 minute walking warm up
- 1 mile run @ 6.3 mph
- 10 minutes intervals (1 min walk @ 4.0 mph/ 1 min run @ 7.0 mph)
- 1 mile run @ 6.3 mph
- 10 minutes intervals (1 min walk @ 4.0 mph/ 1 min run @ 7.0 mph)
- 1 mile run @ 6.3 mph
- 6 minute cool down
= 60 minutes, 5.5 miles

I honestly LOVE this treadmill workout. You're running a total of a little more than 4.5 miles and you don't even realize it because of the intervals in between! After the treadmill I did some strength training and abs. I was at the gym for an hour and half and I felt so good after! I earned 7 activity points for the day!

And OMG, I just had THE best breakfast EVER!!! I posted this on my tumblr account, so I'm going to copy it over on here:

Amazing post-workout breakfast/snack!
This is probably the best thing I’ve ever tasted and it only has 3 ingredients: oatmeal, banana, and peanut butter.

Prepare a bowl of oatmeal like you normally would. In a separate bowl, cut up or break up a banana into smaller pieces. Microwave the banana for 45 seconds. Mash the banana. Pour the banana mixture into your bowl of oatmeal and stir. Add 1 tbsp peanut butter on top of the oatmeal and stir it in.

I used lower sugar maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal with one large banana and a tbsp of natural chunky peanut butter. This tastes more like dessert than it does breakfast! This is a great post-workout meal or snack with lots of protein and fiber that will keep you feeling full until your next meal.

I found this recipe from TrulyJess, here is her blog:

Enjoy :)

It was SO delicious. It was 6 points total which is sort of high maybe for breakfast but it TOTALLY filled me up and it was extremely satisfying.

I feel so good today. I'm going to take the day off from the gym tomorrow. I have plans after school to go mini golfing with my ex and we might go to dinner. I suggested Applebees since they have a Weight Watchers menu there!

Ok - time to head over to some other journals! :)

~ Sarah
 
I am gonna have to try out that breakfast it sounds good, I have to admit oatmeal is not really my thing but with bananas and pb it should like something I would like. I find that if I go for a good breakfast I tend to want to snack less during the day. Wich mean higher points in the morning but the fact that I am not snacking lowers my point consumption during the rest of the day. When I went to my first meeting in 2006 a women in the group was receiving a pin for loosing a 100% so after the meeting I walked up to her and asked if she had any types for a beginer like me, she told me that when you do your grocerie shopping you should buy about 90% or your purchase on things located on the outside of the store, fresh fruit, veggies, meat, and dairy and whole grains breads, and only 10% from the stuff in the center of the store and never ever go close to the freezers, I just remembered that cause I actually saw her yesterday and she is still looking good! I tought I should share this. Great Workouts, and you seem to be doing great with the points, I should look up that excel spread sheet!
 
I forgot that you aren't weighing in for a while - that is going to be so exciting when you do finally step on the scale - have you been tempted so far? You are doing so great with tracking these points - I'm going to start putting the WW points beside my food since there are so many of us now tracking this way. I like to save my activity points for the weekend but sometimes it doesn't work that way so it's nice to have options. Also I was told in a meeting that if you are having two things you need to add the calories and fat together to calculate the points - ex. if I eat 1 curves bar it's only 1 point but if I eat 2 together it's actually 3 points! Just a little tip your mom might not have mentioned.
Great attitude this week - you really helped get me back - I swear I was headed to ruin the whole week and weekend but now I feel like I'm ready to tackle the weekend and prove to my hunnie I have some will power!
I'm supposed to be going to Calgary next weekend to visit my sisters so I would like to keep this momentum going until then!! Do you have any plans yet for the weekend?
Have a great day Sarah!!! Keep on kicking butt!!
 
Verobc - I have heard that too. Try to stay out of the isles as much as possible at the grocery store! That's where I did most of my shopping the other day :) You should really try the peanut butter/banana oatmeal. If oatmeal isn't your thing it DEFINITELY will be after you try this treat! :)

_____

OK, so yesterday went... pretty good.

Breakfast: Oatmeal w/pb and banana (6pts)
Lunch: Chicken panini (3pts), Fiber One bar (1pt)
Snack: Crackers w/hummus (1.5 pts), almonds (2pts)
Dinner: Smart dog on bread (2pts), salad (2pts), 1 cup strawberries/grapes mix (1pt), beer (3pts) <--- DIDN'T KNOW IT WOULD BE THAT MANY POINTS!
Snack: Almonds (2pts), sugar free Jell-O (0pts)
=23.5 - 7 activity points = 16.5
Dessert: Cheesecake mix. Let me explain.

My roommate and I found a recipe from "hungrygirl" for a chocolate peanut butter "cheesecake." The recipe is basically all light/sugarfree ingredients.
- 2 fat free chocolate pudding cups
- 2 cups lite cool whip
- 3 tbsp peanut butter
- Sugar free sweetener (we used Truvia)
- 8 oz. cream cheese (we used regular because we didn't have light)
- Vanilla extract (we didn't use this because we didn't have any)
- Cocoa mix
- Oreo thin crips (two 100-cal packs crumbled over the top)

Now, since we didn't exactly have ALL the sugar free or fat free options, the nutrition facts obviously came out different than what the recipe called for. However, we ate almost the whole pan of it so out goes the nutrition facts! I'm not sure how many points it was but I'm guessing a LOT! Who knows really... it was delicious and I enjoyed it and I'm over it now :D

Like I said yesterday, I don't plan to get a workout in because I'm just going to be busy with other stuff today (laundry, class, showering/getting ready, packing, heading home, golfing, out to dinner) so by the time I get home I probably won't want to work out so I'll just wait til tomorrow morning. I'm sure I could use a workout to burn off the extra calories from our "cheesecake" last night but I'm just going to try to keep my points a little lower today to make up for that.

Have a great day everyone!!!
~ Sarah
 
I forgot that you aren't weighing in for a while - that is going to be so exciting when you do finally step on the scale - have you been tempted so far? You are doing so great with tracking these points - I'm going to start putting the WW points beside my food since there are so many of us now tracking this way. I like to save my activity points for the weekend but sometimes it doesn't work that way so it's nice to have options. Also I was told in a meeting that if you are having two things you need to add the calories and fat together to calculate the points - ex. if I eat 1 curves bar it's only 1 point but if I eat 2 together it's actually 3 points! Just a little tip your mom might not have mentioned.
Great attitude this week - you really helped get me back - I swear I was headed to ruin the whole week and weekend but now I feel like I'm ready to tackle the weekend and prove to my hunnie I have some will power!
I'm supposed to be going to Calgary next weekend to visit my sisters so I would like to keep this momentum going until then!! Do you have any plans yet for the weekend?
Have a great day Sarah!!! Keep on kicking butt!!
Hey! I haven't really been tempted but that's because I don't have a scale at school. When I get home, it might be a different story. But since I'm on my period this week I don't really feel like weighing myself anyway. Thanks for the tip about calculating when you eat 2 of something - I didn't know that and I will keep it in mind! My only plans for the weekend are to work and get homework done... I might go out Saturday night but I'm not sure yet. I have a second interview for a summer job this Sunday as well!
 
I honestly LOVE this treadmill workout. You're running a total of a little more than 4.5 miles and you don't even realize it because of the intervals in between! After the treadmill I did some strength training and abs. I was at the gym for an hour and half and I felt so good after! I earned 7 activity points for the day!

Aren't intervals awesome! The time flies, but it is kinda nice just running and not constantly checking your watch/treadmill timer.

you should buy about 90% or your purchase on things located on the outside of the store, fresh fruit, veggies, meat, and dairy and whole grains breads, and only 10% from the stuff in the center of the store and never ever go close to the freezers

So true. The only thing I really go into the center isles for is to grab some whole wheat noodles, sauces and frozen veggies. Kinda makes sense that if you eat natural foods like fruits, veggies, and meat you lose weight. Probably weren't very many fat cavemen.
 
haha I would have ate all the cheesecake too! At least it was a pretty healthy version! That hungry girl has some great recipes - I need to visit the site more. Another tip about adding the points together is sometimes it can help you - like my breakfast for instance - my ff yogurt is just 2 points and the all bran is just 1 but when I add the calories, fat and fiber together it only equals 2 points instead of 3!
I noticed that you were going golfing yesterday, golfing is so much fun - are you any good at it? I play in a woman's league but we aren't good and just play for fun - we don't even bother keeping score! My hunnie is really good at it though so I want to keep it up because my mom told me (from experience) if I don't I won't get to play with him and eventually when he is retired I will never see him!
have a great Friday and an awesome weekend! I hope to make you proud come Monday - I'm tracking everything for once!! Oh and good luck at your interview! Stay healthy!
 
Hey thanks everyone for your replies! I have to make this quick because I'm running a little late for work...

I'm just counting yesterday as my "day off" I suppose. I did good all day, I even had a really delicious meal at Applebees from the Weight Watchers menu... it was a grilled chicken sandwich with mushrooms, a tomato, and some marinara sauce on a wheat bun with a side of sliced apple and pineapple! 7 points total. The reason I'm couting yesterday as as off day though is because I went out to the bar with my mom for some drinks... I had about 5 beers and 3 shots... I guess you could say I was partying! LOL

Anyway, I got up this morning and did my 3.5 mile run outside - it felt really good. I did some arm workouts with the kettlebell and my abs routine. I just had an egg with cheese on a whole wheat english for breakfast (5pts) and earned 4 from my workout today! I have a really healthy lunch prepared to bring with me to work so I'm counting on a really good day!

I think this Weight Watchers thing is going to help me lose the rest of this weight. I already feel like I'm back to where I was before I left for vacation. I can tell my tummy has slimmed back down and I just feel healty and strong again :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll come back later to check up on everyone but I gotta hop in the shower and get ready for work now!

~ Sarah
 
Does the WW plan you are on allow for 35 flex points to be used during the week? Our's does and they say if you are really serious about losing weight to try and not use them but if you do you can still lose 2 pounds a week - so yesterday you just used some of those flex points and you don't have to call it a day off!
I had to read the sentence about going to the bar a few times because at first I thought it said you went with your mom and then when I read it again I realized it was right - that is so cool you went to the bar with your mom and partied!! Shots included! Sounds like a good night!
I'm so glad the points are working out for you! I'm not sure why but it makes me feel better about counting them too like it's going to work better now or something - I know that sounds weird and doesn't really make sense. I just mean I have more motivation to track again because I have another friend to share the information with and someone who understands.
Have a great weekend and remember a light beer is only 2 points instead of 3 so you could have saved yourself 5 points if you switched to light!! Cheers Sarah!
 
Does the WW plan you are on allow for 35 flex points to be used during the week? Our's does and they say if you are really serious about losing weight to try and not use them but if you do you can still lose 2 pounds a week - so yesterday you just used some of those flex points and you don't have to call it a day off!
I had to read the sentence about going to the bar a few times because at first I thought it said you went with your mom and then when I read it again I realized it was right - that is so cool you went to the bar with your mom and partied!! Shots included! Sounds like a good night!
I'm so glad the points are working out for you! I'm not sure why but it makes me feel better about counting them too like it's going to work better now or something - I know that sounds weird and doesn't really make sense. I just mean I have more motivation to track again because I have another friend to share the information with and someone who understands.
Have a great weekend and remember a light beer is only 2 points instead of 3 so you could have saved yourself 5 points if you switched to light!! Cheers
Sarah!

I don't know about the flex points.. I really don't know that much about the program other than just using the sliding card to figure out points for food and activity. But I like that idea! Yes last night was a blast, ive never gone out with just my mom. I was winning free shots from playing beer dice! And I did drink lite beer, I drank bud select :) that's my only party day for the weekend. I have off tomorrow because I was going to go to Mifflin, a huge street block party in Madison but instead I'm using the day to work on homework and get myself fitted for some new running shoes since I keep getting blisters with mine!!! Looks like it will be a nice weekend :)
 
Sounds like you had a great time. New shoes are such an awesome investment. That's my next step. It's also great to reward yourself with something nice that will also help you on your way to reach your goals, instead of the old me who would reward with fatty, greasy food. Great work!
 
Friday - Ate great all day but after dinner my sweet tooth got the best of me again and I ate cookies and ice cream! Grrr. But I really did great over the day, I was proud of that.

Saturday - Got up and ran my 3.5 miles again, did some weights and abs after. Again, did great during the day, but then my parents, me, my friend and her parents, and two other friends, went out to a mexican restaurant for dinner for some drinks and cheap food! I had the chicken enchiladas with rice and beans. SO delicious. I also drank 3 small margaritas. Since I was feelin' pretty good and I was lookin' real cute... I decided that I wanted to go out! Me and my friend went out for my friend's 21st birthday. He got a party bus that seated about 20 of us. There were neon lights all over and stripper poles - it was really cool! LOL so anyway we went out and had a really great time. Danced on the bus the whole time we were driving - there and back so THERE maybe I worked off those enchiladas! Ha probably not.

Sunday - Since I litereally got NO SLEEP, I took a 3 hour nap in the morning. I was pretty hungover. I had lunch and decided that I needed to go for a run. It was too beautiful out and I knew I would feel so much better. So I went! 3.5 miles again and I felt like I could run forever but I had to go home to shower and get ready for an interview so I didn't have the time. I ate really well and ended up at 19 points for the day!

I'm really proud of myself that I ran Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday! I think this if the first time in a long time that I have done this! I have not worked out yet today but I'm trying to get a start on this huge paper I need to have completed by Wednesday so I might just save the workout for later this afternoon! Overall, I'm feeling really good and DETERMINED to have a ROCK HARD BODY this summer! I won't stop workin' until I get it!!!

~ Sarah
 


I'm really proud of myself that I ran Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday! I think this if the first time in a long time that I have done this! Overall, I'm feeling really good and DETERMINED to have a ROCK HARD BODY this summer! I won't stop workin' until I get it!!!

~ Sarah

Awesome work Sarah! I am also feeling really good and determined! I was checking myself out in the mirror this weekend and I'm really starting to like my smaller self and with 3 months still left I know I can do it! Looking forward to getting smoking hot with you girl!!
How'd the interview go? That party bus sounds like such a good time - I'm so glad you decided to go - those kinds of memories last forever! Did you take any pics? I would love to see one!
Let's kick some butt this week!!
 
Awesome work Sarah! I am also feeling really good and determined! I was checking myself out in the mirror this weekend and I'm really starting to like my smaller self and with 3 months still left I know I can do it! Looking forward to getting smoking hot with you girl!!
How'd the interview go? That party bus sounds like such a good time - I'm so glad you decided to go - those kinds of memories last forever! Did you take any pics? I would love to see one!
Let's kick some butt this week!!

Wooooo work it girl!!! Isn't it a great feeling to look at yourself in the mirror and SEE the hard work is paying off!? I'm starting to notice more definition in my arms and stomach *finally* and it's soo motivating! The interview went good, it was a "group" interview though because it's for a summer playground (day camp type thing) so the returning employees come and do activities with you and they figure out who fits best for the job so it's really not in the hands of the camp director! I only have one picture from the bus and it is TERRIBLE lol maybe when my friend puts her pictures online I'll put one up if I don't look like such a mess! lol

_____

Got another 3.5 mile run outside agian today! Yes!!! Did some kettle bell swings and arm extensions and 3-way dumbbell raises followed by abs. Earned myself 4 activity points! Feelin' good!!! :)
 
Well, yesterday I was at 19 points at the end of the day. I was full and felt satisfied with my food choices and was NOT hungry at all!!! And then... dun dun dun.... I decided to hang out with my roommate (the one that stays up late all the time!) and started just eating!!! I grabbed a bag of guacamole chips and started eating those. Then I ate a sugar free jell-o cup with whipped cream on top. Then I ate like 2 spoonfuls of peanut butter and had a 100 calorie pack of oreo thin crisps! All the while I was FULL but I just wanted to eat.

I woke up this morning for the gym but decided to sleep in because I was up too late last night. So I'm getting my workout in after class and I'm going to work my booty off! I'm also going to try to keep my points to a minimum today of 18 and of course drink lots of water! And most importantly, GO TO BED AT 9 WHEN I'M TIRED SO MY FRIEND DOESN'T ASK ME TO HANG OUT! I felt so gross after all that snacks and I'm not feeling to hot this morning either.

Here we go - it's a new day again, Tuesday, and I'm NOT screwing up!

~ Sarah
 
You can do it! I hate when I slip up, but it happens, and you didn't do too badly...but it's such a snowball effect! You stayed up late and ate extra and then you couldn't get up to go work out as planned, it's dangerous! But you obviously have a lot of stamina and you'll bounce back. Stick to it today and it'll be like last night never happened!

Also, what kind of relationship do you have with your roommate? Could you talk to her about your goals and get her on board with you? I'm sure she would love to be supportive and not an enabler... My roommate eats McDonalds 3-4 times a week, and I would get pulled into it. I eventually told her about my goals and asked for her help, so she doesn't offer some to me or ask if I want to go, and she avoids eating it in front of me. But at the same time, she doesn't judge if every once in a while I want to give in.
 
I bought the no sugar jello and it says no points there. I'm sure the peanut butter might have been some points, 4 points from what I researched online...I couldn't find the whip cream. The calorie pack is probably like 1-2 points right?

...So the way I see it, you only did about 6 points of damage? That makes a total of 25 points for the day. Here's the question...how many points are you alloted daily?

..It doesn't sound that bad. But I DO UNDERSTAND the eating while full snack attack. A little baby sabotage going on there. Yes, go to bed early so no damage can be done! HA!

...That's exactly what I told myself the other day, when I felt like a tornado passing through my fridge. GO TO BED!!! You are only in DESTRUCTION mode!...ZzzzzZzzzZzz!
 
Slip ups happened at least you stayed snacked with healthy enough stuff!!!! My slip up was chips.....Today is a new day!!!!! It's still early in the week it still can be salvaged!!!!!
 
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