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!

Balance - My February Progress

Last month, on my Inside the Pomegranate blog, I had a post on my One Little Word. (Click to see my original post on my other blog)  I chose the word "Balance" as what I was going to work on this year.  Balancing work and play, sleep and awake time is one of my biggest challenges.  I tend to overextend myself, committing to to much, and then getting burnt out.  So you can see how that word, Balance, is a good one for me.  It also has to do with my food choices.  Balance = moderation.  Balancing my choices is a challenge too.  So the whole idea was that by choosing this word, I would kind of make it my mantra for the year.

So we're one month into the new year and I wanted to check in and report on my progress.  How is my balancing going.  Um....well.....It's not really the best it could be. But I am a work in progress, right?  And it's all about small changes.  And I have another 11 months to work on this.  So let me report how things are going as of today.

Exercise:  I am still walking the 6 blocks to the bus stop and 6 blocks back.  This is going really well, and I'm liking that I am leaving a smaller footprint on the earth by doing this. BUT the downside is that I do have errands to run and do need my car for that, so I am averaging walking to the stop 4 x a week, and thenat 5th day I'm driving there, leaving my car and running errands immediately after I get off the bus.  I'm saving a lot of money on gas too.  Oh, and I signed up to walk the 39 mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in September, so I'm going to start my walker training next month!

Diet:  Last week I joined WeightWatchers.  And I'm on day 5 of the program and tracking EVERYTHING. Weigh in day is Thursday.  Because the plan has a 0 points values for fruits and vegetables, this works great for me.  I am learning that I have to measure out my portions for now. Because they were out of control.  Did you know that a serving of rice is 1/2 cup?  Tracking my intake is keeping me honest.  So that's going well.

Sleep:  This is where it all goes downhill.  I just have too much to do in the course of a day. But over the past month I've tried my best to get to bed by 11:00 p.m.   okay...11:30.  I even started making myself switch to decaf at night so that it would be easier to get to sleep.  I wake up at 5:00 a.m.   So I need work in this area.

Overextending myself:  This part is getting better.  I have an upcoming show for Pomegranate & Eye on March 2 so I'm getting ready for that.  And I'm coordinating a youth event at our church for Darfur awareness.  And blogging.  And my friend Suzie and I are still coordinating our homeless outreach.  But this part is okay.  :  )

I'm going to continue with this.  For February, I'd like to make more of a conscious effort to REMEMBER to BALANCE.  Because all too often my one little word becomes is an afterthought.  What's your One Little Word...and how's it going for you?