Successful Shopping

I can't believe it, another successful shopping day!! WAHOOOO

At Christmas my parents gave us some money and I set aside my portion to renew my closet. Thank goodness because it is badly in need of refilling. A while ago I went through my drawers and got rid of alot of clothes that were too small, too big, too outdated... Then last weekend I did the same to my closet and now it is essentially bare. It went from full (overfull) to maybe 1/3 full, and half of what is left are clothes that have memories for me and I'm not willing to part with - as well as a couple things that I think are too big but I have to try on before getting rid of.

This morning was great! I tried on a couple things that I found buried in my closet and now have a renewed pair of jeans (not the greatest, but they'll do) and 2 new pairs of dress pants. One pair of pants I bought a while ago with the hopes of getting into them. Today they fit! Well!!! YAHOO!

At lunch I had to go to the mall to return an item I'd bought for my daughter, and somehow left there with a pair of pants, a skirt, and the most wonderful pair of calf hugging black heeled boots that come up to a couple inches below my knees. They were EXACTLY what I was looking for. The skirt I wasn't even going to buy. I just put it on to see how it would look with the boots as I have a similar skirt already. But it looked so good I just had to buy it. It was $25 - but when I went through the till, it came up at $12.50. Can't beat that!!!!

I never have success shopping. Usually it depresses me. Especially since I have short legs, but just a tad too long for petite length. So pants are always many inches too long and never truly look good in the store. I've e-mailed a lady I know who does alterations and I'm actually going to get all my "new" pants adjusted to the proper length.

And the best news of all ....... I'm almost down another size. Close enough that the pants I bought I got in the smaller size because the bigger one was too baggy and the smaller one was just a bit snug. Those will be my next goal pants - lol. The skirt I got was the smaller size too! Ahhhhhhh, that sure feels great.

Yo-Yo Week

This week has sure been a yo-yo week on the scale. The first two days in I saw almost a 1 lb loss each day, then I had a meltdown and it went up 3 or more and it's bounced all over the place. Though since that initial gain I've been up all week from last Friday. This morning was my recordable weigh in and I had no idea what I'd see, and expected to have a gain to record.

But NOPE! I'm down 0.4 and I'll take it!

Went to Walmart last night and they had my favourite All Bran Guardian cereal on sale last night. I love that stuff but it's so expensive for a tiny box. 2 pts per cup and full of fibre. I got the Cinnamon flavoured one. So cute with the little hearts in it (I'm a sucker!).

All Bran & Special K were all on sale, the Special K was gone - wiped out - and I got the last 3 boxes of this All Bran. Good timing too because I was needing a change from my daily oatmeal. I love it, but it's good to mix it up a bit.

Off to my son's ortho today. Hoping they'll say he can get his braces off soon. He's had them just over a year but they suggested last time that he's close. I hope so.

2009 Goals

Last night it was back to Boot Camp - WAHOO I LOVE that class. I wish I could do it at least 3 or 4 times a week (hmm maybe I wouldn't love it so much then). This seems like a really fun group too. There's about 1/2 of the group from last time and then some new ladies who were having so much fun.

She divided us up into groups of 3 last night and I was so happy to be put with the 2 other most competitive people in the class - our one and only guy and a super fit girl. The 3 of us have been in the same class for a while and we're always super competitive with each other. So it was great to be with them as we pushed each other alot harder.

I've set myself some goals for 2009:

* 20 consecutive big girl push-ups
* run 10km under 1 hour
* run the entire Ft to Ft non stop (about 14 km)
* climb the Grouse Grind in 50 minutes or less
* eat fish at least once a week
* REACH MY GOAL WEIGHT!

If I can surpass any of my fitness goals by the end of June then I will reevaluate and change as necessary.

Tonight is fish night. I'm making a recipe from one of my WW's books. They call it Easy Crusty Cod, but I've adapted it and call it Crusty Citrus Sole :). It's sole fillets (super thin, no bones!) top with a mix of flour, milk, olive oil, lemon & lime juice & cayenne pepper, then sprinkle with a bit of bread crumbs & green onion and bake in the oven. I'm not a huge fish fan but this is so good, quick and simple. So far I haven't been able to under or overcook the fish so it's a good one for me. I'm a bit freaky that my fish is fully cooked without getting tough.

Good news - yesterday I followed my meal plan. Bad news - I also consumed another day's worth of food. Little hormonal meltdown. First it was the chocolate whoppers - 8 pts worth. Then it was a small bowl of party mix (could have been worse I suppose, could have been the bag) ... and a handful of almonds. Then some friends dropped by and I had 2 glasses of wine. Then I went to get a diet pepsi and was out, so instead of turning to water or tea I grabbed juice and had 2 1/2 cups.

I suppose it could have been worse, but it was still a ton of empty calories that were unnecessary. Though I did stay mostly away from the crackers and didn't touch the cheese & meat.

But my friend TOM arrived today so I'm sure that's what that was about. If I can keep damage like that to one evening that's not bad. I journalled everything! And I still have about 10 WAPs left, and I haven't used any APs. My goal is to not dip into the APs this week and that should balance it out.

Tonight we're having dinner at friends, lasagna, which I don't love so will only have a small portion. I'm stating right now that I will have one small piece of garlic bread (if it looks good) and no more. I also will not have ANY wine, nor dessert or any snackies (if they have it). I will bring along a veggie plate and a diet pepsi.

My husband's birthday party is in 3 weeks and I want to be at or under 150 for that and I really think I can do that if I stay focused. It's not an unreasonable, nor lofty, goal - so there's no reason. Over the holidays I went shopping with my SIL and bought some neat tops and I'd kinda like to wear one for the party, but I'm not quite comfortable in them yet so I need to work!

So far the week has been going great. I've been able to stick to around my points allowance comfortably and am feeling good. Starting a new challenge today where a different member posts a new challenge each week. This week it is to pre-plan the days meal either the night before or the morning off. Also, to do 15 min stretching at least 3 days this week. I haven't been doing much stretching so this is a good one for me.

Preplanning breakfast and lunch is pretty easy, it's dinner I struggle with. Don't know why, but it's the one meal that I like to leave until right before and assess what I feel like having, or what my family feels like, and often the decision is based upon who will be there to eat (which is ever changing). Financially it's good to preplan your dinners, I just haven't been very successful at it. I need to see what I have in the freezer and work around that.

What I should almost do with my family is just have dinners planned for each of us. DS & DH are big meat eaters, DD avoids it as often as possible, and I'd mostly rather have soup or a wrap or something simple like that. And so.....

I'm going to go pull out some chicken for tonight and we will have chicken wraps for dinner :). The family can custom make them to their tastes, or can even heat them up into quesadillas if they so choose.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! Bring on 2009!

Here we are, a new year, a fresh start - it's wonderful. Made it through the holidays with only a 1.6 lb gain, which I think is not too bad. I was up a little bit more, but some of it must have been water gain.

Got a bad cold, again - grrr! Once again it's hit me square between the eyes. Hopefully it doesn't stick around too much. The last two days no medicine could touch it and give me any relief, that sucked.

Had a nice new Year's at my sister in law's house. She had a bunch of friends over and they seemed like a nice crowd. Just wish I hadn't felt so awful so I could have been a bit more social, oh well, another time.

My sister got me a 3 month journal from weight watchers with the Canadian food guide & restaurant guide, and a little book with recipe/meal ideas. Today was the kick off for that. I got up this morning, recorded my weight & measurements. Set my next couple of goals and am raring to go. Gotta love this time of year for that.

Boot camp starts up again next week and I'm eager to get back to that. By then this cold should have cleared mostly (I hope). This morning I lifted a basket of laundry and struggled, obviously I'm just a "little" weak today :).

Today I'm going to start packing up the Christmas decorations and give my gym a good cleaning (it's getting pretty gross down there).

Haven't posted on here in a few weeks, but things are going great. I'm finally starting to see losses again - wahoo! Didn't reach my goal of being under 155 for my birthday, but I'm getting pretty close now and I'm pretty sure I'll be there before Christmas.

I got a cool new thing for my birthday - a fancy schmancy insulated lunch bag. It's made by Elle and it looks like a pretty cool purse. I just LOVE it. My MIL bought it for me but I picked it out - hahaha. Though I probably should have picked one slightly bigger, it seemed big enough in the store, but once I start packing my containers it fills up pretty quick.

Here's a pic of it:

Got hit with a flu a week and a half ago and that knocked me out for a bit. Still struggling with congestion, which sucks! But I've continued to exercise and it actually makes me feel better when I do.

I'm happy the scale has started to move again, but to be honest I couldn't pinpoint a change I've made that has made it go. Maybe I truly was in a plateau and have moved through - let's hope!

I have been pretty diligent about being aware of my true hunger levels. I've had a few nights where instead of supper I've had some chopped up veggies and a cup of tea - but that's because I truly wasn't very hungry and just sort of felt like munching. And the other day I was having a MAJOR chocolate craving. I seriously spent about 15 minutes in Shoppers Drug Mart trying to decide what would be "worth it". I could not find something that I felt would be worth the indulgence and finally settled on a 100 calorie Cadbury Almond Thins bar (I love those). And it was just right!!! I really wanted super smooth chocolate over whole hazelnuts, but it wasn't there. So I decided to go for the small reasonable indulgence rather than wasting 5 (or more) points on something that I didn't truly want.

I've also had pasta quite a bit lately. I know, pasta, how can that be something to help move the scale? But not just any pasta! I love pasta, plain is really the best - and of course alfredo is pretty darn good too. Plain I could probably eat 3 or more cups without even blinking an eye. Now ... with a red sauce, not so much - it just becomes OK for me, the first few bites are great but the rest, bleh. My husband loves it though (and thinks I'm amazing even though I just pour on a jar of premade sauce). So a few weeks back I made it and just had a 1 cup portion. And I found that it feeds my carby, pasta craving, but because I don't absolutely LOVE the red sauce, I don't overeat it - but I still enjoy it! I've been experimenting with sauces and last night I found a super spicy sauce that is wonderful. I really enjoyed it, but again - after 1 cup I'm done and don't want anymore. Lasagna is the same for me, I like about a 1 or 2" square and after that I can't stand the taste. HAHA self-controlling foods - gotta love it.