July is Almost Over

Where has this month gone? We've had a fun month starting it off in Disney World and enjoying other little adventures including a trip to Missouri this past weekend. I've done OK foodwise, I've been tracking best I could for the past 3 weeks. Hasn't shown a bunch of success on the scale, but I know I'm headed in the right direction. Lost a few tenths each week and I know they add up over time, so I've not in a huge hurry.

I have bought new Asics running shoes and actually have gotten out to run 4 days this past week. That's a HUGE accomplishment! I wouldn't call myself a runner yet, I've stopped a few times during the 2-3 mile attempts for a breather. Seems I don't quite have a good pace yet. I like to go fast and I know I need to slow down a bit to make it 3 miles running the whole way. I have gotten better the last 2 times and soon I'll be running the whole length.

I've attended WW meetings the last 3 weeks in a row. That's a major accomplishment as well. I feel that I stay motivated much better when I have someone "watching" me. I know as a WW staff, that I have a hard time keeping track of everyone and couldn't tell you who lost and who gained once the meeting starts because the line gets long and we weigh people so quickly, but that 1:1 moment on the scale makes an impact for the week.

We've done lots of "Back to School" shopping so far and the kids are ready for school to start. They all have new back-packs and lunch boxes and lots of new assorted school supplies. We have to go shoe shopping yet as everyone's feet have gone over the summer and it seems the only things fitting right now are flip-flops.

Have a great last week of July, we're off to the library this morning. My wife is pretty much back to work/school as she has taken on a new position this year as the Assistant Principal at her school along with trying to get everything organized within her old position since the teacher taking her old position is out of the country for two weeks. Library program this morning is for all ages, which is a good thing. We'll be dancing to the Polkas!

Plateaus

I decided to get my lazy butt to a meeting this week. The meeting that I attended while losing the majority of my 80 pounds no longer exists. The leader hasn't been with Weight Watchers for over a year and that's probably about how long it has been since I attended a meeting. I woke up extra early yesterday and attended a 7:00 meeting. Actually, didn't effect me at long, more my wife had to wake up early to play with the early riser boys. I knew the result at the scale would not be pretty since I had to weigh in last week with my Territory Manager. She was pleasant and didn't really seem to care that I am almost 20 pounds over my goal. Frankly, I wasn't really caring either until my shorts were starting to get a bit snug and it's been so hot lately that I sweating just thinking of the notion of exercise.

Yesterdays meeting was about fighting through plateaus. I wish I was in a plateau, I seem to be heading up a very steep grade mountain and in the wrong direction! She had the regular culprits: portion control, tracking, exercise, etc. But the one that caught my eye was EFFORT. I haven't been muching more effort into losing/maintaining weight for that last year. I've felt that if my clothes fit, I've doing fine. Well, it's come to the point when that excuse is no longer viable. My goal for the week is to track daily. I have done this so far since last Friday when I weighed in with my TM, and that's 5 days longer than I've tracked in several months.

So the official damage: 208.8

My goals for the week:
Track daily. Often, leaders suggest a goal of 4-5 days, but I used to do it daily and have no reason not to once again.
Exercise daily. Not a huge goal as I have continued to do this for the most part, but I will be focusing on my effort this week and will have a goal of burning at least 300 calories during each workout.
Meet the Good Healthy Guidelines. My biggest challenge is getting two dairies and a serving of oil everyday, so that will be my focus. Unfortunately, a pan of brownies even though it contains 1/2 cup of oil probably is not an appropriate way to get my oil.

That's it for now, working towards a better week!

Back to a Routine

What a vacation! I don't remember being this tired last year after driving through the night from Disney World. We arrived home Sunday and I am still dragging. We had an awesome trip. I didn't worry about food last week as I wore a pedometer all week and had no days less than 20,000 steps. That's a lot of walking!

I didn't find myself too hungry last week as it's not so much fun eating when you're sweating just sitting around. We did manage to eat enough good stuff and bad stuff too. Our "biggest" adventure was tackling an Earthquake. Eight scoops of ice cream, a topping on each, a boat load of whipped cream and other surprises.

One thing that did surprise me was the fact that I couldn't find a size large shirt anywhere. I really was trying to find a large tank top, but gave up early in the week and still couldn't find a t-shirt that I liked throughout the rest of the week. It was all small, mediums or extra-large. No larges to be found!

I'll try to get back in the posting routine, but am not promising much through the summer as the kiddos take over the computer and I can read on the iTouch, but don't care to post from there.