Checking In: Week 7 - Activity

Ta-Da!  Lost a full pound this week!
8 pounds in 7 weeks total!

We're at week 7 of following the Weight Watcher's points plus plan.  This week, I had a lot of fun with my ActiveLink monitor.  It's addicting.  It kept me pushing myself throughout the week.  Walking to and from the bus stop is gets the monitor to about 23% of my daily activity each way....so if I did only that, I'd be close to hitting 50%.  But it takes into consideration your walking around, daily activity, etc.  So I've been upping that.  Instead of getting up from my desk and walking straight to the kitchen or bathroom, I've been taking the "scenic route" and walking all the way around the office floor (we occupy the entire floor).  I've seen people I never see on that side.  And yes, you say, but that takes a lot of time.  The way I think of it is that if I were a smoker, I'd be able to take a couple breaks throughout the day at 15 minutes a pop, so why not a walk around break?  I've also being doing push ups using the counter at work in the bathroom (when no one is there...sshhhh!)  I'll do a quick ten before heading back to my desk.  My friend that I'm doing the program with, says that all if this sounds like extra pressure to her, (says the girl who loses weight like crazy, right!), but everyone is different....and for me, I'm going to need the activity to get the weight off and keep it off.

One of the fun things that we got back into doing, because of all this activity stuff, is the WiiFit.  We had bought the system a couple year's back when my daughter was at home.  And we did it for a while.  Well, Friday evening, I was still only at 75% of my daily total...so I asked Neddy if he'd be up for a challenge.  We had a lot of fun playing all the WiiFit sports together.  We were hoolahooping imaginary hoops, dodging soccer balls, pandas and shoes, and skiing down hills.  A fun way to get off the couch.

So even though it wasn't anywhere near going to the gym and doing intense work out, it was just about upping my daily activity and getting more active.  Moving. The challenge on the activelink this week and last was to earn 2 activity points a day...and I met that goal with 16 points last week, and I'm good so far for this week.

Oh, and on a different note, I have some great recipes coming this week: Golden beet salad with fresh ginger dressing and  Vospov Kufte (Armenian Red Lentil Kufte).  I just need the time to post them.  Hopefully tonight!

Yesterday was weigh in, and guess what?  I actually lost one FULL Pound this time.  Another 1. pound closer to my goal.  Grand total:  8 pounds in 7 weeks!!   Yay!
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Today is Thursday, and the day I read my weekly blog entry on ePostle's weekly podcast, the Next Step with Father Vazken.  I'm doing a weekly reading from my other blog - This week's topic "The Journey Continues" -  www.pomegranateandeye.blogspot.com  Take a look, or a listen!

     
Here's the Wii fit bundle.   And the console.  It may seem costly for "games" but there are other programs that go with it that you can use to up your activity.  I do have the Just Dance disks which are really fun, and the Zumba as well.  It's good for someone like me that doesn't have time to get to the gym.

Week 5 update: Getting moving

Week 5: Another .6 pounds down!

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with my little weight loss this week.  I did follow plan but the scale only showed a
.6 loss.  But that's okay...it's going in the right direction, AND I'm appreciating every ounce lost this time around.  Still, it's natural to get a little disappointed when others are losing so much faster.  This time around, I'm understanding this a little better though.  Case in point, I am going to WW meetings with two of my coworkers.  My one friend started a full week after me and met her 10 pound mini-goal this week!  (in 4 weeks).  And that was after spending the weekend on vacation and eating.  But the reality is that no two people are alike.  There are other factors too:  the amount of muscle mass, age, height, metabolism.  We're all different, so why should our weight loss be the same?  6.2 pounds lost so far.  Woohoo.

On Wednesday (weigh in day), I completed the 7 day assessment wearing my ActiveLink monitor, and I've started this week, trying to meet my daily challenge of earning 2 activity points.  The way it works is this:  I wore it for a week and it assessed my activity (or lack of).  Now that I'm in the actual challenge portion, I wear the monitor every day and it counts all the activity I do.  I can check where I am throughout the day.  It lights up when I place it on the counter. Each light lit is 25% of my activity goal for the day.  So this has gotten to be "fun" for me as I try to make my monitor go up to 100%.  So I'm doing all sorts of things to up the activity. This evening, I was only at 75% of my goal.  So I asked Neddy if he'd like to play with me...and we hooked up the Wii and did Wii Fit for an hour. It was fun!  (Yep, you heard me!  Activity was fun.) I have surpassed my goal today...I'm at 111%

So that's it for this week.  I'm going to continue on with my activity and tracking and we'll see what Wednesday's weigh in brings.

Hope you're all having a great week!