Healthy Holidays Update #8

I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is in one week.  At first I was almost sad, because it didn't feel like the holidays were coming, but now things are settling into a more festive mood around here. 

My mother-in-law came into town this past Monday and I have had a crazy busy week.  So...my "dieting" hasn't really happened, but it's okay.  I had a feeling these two weeks would be good if I could not gain any weight.  Unfortunately, I had hoped to lose at least 5 pounds by now, but oh well.  

I can't be upset about my week when I've had this kind of fun happening....

My daughters have both been accepted to their colleges of choice and this past Wednesday I was able to go with one of them to her campus tour at the University of Oklahoma. 

 My husband attended the College of Dentistry at OU, so it was fun to go up and visit with friends the night before and then enjoy seeing Oklahoma again.  The OU campus is beautiful and it was a gorgeous fall day.  I was a Sooner wife and now I'll be a Sooner Mom.  Yay!

My mother-in-law is an amazing cook.  She is Mexican by birth and her love language is food, which we don't mind one bit.  Yesterday we went and finished buying fixings to make tamales and made a couple dozen in the evening. 

Today we are making up the rest of them ... I told her I'm blogging till the masa is ready and then we'll start assembling.  Woo Hoo!  It's not the healthiest of foods, but they are something we only eat once a year, so it's fun to have her making them for us here.  

I'm taking notes, because I really should try and do these on my own.  I'm so glad she enjoys teaching me how to make foods her family loved, because we all love it too.  

But...you really want to know about the update, so here it is...for official purposes: 

1. I will exercise at least 30 minutes at least 4 times a week.  Um, I am determined to go run tomorrow and that will only be my second day of intentional exercise this week.  I walked for a couple hours on Wednesday at the OU campus, but otherwise I've been busy and seriously busy enough I just didn't get that 30 minutes done.  
2. I will eat "weight-loss" portions and healthier options, tracking my food on My Fitness Pal, so I will see a loss of at least 10 pounds.  The scale is not up this week and I'm glad for that.  I haven't eaten like I'm trying to lose weight, but I'm okay with it considering the circumstances.  
3. I will drink at least 32 oz. of pure water a day.  I've done okay with this, but not 100%.
4. I will bake and enjoy holiday treats within reason, making sure to track what I eat no matter how high the calorie count.  M yes, enjoying within reason, but no tracking.  So yellow for this week.  My friend baked pumpkin rolls and I had some.  We are making tamales and I'm having some.  I haven't tracked at all though.  Honestly, I was busy and I've been trying to only eat when hungry.  
5. I will strive for a balance between challenging myself to stick to a healthier plan and allowing myself to mess up.  I have balance, because none of the red bothers me.  I have a post brewing about facing the need to care for our health.  I know I could've told my friend I'm watching my weight and skipped the pumpkin roll.  I also know I could be super careful and not enjoy the delicious food my mother-in-law is making while she is here.  But I also know these are not normal occurrences in our family and if I'm being careful to not overeat and the scale isn't moving up I'm okay with that for right now.  

Next update post will be after Thanksgiving.  I don't do Black Friday shopping, so I'm sure I'll hop on here and post a quick update.  My brother and his wife and my niece are coming on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to that. 

I hope you all have a nice weekend and don't go crazy getting those last minute plans done before the celebration.  

Healthy Holidays Challenge Update #7

This has been the week that arrives monthly where everything goes up.  The cravings for sweets, the scale and the food.  So, unfortunately I wasn't really thrilled with, oh, pretty much anything.  I just told myself to wait it out and things would start feeling normal again.  

Today things are feeling back to normal, so that is good.    

Here's my update: 

1. I will exercise at least 30 minutes at least 4 times a week.  This will be done.  I have enjoyed two runs so far this week and look forward to my third tomorrow.  I'm doing strength today.  I'm pretty slow out there running, but I love that I'm shooting for time goals right now and not distance.  It's been nice.  
2. I will eat "weight-loss" portions and healthier options, tracking my food on My Fitness Pal, so I will see a loss of at least 10 pounds.  Fail.  During my monthly this is rarely a successful week with food and the scale going down.  I don't want to post my weight because it jumped quite high early in the week, but as I ponder it I think I will so you can see how crazy my body is behaving.  I jumped to 194.5 over the weekend and am back down to 192 today.  So, either the scale being lower a couple days last week was a fluke or this month my PMS wreaked havoc on my body.  I actually felt bloated for days and that is rare for me.  However, I know I wasn't eating healthier options, so I wasn't surprised it was up... just surprised by how much.  Anyway, I'm embarrassed and frustrated to have to share that, but now you know.  I'm back to 0/10 lost for this challenge.  Sigh. 
3. I will drink at least 32 oz. of pure water a day.  This has actually gone pretty good. Yesterday was the only day I didn't drink any water at all;  I was very busy all day morning 'til night.  
4. I will bake and enjoy holiday treats within reason, making sure to track what I eat no matter how high the calorie count.  I didn't bake, though sweets were eaten plenty of times, and only tracked maybe 50% of the week.  I did track a couple of higher days and it explained why my scale doesn't go down.  That is the point, so I really need to stick to this goal of tracking again.  It's a helpful tool for me. 
5. I will strive for a balance between challenging myself to stick to a healthier plan and allowing myself to mess up.  I'm temped to put a fail here, because I was very upset a few days over this weight I've gained.  The monthly hormonal fog always magnifies the depressing things.  However, I know what needs fixing and I reminded myself this week is always bad and to simply push through it.  So, it's not a total fail...I allowed myself to mess up and didn't beat myself up to badly.  :)    

All in all it was an okay week.  It was normal for my monthly (with the exception of the scale jumping so high), so I'm okay with that (..now that it's over and my monthly emotional fog has lifted).  It's life and life happens.  

Quite honestly, I have days I don't think I'm going to hit that goal of losing 10 pounds by the end of the year, but I won't let myself quit this challenge and put off losing weight until the New Year ... I'd probably end up gaining another 10 over Christmas if I did that.  

So, I'm here.  I'm not quitting and I'm looking for better things this week.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a nice weekend!

Stride Through the Holidays Running Challenge

Have I mentioned we get a pretty nice autumn here in Arlington, Texas?  I'm so glad.  Even though I was willing to move back to the desert I'm secretly rejoicing I didn't have to.  The cooler days, changing leaves and smell of fireplaces being lit make me happy.

 

Autumn days also make me want to run.  I run best in cooler weather.  So, now that temperatures are steadily staying lower the last of my excuses for not running is gone. 

 

However, I seem to be one who is motivated only when I'm accountable to someone, even in the smallest way (read: blogging helps me stay accountable.)  I've looked over training plans over the past month, but nothing jumped out at me.

 

Then I received an email from the ladies at Another Mother Runner and I was hooked.  I pondered the Stride Through the Holidays Challenge before going back, at the last minute, and signing up.

 

This is a simple five-week training plan that focuses more on minutes spent being active than a distance.  It also combines my love of running with my love of giving.  All profits from this challenge are being donated to Heart Strides. 

 

So, there it is.  I am running again.  And I'm helping another mother runner at the same time.  Yes, it's a lovely time of year.

Thankful Journey 5K

For the past few years I've participated in some sort of virtual 5K race Thanksgiving morning.  I've been wondering if I'll do it again this year.  I haven't been running as much, but the weather is becoming beautiful for it and the itch to run has begun.

Enter Alissa at A Journey to Thin.

She is hosting a Thankful Journey 5K this year, so I've signed up.  You can walk, ride, jog, run, do the elliptical, anything that takes you 3.1 miles.  The best thing is you have 10 days to complete it.  

So, feel free to pop on over there to sign up.  She has all kinds of prizes that will be given out through a random drawing at the completion of the "race".  

Healthy Holidays Update #6 - Doing Better

This week has gone much better.  There was no drastic dieting, but simply sticking to the goals I had set for myself.  There were still more higher calorie days than I need, but definitely more sticking to my plan.  

The best news, and ultimately where I want to see change, is... the scale is going back down.  I'm pleased with this.  

For the official check-in ...

1. I will exercise at least 30 minutes at least 4 times a week.  I have been a busy beaver, accomplishing much, but not always getting my exercise in.  I will exercise today and if I get it done tomorrow, then I will hit my goal.  So, yellow...because it's not quite there.  
2. I will eat "weight-loss" portions and healthier options, tracking my food on My Fitness Pal, so I will see a loss of at least 10 pounds.  Weight is 188.5, down 4 lbs. from last week (and the week before).  This is only 2/10 lbs down, but I'm so glad I'm back down.  Woot!  And the eating has gone much, much better this week.  
3. I will drink at least 32 oz. of pure water a day.  Yes!  When the weather cools I want more coffee, but I've been making myself drink water down before I drink more coffee.  I've also been drinking water with meals and that is making a difference.  :)
4. I will bake and enjoy holiday treats within reason, making sure to track what I eat no matter how high the calorie count.  Another yes!  The past couple of days I told myself I could have a sweet treat (this week it's Halloween candy) at the end of the day.  It's helped me really choose what to have.  Yesterday my husband's office gave him a large birthday cake for "you and your family"  [insert scary-I-don't-need-cake-in-my-house-face] Everyone had pieces in the evening and I had a couple bites.  I felt so proud of myself.  It's been a LONG time since I've said no or only-a-little to myself.
5. I will strive for a balance between challenging myself to stick to a healthier plan and allowing myself to mess up.  A fourth and final.. YES. Allow me to share....

This challenge has made me think about setting a good example to those that are following it.  As the hostess of the challenge I feel a need to be a good example.  If I'm going to tell people that I lost a lot of weight and I'm currently hosting a challenge, shouldn't I be living what I'm preaching?

It's been hard, because I just haven't felt like it.  

Honest.  I read a post on procrastination and the author mentioned, "Why are you procrastinating something you've been wanting to do?"  I originally started reading the article thinking of some projects I need to finish, but when I read that line my weight came to mind and I thought because I don't want to [eat healthy, watch portions]. 

I didn't dwell on the thought, but went on with my day.  I wasn't surprised by my internal response, but knew we don't always like what we have to do. 

This challenge has really been forcing me to think about my actions and whether I'm being a good example to those following.  No worries, there is no pressure to be perfect, but the pressure to at least follow what I'm preaching.  It's a healthy balance "between challenging myself to stick to a healthier plan and allowing myself to mess up.".

So, here's to another week.  If you're reading this and wondering who are the people following this challenge I'm talking about...they are all on Instagram.  I have 12 or so people on this challenge with me and I want to do better so they will be encouraged to keep it up as well.  :)

Thanks for checking in!  Have a good weekend!