Tag Archives: Weight Watchers

Mar 29 2013

Friday March 26, 2013: Mishmash

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A couple of weeks ago we did a photo shoot together. I had a Groupon deal for the shoot itself, turned out that ordering the photos (especially the digital ones) was pretty expensive. Besides that we weren’t very much impressed with the photos. We picked out the best photo of us together, of me alone and of R. alone. The one of us together will be a gift for both our Moms too.

You might wonder why you haven’t heard me about Weight Watchers the past couple of weeks. Well that’s because I quit WW (again). I had a subscription for 3 months and needed to renew it. The past couple of weeks I hardly kept track of my Points. I’ve noticed I eat better/healthier when I don’t have the “pressure” to keep track of Points. When I count I somehow want to eat more (and do that too) because it feels I can’t have it and that’s when I want it.

Another reason that made me decide to quit is that I missed cooking from my own recipes/cook books. I felt I had to eat WW recipes and haven’t used much of my own recipes the last 2 months. I don’t have about 100 cook books to keep them on the book shelves and do nothing with them.

What does this mean? Well I’m not giving up on trying to lose the weight but I quit following a diet or a food plan or count calories. This time I’m really done with it. I just want to eat healthy 90% of the time and do my workouts. If that means I lose weight slowly or maybe not at all: so be it. I’m almost 45 and for the past 13 years I’ve been on diets on and off and I’m done with it and it isn’t working for me (anymore). I just want to live my life without thinking about calories, it makes me cranky.

I won’t be talking about weight loss anymore on this blog. I might post my weight every now and then but that’s it. I will be focussing on living as healthy as I can and exercise.

I have a long Eastern weekend. Today is my day off and in Holland we don’t work on Eastern Monday. This means a 4 day weekend: woohoo! Still no sign of Spring weather however but it has to come here someday, we just have to be patience.

Workouts:

I had a run scheduled this morning and I didn’t really want to go. I had to convince myself to go and in the end I did and it was a good run. Glad I went and didn’t listen to the inner lazy voice.

Stats:
Distance: 4.9 K / 3 miles
Time: 00:33:24

Speed per km: 8.80 km/hour (5.5 miles/hour)

Time per km: 06:49
Weather: dry, very hard wind, -2C (26 degrees)

Last song on Ipod before finish: Little Steven – Bitter Fruits

Movies I’ve seen lately

Breaking Dawn Part 2

I didn’t go to the theatre to see the last movie of the Twilight Saga because critics weren’t all that good and I have to say I wasn’t that impressed either. I think the first one still is the best one. But nevertheless I’m sad that there’s no more Edward & Bella, not in books and not in movies.

Mar 5 2013

Tuesday March 5, 2013: Spring is coming

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We are having amazing Spring weather yesterday and today. When I was driving home this afternoon it was 17 C (62 degrees) and the sun shines all day. It lifts my mood and not just mine, everyone around me is so much more happier now we have better weather. Even Bella is a happier dog, I seriously think she had Winter blues too, she has been a bit down the past weeks. It’s not going to stay like this, after tomorrow it’s getting cooler again but for now I’m enjoying it very much.

Another good thing is that it’s still light outside when I take Bella for her long walk after dinner. By the time I get home it’s getting darker but I know it stays longer light every day now for at least the next 6 months.

And although I didn’t run my fastest time last Sunday, doing this run and finish it, has been so good for my running motivation and my self confidence. I’m moving on and start training for a 10K run. I have already registered for it, it’s on Sunday April 21.

I didn’t run this morning even though I had planned a run. My calves and knees were still hurting too much from the trail run Sunday. I’m won’t be doing trail runs for now anymore, just road runs. I’d rather go to the forest with Bella and just walk. I will do my run tomorrow morning, in a couple of weeks it will be light during my early morning runs and my goal is to built a good running base during Summer that I can maintain next Winter and run a bit less then. Running in the dark is hard the longer the Winter lasts.

Workouts:

Plank challenge March

Monday: 30 seconds

Tuesday: rest

I did two 10 minutes workouts by The Firm Express Monday morning: kick start your metabolism followed by Shortcut to flat abs. Total time: 21 minutes.

Meals:

Monday

A dish of potatoes, endive, bacon, onion and herbs cream cheese. A bit high in WW Points I found out after entering it but it’s very tasty (although you wouldn’t say that due to the crappy picture).

Tuesday

 

WW recipe: chicken filled with cheese and ham, cooked potatoes and carrots with a tablespoon of sour cream.

Weight progress:

Weight loss this month? None!

Gain this month? Yes!

I totally screwed up last month. I didn’t gain it all back what I’ve lost in January. I can’t say I’m very upset about it. February was just a lousy month in which nothing went very well. I’ve started counting WW Points yesterday again and will post my weekly points review again because it keeps me accountable to myself.

 

Feb 12 2013

Tuesday February 12, 2013: A great run

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Saturday morning we went to pay our respects to friends of ours. His father passed away last Tuesday and friendship is not only sharing good times but also be there in sad times. We went together with our other friends. We didn’t go to the funeral because we didn’t know his Dad that well. But they appreciated that we came.

Saturday afternoon I went to the forest with Bella, the weather wasn’t that good, it started snowing while we were walking there. But Bella didn’t mind, she loves walking in the forest so much. I had the resolution that I would go to the forest every weekend but so far I’ve only been twice and one beach walk. Seeing however how much fun she’s having, I really need to take her there more.

Workouts:

I had to cancel Thursday’s run, the roads were to icy, I almost fell 3 times within 5 minutes. It’s not worth falling and get injured because that takes longer than skip a run.

Saturday morning I went out again and this was the perfect run: weather was great and the run went easy. The kind of run that reminds you why you love running so much and the one that you wish every run would be like this one. It was great.

Stats:

Run-walk ratio: 8-10-8 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (26 minutes running, 6 minutes walking)

Weather: dry, not much wind, little bit of sunshine, -3C (26 degrees)

Distance: 4.5 K / 2.8 miles

Time: 00:31:52
Last song on Ipod before finish: Randy Newman – You’ve got a friend.

 

Woohoo: another good run Monday morning. It was cold though (cold wind) but like Saturday it went great.

Stats:

Run-walk ratio: 8-10-8 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (26 minutes running, 6 minutes walking)

Weather: dry, windy, -3C (26 degrees)

Distance: 4.5 K / 2.8 miles
Time: 00:31:32
Last song on Ipod before finish: ABC – All of my heart.

This morning I did a short Zumba Flat Abs workout. I really like Zumba, it’s a fun variation to my other workouts. Total time: 17 minutes.

Meals:

Monday

Breakfast (5 points): 2 slices of whole wheat crackers with chicken and a honey-mustard, 1 orange.

Lunch (12 points) A pita bread filled with smoked chicken, dried apricots and a dressing of yogurt and mayonnaise -> delicious. I bought mushroom soup at work because I was cold and needed something warm and a glass of milk.

Dinner (9 points): a simple dinner of a sausage, potatoes and green beans.

Snacks: 3 clementines, 1 apple, 1 cookie (1 Point)

Tuesday

Breakfast (6 Points): Two slices of raisin bread with butter, 2 kiwi.

Lunch (9 Points): A pasta salad with chicken, red pepper, corn, red onion. This wasn’t very tasty and I won’t make this again.

Dinner (6 Points): Sort of pizza only the bottom was of beef meat. Topping: mushrooms, tomato and leek. Like lunch also a no-keeper. It was okay but not good enough to make it again.

Weight Watchers review:

The past two weeks I got careless. I didn’t track everything, I didn’t stick to my planned meals. As a result I still haven’t lost all the weight I gained during our little getaway weekend. But it bothered me and as of yesterday I got back to counting all Points and stick to my plan. Because when I didn’t ate the meals I planned, I choose easy things but they didn’t taste as good. When I follow the plan and have variety in my meals, I don’t feel the need to snack much in between.

 

Feb 5 2013

Tuesday February 5, 2013: Yeah, no more pain!

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Little background history: as a child I had many problems with my teeth. By the time I was 18 I have had 3 root canal treatments, 4 crownes, 1 surgical operation, 1 brace. Back then technology wasn’t as good as it is today and most treatments were painful.

Add to that that I have been in the hospital for 4 weeks when I was 11 because of an infection at my foot and had to have 4 injections every day. One of the nurses was terrible at giving the injection and often missed my vain. That’s when my fear for injections started.

Flash forward to 2009, my teeth had been healthy for many years but an infection at my jaw right under my nose had me go to the hospital again for a surgery.

Flash forward to yesterday. I called the dentist at 8.30 am and got an appointment at 9.40 am. After I explained what my problems where, he took a photo and saw an infection at the root of my teeth. The extreme pain I had Saturday was the nerve dying. “You have to get a root canal treatment” he said. I said “okay, when”. “Now” he said.

Oh my, I got nervous immediately, mostly because of the injection I would get and because I hadn’t expected it. I told him about my fears and his assistant helped me with breathing exercises while he squeezed my lip and gave me the injection. I have to be honest: I didn’t feel a thing.

I had to wait for a while in the waiting room where I called my manager that I needed more time and called R. to tell him what was going on. After that the treatment started, I didn’t feel a thing, and was outside again at 10.50 am.

My manager had said that I should go home afterwards but I was feeling pretty good although the anaesthesia hasn’t worn off yet. I went back to the office and was okay till around 2 pm. That’s when I went home. After sitting for an hour on the couch I was feeling better again and didn’t have pain the rest of the day.

I have to go back in 6 weeks when he will open it again to see if the infection totally is gone and after that I get a permanent filling.

I have been painfree all day today and didn’t need painkillers. You get used to having teeth pain and a headache every day but you know how irritating it is when you feel good again. I have more energy again too than I had the past 3 weeks.

Workouts:

I started the new workout month yesterday morning with an easy Yogalates workout. Total time: 25 minutes.

You know the Barbara Streisand song: What kind of fool? The song has been in my head all day because what kind of fool would run in the weather conditions I had this morning. Well, that would be me.

I always check the forecast the evening before my run and in the morning before I go. It said wind and a little bit of rain. It was raining when I went but the wind was more a storm wind than a normal one. After a few minutes thunder and lightning started, followed by hail, followed by heavy rain that was followed by wet snow. At some point I could take a short cut home and I did because this was a bit too much of it all. I was soaking wet when I got home but nothing that a hot shower couldn’t fix.

Spring can’t get here soon enough as far as I’m concerned.

Stats:

Run-walk ratio: 5-7-7-5 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (24 minutes running, 8 minutes walking) -> didn’t finish.

Weather: see above, 5C (41 degrees)

Distance: 2.9 K / 1.8 miles

Time: 00:20:13
Last song on Ipod before finish: Mumford & Sons – I will wait

Meals:

Monday

Breakfast (3 points): 2 whole wheat crackers, light cream herbal cheese, cucumber.

 

Lunch (12 points) 2 Slices of bread with brie cheese, walnuts, honey and salad. I bought a container yogurt with honey at work and had a glass of milk.

 

Dinner (9 points): Chicken with mushrooms and onions (WW recipe), potatoes and broccoli.

Snacks: 1 little biscuit (1 Points).

Tuesday

Breakfast (7 Points): Oatmeal with raisins and a tablespoon brown sugar.

Lunch (8 Points): Couscous salad with grilled vegetables (zucchini, cherry tomatoes, red pepper) and feta cheese. I bought a glass of milk at work.

 

Dinner (11 Points): Beef, baked potatoes, carrots with green peas.

 

 

Weight Watchers review:

Last week wasn’t a very good week. I didn’t track from Thursday till Sunday. I didn’t eat in between meals when we were away for the weekend, except for the chocolate pie but we didn’t have lunch. The food was more than I make at home and it resulted in a gain on the scale Monday. I’m not worried about that because I had expected it. I picked it up yesterday and move on and am sure the gained weight is gone next Monday.

Jan 29 2013

Tuesday January 29, 2013: Hooray for the King

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Monday afternoon it was all over the news: our queen would give a TV speech at 7 pm. This could mean only one thing and that she would step down as our queen. Of course we were in front of the TV and indeed she announced that she is going to retire. This means we will get a king: Willem Alexander and a queen: Maxima. The ceremony will take place on April 30 which already is a National holiday. On the same date 32 years ago Beatrix became our queen. I expect that this will be celebrated big in our country.

I was supposed to go out to dinner tonight with our management team. One of the managers has got a new function in our company and we had a “goodbye” dinner planned. But he was sick yesterday and today and my own manager was sick yesterday and not completely fit today. So we cancelled it and will do it another time.

Workouts:

Yesterday morning I did a run. Some parts of the bike path were a bit slippery because it was frozen but it didn’t really slow me down. This was a good run, nothing to complain about, everything went well.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 5-7-7-5 minutes, 2 minutes walking inbetween (24 minutes running, 8 minutes walking)

Weather: dry, windy, 3C (37 degrees)

Distance: 4.4 K / 2.7 miles

Time: 00:31:29

Last song on Ipod before finish: James Taylor – You’ve got a friend

This morning I did a Turbofire workout. Turbofire is a kind of body combat workout and I like it a lot although it’s sometimes hard to keep up with all the moves. But I’m doing the best I can.

Total time: 44 minutes.

Outfits:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Weight Watchers review:

The program doesn’t feel like a diet. I eat much better than I have the past 2 years. I always said I already ate healthy but now it turns out I ate too much at meals, had too many snacks and alcohol and didn’t have much variation with my breakfast and lunches. Since I started WW and apparently eat more healthy my IBS problems are completely gone. I’m eating WW recipes for 2 more weeks, after that I’m going to add recipes from my cook books again but still most of the meals will be WW recipes, especially breakfast and lunch.

Weight progress:

Weight January 1: 82 kg / 180.7 lbs

Weight January 31: 79.2 kg / 174.6 lbs

Weight loss this month: -2.8 kg / 6.1 lbs

As a slow loser when it comes to weight, this is huge for me and I’m very happy with the result.

Jan 22 2013

Tuesday January 22, 2013: 10 years at the company

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As you might remember I had a jubilee day back in September for all the people that had their jubilee last year. Today was all about me because we celebrated my 10 years at the company today with the people I work with daily. My official jubilee date was December 16th but my manager was extremely busy the last month of last year and asked me to postpone because he wanted to give me the jubilee I deserved so we postponed till today.

When I arrived at work there were posters everywhere on my way to the first floor where my office is. My manager had a colleague who is very good with photoshop made it. The subtitle says “in top shape to the next 10 years”.

At 10 am all my colleagues came to my managers office to congratulate me and after that my manager prepared a speech for me. Boy, he does know me well. I can’t remember everything (he did everything with only some words on a piece of paper) but I do remember some.

High standards: he told the others that I hardly ever make mistakes but when I do, he’s having fun for a week, mostly because I hate it so much to make mistakes. He said that happened twice since we work together.

Guardian angel versus pitbull: he says I’m very protective of the managers I work for and I do anything for them to help them do their job -> guardian angel. If I have to do something for them I go through walls if I have to to get it done -> pitbull. He also said he never has to write down what he asks me to do because he knows that once it’s asked, it’s done.

Discrete: he told everyone there that he could trust me a 100%, that I know everything what’s going on in the company but never tell anyone and how important that is for him.

Caring: he said I care for the managers I work for and I care for the ones at home: R., my family and friends and Bella of course. He said that I sometimes come to him and say that we need to have a talk and I usually have an idea how to do things better or how I can help one of the other managers of the company. He likes my initiative and that I’m always looking how I can help others. I can have a big mouth but deep down I’m a very sensitive and sweet girl who wants to take care of others.

Perfectionist: he used my running for this. He was already my manager when I started running and he knows how much time and effort I put into it. He said I should be more proud of what I’ve accomplished. He mentioned my DNF at the half marathon because of the heat. He knew how much I’ve trained for it and that I was ready. I was too hard on myself for not finishing that day, I should have looked back at how I got there and what I had accomplished with running. Bottom line: I should be more proud of my runs instead of looking at what went wrong. Hmmmm he could be right.

He ended by saying how glad he was that I am his assistant and hoped we have many more years of working together to come.

By that time I was blushing, I don’t like being in the spotlights, that’s why I chose this job: let me take care of things in the background and I’m happy. I had a little thank you prepared myself and it felt like I was shaking and blushing but my colleagues said later that I did great and it was a sweet speech. My last words were for my manager and the one I had worked for for 7 years because they are special for me.

Then I got a present, everyone had given some money to buy me a present and I got a couple of dinner cheques so R. and I can go out for dinner. We ended with cake and a group photo. The photos below one of my colleagues took with my camera but there was a professional photographer too and when I get his photos I’ll show them here.

With one of my favorite colleagues:

 On my right the manager I worked with for 7 years, he’s retiring this July. Next to him the manager I work for now.

So many came, this is not even half of the people that came for me.

Cake!

Well enough self-clarification for one day back to keeping both foot on the ground. But it does feel pretty damn good to be this appreciated.

Workouts:

After doing nothing for 2 days I did a short The Firm Express workout, cardio to see how I would feel and how it would go and it went okay. Still not 100% fit but much, much better.
Total time: 20 minutes.

This morning when I woke up I felt I had a setback and felt worse than yesterday. The decision to take an extra rest day was made quickly and I didn’t do anything today.

Weight Watchers review:

 

Three weeks down and many more to go. I had a totally off day on Thursday. I had a meeting including lunch and I ate too much. I find it hard to estimate what I eat when I don’t make it myself and I ended up not counting on Thursday. Friday I didn’t eat much good food because I was sick. But the other days of the week were good. The good news is that I just continued counting and eat healthy after an off day. And I was rewarded by another loss on the scale. Next week I’ll give an update on that.

Jan 15 2013

Tuesday January 15, 2013: Today I’m hardcore!

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Remember I told you I am in a work group to improve the vitality of our employees at my work? Well this week we are having a “FIT” week. Every day we have something to do. Yesterday you could test your eyes, blood pressure, measure your fat etcetera. Tomorrow the insurance company is coming to tell some things and Thursday is about mental health. Today was about moving.

The company has a contract with the gym across the street where we can get a membership with a discount. I don’t have it because I don’t live in the same village as where I work and I don’t want to drive there at night or in weekends. The gym came over to the company today and before lunch two instructors went to different floors in the building and we (I accompanied them because I’m in the work group) got people out of their office to do some exercises. Not many were that good a sports to do it but a few did and it was fun. During lunch they gave some demonstrations of parts of group classes.

The photo below is something I noticed yesterday: someone let the water from the statue freeze and this is how it looks now.

 

The weather turned bad during the day. In the morning we had a little snow but by the time I had to drive home there was more and the roads were very bad to drive. I took it easy and slow and was glad I made it home safe.

Workouts:

Monday morning I did a short The Firm workout: Club Dance. This was fun.
Total time: 20 minutes.

As said above we have snow. The forecast was that it would start here during the night and I put two sets of clothes ready: 1 for running and 1 for a home workout and decided I would see how it would be this morning. It was snowing when I got up but not much and I decided to go out and do my run. Boy I did feel like one hard core bad ass when I was finished: I ran in the dark, in the cold and in the snow.

Right now I’m glad I went because this morning the bike path was pretty good to run at, right now it’s a mess and it’s much colder tomorrow morning. So tomorrow morning I stay inside and do a workout DVD.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 7 x 3 minutes, 1 minute walking inbetween (21 minutes running, 7 minutes walking)
Weather: snow, little wind, -3C (26 degrees)
Distance: 3.8 K / 2.4 miles
Time: 00:27:36
Last song on Ipod before finish: Madonna – Like a prayer.

Meals:

Monday

Breakfast (7 points): Two slices of whole wheat bread with a boiled egg.

Lunch (6 points) Three slices of whole wheat bread with filet american and pickles, an orange.

 

Dinner (8 points): Pork tenderloin, potatoes, chicory with béchamel sauce.

 

Snacks: ½ Mango, 3 Clementines, 2 cookies (2 Points).

Tuesday

Breakfast (5 points): Two slices of whole wheat bread with strawberry jelly.

Lunch (12 points): Turkish bread caprese (with pesto, tomato, rocket salad and mozzarella). I bought a container of low fat yogurt with some honey and milk at work.

 

Dinner (8 points): (no picture, forgot it) Chicken breast, baked potatoes and carrots with green peas.

Snacks: ½ Mango, 3 Clementines.

Weight Watchers review:

 

Two weeks done and I’ve lost more weight than I expected because I normally lose weight slow. I will mention my weight here but only once a month at the beginning of a new month. It still goes very well, I’m not hungry and I eat very tasty meals. Remarks:

  • With the breakfast and lunch that I eat now, I realized how boring these meals have been the past two years or so. I often ate the same. I have a lot more variation now.
  • I need to work on eating fruits at the weekend. Usually I’m not hungry between meals in the weekend and I eat nothing but I also don’t eat fruits at lunch or dinner. Need to work on that.
  • Because I lost weight 2 weeks in a row I gave myself a “reward” and ordered another WW cook book.

Outfits:

Monday: dress in white/black/blue with a blue jacket and blue suede high boots.

Tuesday: blue pants, white top, emerald green jacket, blue suede high boots.

Jan 8 2013

Tuesday January 8, 2013: WW update

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Daily stuff:

A day in my life: Monday

5.15 am: Get up
5.30 am: Insanity workout
6.15 am: Shower, get dressed, make lunch, eat breakfast.
7.15 am: Leave for work
7.45 am: Arrive at work
4.15 pm: Leave work
4.30 pm: Home, change and clean bathroom and dust and vacuum 3 bedrooms.
6.00 pm: Cook
6.30 pm: Dinner
7.00 pm: Walk with Bella
7.45 pm: Finally …. me time
10.15 pm: Bed time

Monday is my busiest day. How was your day today?

Workouts:

I did my first full Insanity workout yesterday morning and boy that’s a tough one. I couldn’t keep up but luckily for me, it was said often enough: go at your own pace. I did the best I could and had a good workout. Although it was hard, I did like the workout.
Total time: 39 minutes.

This morning I was supposed to run and I did go out but ende up doing a walk around the block. I just didn’t want to run. But … I felt bad about it all day and it influenced my mood which always happens when I skip a workout. Need to remember that next time I don’t want to workout. On top of that when I got home I pulled off my hat without realizing my head was still on it. Result: head lamp on the floor and broken. I already ordered a new one online that’s coming tomorrow because I need it Thursday. It wasn’t a very good day today.

Meals:

Monday

Breakfast (6 points): low fat yoghurt with a banana and muesli.

 

Lunch (9 points) was 3 slices of whole wheat bread with lean pork, salad and a little bit of mustard with mayonnaise. I bought a glass of milk at work.

 

Dinner (7 points): Cod fish with a tablespoon olive oil and cherry tomatoes out of the oven, potatoes and salad with honey-mustard dressing.

Tuesday

Breakfast (6 points): 2 slices of whole wheat bread with ham, an orange.

 

Lunch (10 points): 3 slices of whole wheat bread with cheese, cucumber and tomato. I bought a class of milk at work.

Dinner (9 points): chicken breast, baked potatoes, grilled zucchini.

Weight Watchers review:

First week WW done. I started tracking on Wednesday 2nd. The first 3 days were hard. I was hungry all the time, not because I didn’t eat enough but because I ate what I could eat instead of eating more than I should which I had done the past months.

Friday night I was feeling terrible and instead of cooking I gave in to some fast food that I did track. Usually that’s a point where I say “okay all is lost now, why bother” but I did continue. Saturday morning I felt so much better and since then I’m doing fine.

The next 4 weeks I will eat mostly WW recipes to hopefully get some weight loss (I’m a slow weight loser). In February I will add recipes from my cook books again that I will enter in the food database at the WW website to calculate the points.

I bought 2 books. The first one is a book for “starters” and has 4 weeks of meal plans in it. I will use most of the suggestions the next 4 weeks. If I don’t like something I replace it with a different WW recipe. The other one is a book with 365 meal plans. I will use that book as much as possible too after the first 4 weeks.

Jan 6 2013

Sunday January 6, 2013: Mishmash

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Daily stuff:

Back to work Thursday and it wasn’t easy to get back into routine. I didn’t really wanted to go back to work already but bills have to be paid and food has to be on the table. At least the advantage of 2 workdays is that it was weekend after just 2 days.

We had a quiet weekend which was lovely after all the holidays. Most people don’t like January but I love it because everything is back to normal and a whole new year is lying ahead of us.

We didn’t do much, had movie night yesterday and watched Horrible Bosses, it was an okay movie. We didn’t want a “heavy” movie just one you could watch mindlessly.

This afternoon we went to my friend T. who is having her birthday today. She never celebrates big but we always go to congratulate her. As usual my gift to her was an invitation for dinner at my house, it’s a tradition we have for years now.

Workouts:

Back to working out before work means running in the dark again. We’re lucky that the weather is so mild so far this winter, it hasn’t been really cold yet. Only a few more months and daylight will be return. The run itself went good. I had to do 7 x 3 minutes running and the last 3 minutes was at a 6:00 pace (per km). That was hard and I had to step out of my comfort zone to do it but I did.

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 7 x 3, 1 minute walking inbetween (21 minutes running, 7 minutes walking)
Weather: dry, bit windy, 9C (48 degrees)
Distance: 4 K / 2.5 miles
Time: 00:28:12
Last song on Ipod before finish: Chicago – Saturday in the park.

I did a fun run this morning, just running for fun, take a walk break when I need it, don’t look at my pace and it turned out to be a very good run. I took 2 walk breaks and just enjoyed running.

Stats:
Weather: dry, little  wind, 7C (44 degrees)
Distance: 3.5 K / 2.1 miles
Time: 00:23:49
Last song on Ipod before finish: Fun! – We are young.

Meals:

Thursday:

Lunch (8 points): brought my own lunch which I plan to do more often. I made a salad from a WW cook book: couscous with cucumber and tomatoes. This was for 1 person but it was too much to eat it all. I ate about ¾ of it. I also had to kiwi (Zespri) fruits.

Friday:

Lunch (9 points): Another salad with pasta yellow pepper, rocket salad and cherry tomatoes with a dressing of low fat yogurt with a little bit of pesto. I like the salad but the yogurt in it not so much. Think I will replace that with a little extra virgin olive oil. Think I will like it better that way.

Saturday:

Breakfast (6 points) was a whole wheat bread with a boiled egg.

Lunch (10 points) was 2 slices of bread with bacon, spinach, tomato and cheese that I put under the grill for a few minutes till the cheese was melted. It was delicious, I had the same for lunch today.

 

Dinner (6 points): Tomato-lentil soup with Turkish bread that I put under the grill with some garlic and olive oil as a topping. Delicious! I made two portions and put one in the freezer for a day I don’t have much time to cook.

 

I forgot to take pictures of my breakfast this morning that was a croissant with jelly. I didn’t make dinner because I was full from the snacks I had in the afternoon and just ate 2 slices of bread with peanut butter.

Weekly workout review:

I have been taking it easier the past 2 weeks with my exercises and running and I don’t mind. Sometimes you have to take it a bit easier. As of tomorrow I will pick up my regular exercise schedule again.

Jan 2 2013

Wednesday January 2, 2013: Happy New Year!

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Daily stuff:

First: I wish you all a happy New Year and hope it will be a fantastic year for you.

The last days of 2012 were very relaxing for us. Last Friday we had our friends over for our first evening to end the year together. We had lots of fun and it was a great success.

The food:

 

The guys giving R. Ipad lessons (they both already had one):

 

The girls:

We spend New Year’s Eve at home as we have been doing the last couple of years. Especially I don’t care about New Year’s Eve and I don’t want to go anywhere that night. I’m always in anticipation for the new year to start. New Year’s Day we did the traditional visits to both our Moms. R. had to go back to work today but I had another day of vacation. For me normal life starts again tomorrow.

2013

It’s time to reveal my plans: a new year has started and this year is special to me. In May I’m hoping to reach the age of 45 and in March it’s 20 years ago R. and I met. Because it’s a special year to me, I started thinking about what I want to accomplish this year a couple of weeks ago. I thought and thought about it over and over again till I was convinced I can do this and I want to do this.

I have 2 big goals this year:

1. Reach my goal weight
2. Run a half marathon

Goal weight:

For years and years I’ve been struggling with my weight. I lose some, I gain some which kept me at the same weight for a couple of years (except last year where I gained weight). Nothing wrong with that, except that it isn’t a healthy weight. I have thought about how I was going to reach it and after lots of thinking and testing I have decided to go back to Weight Watchers. WW has been the only program in the past that has really worked for me and helped me reach my goal weight 13 years ago. Since then I’ve been struggling with my highest weight 10 years ago in 2003. A decade!

This time I’m not going to give up, I won’t stop till I reached a weight that’s healthy for me and that I can be happy with. I don’t have a specific date in mind but December 31 will be great (if not I keep on going in 2014). I have to lose 9 kg (19.8 lbs).

Half marathon

After two attempts at running a half, I still can’t get it out of my head. Not finishing has been one of the biggest failures to me and I can’t stand that, neither can I let it go. So I’m trying again this year. I have a race in mind in October and I have made a training schedule that will prepare me for that.

But, one of my biggest “problems” is race day nerves. I have messed up a few races because I was nervous.  I have planned a few races the next months to see how it goes, if I’m still that nervous I might not run that half in a race but on my own.

I don’t care if I run it in a race or on my own or that I run in October or maybe even on December 31: I shall run this distance in 2013!

I don’t have to prove to myself that I can run a half in a race but I have to prove to myself that I can run  it. That’s what matters most to me.

Workouts:

What better way to start a new year and my plans for 2013 with a run on the first day of the year. When I got up it was raining cats and dogs but I had my mind set on a run and after about 30 minutes I went. It wasn’t that bad at all although I had to take more walk breaks towards the end of run (probably because of the wine on New Year’s Eve). Because it was early there was hardly any traffic and no one outside for a walk or run except for this one girl that I saw. Just like me she was running: girl power!

Stats:
Run-walk ratio: 7-7-14, 2 minutes walking inbetween (28 minutes running, 6 minutes walking)
Weather: rain, bit windy, 5C (41 degrees)
Distance: 4.8 K / 3 miles
Time: 00:33:46
Last song on Ipod before finish: Spandau Ballet – Lifeline.

Meals:

Now that I have started Weight Watchers I will make pics of my meals for as far as that’s possible (not going to take photos when I have a work lunch for example).

Wednesday:

Breakfast (7 points): 2 slices of bread with cheese and marmalade and an orange.

Lunch (8 points): 2 slices of bread with egg/tomato/cottage cheese.

 

Dinner (7 points): Pork meat, potatoes, green beans.