Weight Loss Wednesday; Week 4 recap

I got a huge surprise when I weighed in this week - I was down 3.4 pounds. My four-week total is 10.8 pounds lost. To say that I was excited was a bit of an understatement.

The only problem is, I don't feel like I lost 10 pounds in the past month. I didn't take any pictures when I first started. (I was too embarrassed.) So now I don't have anything to look at and compare myself to now. I also didn't take measurements. Today is officially my one month anniversary with Weight Watchers so I decided to take some pictures today. I took them from three different angles and then put a reminder in my phone to do the same thing a month from today. My husband also offered to help me do some measurements tonight so I'll have that too.

I did also get a really nice message from my sister-in-law. I had mentioned not seeing a real difference and she sent me two selfies of myself side-by-side. Slightly different angles, but it did show me that changes are happening, and I just need to stick with it.

Are you on a weight loss journey? Do you take progress pictures? Do you find them motivating?

Weight Loss Wednesday; Week 3 Recap

Well, it happened. When I weighed in this week I was up 1 pound.

I definitely expected it though, I went out Friday night with my co-workers and then we had a family birthday party on Saturday. I made better choices than I would have (halibut and roasted vegetable instead of fish and chips) but I still had cheese cake Friday, black forest cake Saturday, and multiple alcoholic beverages both nights.

I struggled a bit on Sunday to get myself back on track, but I managed. So far Monday and Tuesday have been good days in terms of eating. I really need to get some exercise into my weekly routine, but I'm having a hard time with that. I did have a ringette game Monday night and another one tonight so that will definitely help in the exercise category.

One of the things I've been finding lately is that I'm not being fussy about what I eat. If it's within my points, I'll eat it. But I'm not making sure I'm getting enough water, and I'm definitely not eating enough vegetables. This journey needs to be about more than getting "skinny," I want to get healthy too.

So I set myself three goals for this week, including eat more vegetables. I'm definitely doing better with veggies so far this week, I bought a big bag of sugar snap peas at Costco and I've been having them with my lunch. I also had salad with my supper last night, even though Jonathan (my husband) decided to just have a burger and fries. And I started putting spinach back in my morning smoothies. It's only been two days though, so I'm not going to celebrate just yet. :-)

Happy Caturday! "Sydney" Facts

 Happy Caturday!

I tend to talk a lot about our beagle, Daisy, but Sydney was our first baby. To introduce Sydney, here are ten facts about her.

1) We adopted Sydney from the SPCA about a month after we got married. We always joke that Sydney picked us. The day we went in to check out the kittens Jonathan was holding her in his arms when she started chewing on the buttons of his shirt.

2) Her name at the SPCA was Jessie, but we changed her name to Sydney. She's named after Sydney, Cape Breton. (We spent our honeymoon in Cape Breton.)

3) Like most cats, Sydney loves boxes. "If I fits, I sits" is very much her personal motto.

4) Sydney loves chasing the little red dot, laser pointers are her favourite. When she was a kitten she'd tear around the apartment so much that she'd start purring and wheezing at the same time.

5) Sydney very much rules the roost in our place, if she's sitting in a door way or in front of it Daisy won't go past her. There are nights that we'll be in bed, calling Daisy to join us, but she won't because Sydney is sitting in the middle of our bedroom. I think that's why this Youtube video cracks me up so much:

6) Sydney's not much of a fan of "people" food. Tuna, chicken, cheese... She turns her nose up at all of them. But sit down with a bowl of ice cream? You instantly have company!

7) Sydney will cry and cry to get outside, especially if we're sitting outside on the patio. But once she gets outside she's too nervous to actually move.

8) We bought a bed for Daisy when we adopted her, but she never really used it. Sydney on the other hand loves the dog bed!

9) Sydney will sleep in her cat carrier, but she hates the car. She will cry the entire time she's in the car in her carrier. (It actually breaks my heart, she sounds so pitiful!)

10) She's the cutest cat ever. I know, this may be a fact that some people may argue me on. But really, just look at the evidence...

 Happy Caturday! Have a great weekend!

Weight Loss Wednesday; Down again!

How is it Wednesday already? Seriously though, I feel like it was just Wednesday. I expected the last week to creep by. It was my weekend to work (which means a 1pm to 10pm Saturday and a 1pm to 10pm Sunday) and I always find those weeks to drag on and on and on. This one didn't, which is extra crazy because I was super under the weather Sunday, Monday and most of yesterday.

Weight loss wise it was another good week, when I did my official weigh-in Sunday morning I was down 2.4 pounds, which brings my two-week total to 8.4 pounds. (Woohoo.)

I've been struggling a bit though, with not feeling well the past couple of days all I've wanted to eat is junk and I haven't been getting my steps in because I didn't want to move unless I absolutely had to. And now that I'm feeling better (and actually keeping my food in) all I want to do is eat. (There's a pattern there, I know.)

My goal for the rest of the week is to make sure I get my steps in, and maybe even get in a short workout or two. I'm going out Friday night with a couple co-workers, and then we have a family dinner Saturday night. I know that I'm going to make some food (and drink...) choices that aren't the best, but I'm hoping if I get some movement in it will help balance out the effects.

And the truth is, whatever changes I'm making on my way to a healthier me need to be changes that are going to last. If I skip out on social events or beat myself up about them I'm just going to revert back to the way I've always been. I'll be mindful of what I'm eating and drinking, but I'm not going to stress out about it. There's no rush to the finish line, I'm not racing anyone.

I think that's what's different this time. I think I'm finally in the right mindset to make lasting changes. I got this.

Things I love: Project Life

Many many many years ago I was all about scrapbooking. Okay, it probably was only five or so  years ago, but it feels like a long time. Eventually I found it was a hobby that took up too much time, too much money, and too much space. (The storage of supplies, not the albums themselves.) I also wasn't taking as many pictures, I wasn't happy with the way I looked in pictures so I stopped documenting my life that way. (This is something I'm working on!)

Somewhat recently I discovered pocket scrapbooking, more specifically Project Life by Becky Higgins. It is so easy to complete pages this way. I don't do Project Life in the traditional one-page per week style (yet) that many people choose to do, but I am using it to document the big and not-so-big events in our lives.

The pocket pages come in a range of designs, and there are dozens of core kits or smaller card sets you can purchase to use as accents. I personally use a combination of the official Project Life cards and patterned card stock or scrapbook paper. I've also used some scrapbooking stickers and embellishments on my pages. Now that I have a Cricut I'm really excited to see what I can do.

Here are a few of the pages from my 2016 album:
I know, the pictures are terrible! I just took them quickly with my phone. 

Do you do any scrapbooking? Have you tried Project Life or pocket scrapbooking?

Weight Loss Wednesday: One week in

I had a fantastic first week back on Weight Watchers. I made better choices, I tracked every bite I ate, I crushed my water goal, and met my step goal almost every day. I also gave up pop and energy drinks too (even zero calorie ones), and I stuck with it.  My hard work showed on the scale - in one week I lost six pounds! And - just as good as the number changing on the scale - was the fact that I already feel a difference in my energy level.

My constant exhaustion was one of my biggest motivators. My husband is a bit of a night owl, so me going to bed at 8 or 9 and him staying up until 10 and 11 was a bit of an issue. We felt like we weren't getting to spend any time together in the evenings. There are still going to be evenings here and there that I'm going to want to head to bed early, but I love the idea of more quality time with Jonathan.

Week two is off to a slightly rocky start. Monday night we had a belated Christmas dinner at my in-laws. I ate less than I would have a month prior, but probably still ate a bit more than I should have. I don't ever want to feel like I'm depriving myself though, I know the minute I feel that way my motivation will tank and I will self-destruct.

I'm also a stress eater, so today has been a bit of a challenge. Last night when we got home from visiting my brother-in-law and his wife our dog was acting a bit strange. We ended up heading in to the Metro Animal Emergency Clinic to make sure nothing was seriously wrong. She had x-rays done, but they didn't show anything. We got home around midnight with some pain medication and instructions to contact our vet if things weren't better in the morning. Things weren't better this morning, so I called our vet and ended up spending a good chunk of the morning there. That meant I didn't eat breakfast, and was starving when I got home. All I can say is that it's a good thing I won't use drive-thrus, instead of stopping for fast food I came home and ate a ham sandwich on Weight Watchers bread. I ate a handful of chips, but I tracked everything and I still have more than enough points left over for supper.

Hopefully the rest of week two goes well. I'm hoping to work some exercise in to my routine, as well as keep focused on making changes I can live with long-term.

Are you a stress eater? How do you try and manage it?

Book Review: Turbo Twenty-Three

Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich

(#23 in the Stephanie Plum series)

Good Reads Synopsis:
Larry Virgil skipped out on his latest court date after he was arrested for hijacking an eighteen-wheeler full of premium bourbon. Fortunately for bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, Larry is just stupid enough to attempt almost the exact same crime again. Only this time he flees the scene, leaving behind a freezer truck loaded with Bogart ice cream and a dead body—frozen solid and covered in chocolate and chopped pecans.

As fate would have it, Stephanie’s mentor and occasional employer, Ranger, needs her to go undercover at the Bogart factory to find out who’s putting their employees on ice and sabotaging the business. It’s going to be hard for Stephanie to keep her hands off all that ice cream, and even harder for her to keep her hands off Ranger. It’s also going to be hard to explain to Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, why she is spending late nights with Ranger, late nights with Lula and Randy Briggs—who are naked and afraid—and late nights keeping tabs on Grandma Mazur and her new fella. Stephanie Plum has a lot on her plate, but for a girl who claims to have “virtually no marketable skills,” these are the kinds of sweet assignments she does best.

My Thoughts:
I love this series, I've loved it from the very first book. (One for the Money) After more than 20 books, you would think that maybe I'd be getting tired of the series but I'm definitely not. These books aren't particularly deep (no offense Ms. Evanovich!) but they are well-written and a lot of fun. The characters (especially Stephanie and Lula) are what bring me back to the series over and over. Stephanie's relationships with her family, co-workers, and the men in her life are very entertaining and the main plot, while definitely a bit goofy (a murder victim frozen solid, dipped in chocolate and covered in pecans...), still kept me interested. I may or may not have finished this book in one day. ;-)

Final Verdict:
Looking for a fun, easy read? Look no further! In fact, I recommend starting from the beginning of the series. I don't think you'll be disappointed.