2016 - Day 7

Bad news first: I ate more than I should have today.

It started with a hungry morning, meaning I consumed my homemade, sort of healthy cookies before lunch. (They have some butter and sugar in them, but whole wheat flour and then a whole bunch of good stuff like pumpkin, sunflower and poppy seeds, flax, chia, dates, etc.) Then my healthy lunch plans were derailed when my fave little place was out of baked fish, but did have shepherd's pie front and centre. (Note to self: Work on If/Then!!)

These two things would have been fine, but I had forgotten that it was Tasty Thursday at work. I've been very good lately at not eating Tasty Thursday stuff just because it's there. However, today was really good stuff and I did not try hard to fight it. I had two different cookies. However, they were both AMAZING! So I'm not beating myself up. I did ignore the enormous box of Timbits that my team was sharing today. Every time I looked at them, I tried to think about how they're made in a factory. That helped.

Finally, I came home to awesome homemade pizza and ate a bit more than I should have, because of news coming later in this note.

Good news next: I made a plan for an evening gym class and I did it!

It's the endurance weight training class that I used to do twice a week in my healthy years. I really like it, despite the fact that I did it a week and a half ago and could barely walk for a couple of days. THIS is why I ate some extra pizza. My intention to come home and make a big salad to go with a small slice of pizza was forgotten when I got home late and hungry.

Now I'm feeling a wee bit old and broken because of the class, but trying to see this as a good thing. Finishing this post and hitting the hay ASAP.

Oh, and planning ahead: Physio appointment near my favourite cookie in the whole city tomorrow, but I will NOT BUY A COOKIE! You read it here. No cookie.

Stats
Exercise: 4/7 (Tomorrow I will rest!)
10, 000 steps: 4/7
Food tracking: 3/7 (Tracked, even though I ate a bit too much.)
Knee exercises: 2/7 (Physiotherapist will give me stink eye tomorrow.)
Flossing: 6/7 

2016 - Day 6

I got into the groove today!

Totally feeling it.

My gym visit today involved another Sh'Bam class, with the same totally insane teacher, and I loved every minute. I am not ashamed to admit that I sang my heart out — while dancing awkwardly — to the following tunes:

Shake it Off
I Wanna Dance with Somebody
Time of My Life (the one from Dirty Dancing)

The last song, which was the pinnacle of the class, also involved twirling and leaping. Awesome. (Although, I watched myself in the mirror and wondered how on earth I ever earned money doing jobs that involved dancing. I must be a better singer than I thought!)

Stats
Exercise: 3/6
10, 000 steps: 3/6
Food tracking: 2/6
Knee exercises: 2/6 (BOO! Why can't I make this a priority?)
Flossing: 5/6 (Crissy! I totally forgot to do this yesterday! Thanks for the reminder!)

Totally going to look in If/Then planning, as per my awesome accountability partner. So much good support!


Me at Sh'Bam. Obvs.

2016 - Day 5

There was a moment this morning when I was faced with a decision.

I was ten steps out the door when I realized that I had forgotten to put my Fitbit back on after my shower. Not only does my Fitbit count my steps, but I also use the accompanying app to log my food. And, based on how many steps I take, my food "allowance" changes, which helps me keep my calories at the right level for the day.

It's a great tool and I find it helps me stay on track.

So, did I turn back?

Sadly, no.

But why? I was still so close!

Alas, I had two small, snowsuited people holding my hands. They were cranky, because Tuesdays seem to always be harder than Mondays in my house. My partner/husband/co-parent was also in attendance, so I could have briefly abandoned the entire family on the sidewalk to dash back, but I was afraid to upset the delicate bit of forward momentum that we had captured.

Things got off-track pretty quickly. Not because I wasn't wearing my Fitbit, but because I have a terrible ALL OR NOTHING mindset. Either I am totally in it to win it or I am eating the chocolate chip banana bread with maple glaze that my new team member brought in. Before 10AM!

So, food wise: Thumb's down. BUT I did get to the gym for a workout, even though I was in a meeting until 12:40pm. So that's a thumb's up.

How do I snap out of that mindset?

2016- Day 4

I was pretty determined that I would dive into my 2016 healthy habits immediately, but - of course - I spent the weekend at various fun events eating all the things and didn't come CLOSE to my step count or any actual exercise. Alas!

However, I forgot to mention the ONE thing I intend to do every single day this year: floss. Happy to report that I'm 4 for 4 already :-)

Other stats:
Exercise: 1/4 (excellent class at the gym today)
10, 000 steps: 1/4
Tracking my food: 1/4
Flossing: 4/4!!

A happy side effect of tracking my food and aiming to eat healthier is that I drink the free coffee at work way more often rather than spending $7 at Starbucks on a latte and a treat. Bonus!

2016 - Day 1

Okay, okay, okay. Obviously December was a write-off. In so many ways. But I've been looking forward to today for a week and a half, totally ready to get back on track.

And it started so well! I weighed myself (oof!) and tracked my food (yay!). I was making smart food choices, feeling good. In all honesty, I had been gorging myself on every sweet thing in the house for a week, so I was pretty over it all.

But then, as I was prepping dinner, after having to tell my eldest child not to scream in her sister's face for the 1,254 time today, a vision appeared at the back of the fridge. A big chunk of Nanaimo bar that I'd forgotten about.

There's no story here. I caved.

BUT overall, I ate about three tons LESS food today than I have been, so that's a step in the right direction.

And I'm feeling very positive about this new year, wanting to not only track my progress weekly, but also monthly. I want to set some actual weight loss goals to hit each month. Like, 4 pounds a month. That is totally achievable. And since I don't need or want to lose 48 pounds in total, I can just start with the first half of the year and then work on maintaining in the second half.

A couple other goals:
- Commit to one evening workout class each week. I think this will be Thursday evening Body Pump. I did a Body Pump class the other day for the first time in ages and I loved it. It's true that I could barely move for two days afterward and there was no comfortable resting position for my biceps, but that will go away quickly enough.
- Less social media time. Period.
- More time talking to or watching something with my lovely husband.
- More interactive, positive, playful parenting. Less repeatedly (and uselessly) telling them not to do something from across the room.
- Create something.

Here we go.

Not Quite Better Than Before...

Here's how my past week played out:

Huge container of Christmas cookies
+ Crazy, intense work deadlines
+ Prep to host 5th birthday party in my home
+ Christmas gift buying
+ Christmas tree decorating
+ Birthday party that included 7 other 5 year olds
+ Gymnastics/dance lessons
+ Letters to Santa
- Gym visits
- Full food tracking
+ Weird stomach bug
= A not very good week for creating new habits.

Seriously. However, I'm not giving myself a failing grade, because I did manage to stay really on track food wise from Monday through Thursday, between the hours of 6AM and 6PM. Not perfect, but still quite good, considering all of the things.

Things slid seriously downhill on Friday, which was a "vacation" day for me. I used it to never sit down once and clean the whole house from top to bottom so that the kids could trash it the next day. Since I never sat down - and felt slightly sorry for myself that I couldn't do so - I pretty much grabbed any food within reach that looked yummy and could be eaten while vacuuming.

On party day, there were chips and cake and the like. You understand.

And Sunday, before the stomach bug knocked me over at the end of the day, I was not yet ready to get back on the healthy eating road. And so I didn't.

Today, tummy bug. Ate plain, starchy things for most of the day. Started to feel better, so then I ate the yummy stuff.

Tomorrow I am hoping to tiptoe back to the healthy habits. However, I have not figured out dinner, since I'll be running from work to a gymnastics show. Plus, we get our "Christmas Boxes" tomorrow at work. It's my first year and it's a big deal, apparently. I've heard popcorn is involved. If that popcorn is covered in a caramel-type substance, I can't make any promises. And then Wednesday is my daughter's ACTUAL birthday and she has requested hotdogs and French fries for dinner. Plus cupcakes.

I'm trying!!

Better Than Before - Day Fourteen

WHY DID I THINK GOING TO AN EVENT CALLED COOKIES AND COCOA WOULD BE OKAY!?

Cookie exchange. Roughly 10 different, delicious treats to sample. Plus homemade ice cream. Plus I brought home a huge tupperware full of treats.

Let me state the obvious - I don't feel well!

BUT - I will say that I made sure to have my raw veggies for a morning snack, a big healthy salad for lunch AND then turned our taco dinner into a taco salad for me. So even though I know very well that I didn't entirely balance out my serious indulgences, at least I kept some of the healthy habits going.