Cycling

So Bessie my bicycle and I have been getting to know one another quite well this summer.  I have ridden 186 miles so far with her and hope to reach 300 by the end of July.  August 4th I will be going back to work as a school counselor.

Cycling has been fairly easy on me.  We have a bike rack that attaches to the hitch on my van and I just throw my bike on there, drive 6-7 minutes to the Katy trail and we go.  When the ride is finished, I am hot, sweaty, and dirty.  My arms might be a little sore, but my legs do pretty well.

I had trouble with Trudy Treadmill because she was really rough on my feet.  Bessie Bicycle doesn't hurt my feet...thank goodness!

How will I keep active once I am back at work...sitting in a desk?

I'm thinking of setting an alarm that goes off every hour so that I get up and move.  Sometimes that means going to the classrooms to pick the kids up rather than having a teacher send them down.

Those of you with desk jobs...how do you incorporate movement into your day?

For 19 years I was a teacher so I walked around the room all day long.  Now that I have an office, I am much more stationary.  I've got to find something I like to do every day so that I keep moving.  I'm interested in your ideas!  :)

Small steps

This is such a true quote.

When I think of weight loss, I think of a journey.  As much as I would like to be 50 pounds lighter tomorrow, that just does not happen.

And what about all those, "I'll start my diet tomorrow"s?  Every day I put it off just means more work down the road.

I have recommitted to tracking with Weight Watchers.  I have an app on my phone and ipad, plus I can also track on my computer.  I have gone 2 weeks, tracking every day and staying within my points allowance.  It has shown on the scale.  I know what I need to do.  The hardest part for me is following through.

Today I checked out the My Fitness Pal app and played around with it.  I entered all my food just as I do for WW.  Even though I am new to the interface, I found it very easy to navigate.  If I weren't doing WW, I would definitely use the FREE app My Fitness Pal to stay on track!

Feedback & Progress

Tomorrow is weigh in day.

When I know that I have been on plan, I look forward to weigh in day.  When I've been off plan a lot or when I've eaten too much the day before, I dread weigh in day.

So why is the scale and that darn number so important???

I have come to realize for myself...if I have a weight loss goal that I hit a certain number on the scale I will get all worked up about what the scale says.  Every time before when I tried to lose weight, my goal was about attaining some magical number on the scale.  I not only set one big goal, but I set monthly and weekly goals too.  When I get really crazy, I write my scale goals all over my calendar.

Yep...it hasn't been a very successful method of goal setting for me.  Now when I look at my calendar I see all these numbers that are unrealistic.

So, if the number on the scale shouldn't be what motivates me, why do I continue to weigh in?

When I weigh in, I hope to see progress, movement in the down direction.  Over time, I hope to see a big change, not only in the scale, but also in the way my clothes fit, and how I feel about myself.

What I've learned about myself is that I need to use goal setting to set process goals, like how many days a week I track my food, how many glasses of water I am drinking, and even what foods I am eating.

Enter Weight Watchers and etools!  (By the way, this is NOT a plug for WW!  I just believe their program to really work and for me, it offers me freedom with boundaries).  Check out what I can see using my etools:

I LOVE these reports!  Love seeing that I have tracked every day this week!!!  I can also see that weekends are when I spend the most amount of points.

This report shows me how many days I tracked and notice...there is a direct correlation between tracking and losing weight!  Pretty stoked that I lost 4.3 pounds last month!  That is the most I have lost for over a year!  Wooohoooo!

These charts show success!  I really needed this visualization.  I am hoping for a loss tomorrow, but know that if the scale does not show one, there are variables beyond my control.  I know that I have been doing my job...and I plan to keep that up!  :)