Shoutin’ from the Rooftop

Ever since I started my journey to lose weight & become more healthy, I have always “budgeted points” for an evening snack. More times than not, the snack is/was ice cream. Chris, my super husband, has ice cream many evenings. (This is the guy that started running, gave up second helpings & regular Coke and lost over 50 pounds and has kept it off for over 5 years.) I knew when I first started that I would feel too deprived and like I was on a diet if I didn’t allow myself that option. It worked for me all of these months.

I wouldn’t always use the budgeted points. I also would use my activity points to set off the nighttime snacking. I do want to clarify when I say “nighttime snacking” and “budgeting points”  I am only talking about using one or two points for a snack.

Lately those few points that I have budgeted hasn’t seem to satisfy me. There is no reason except this desire to eat just for the enjoyment of the food. :::sigh::: I have worked hard this week to stop that tendency. Tonight I am not blowing the awesome run that I got in this morning. Was it an easy run? Nope. I hated the entire first mile but I didn’t quit. I kept reminding myself that I would have my treadmill back soon and I would be able to be more consistent.

So no snacking for me tonight. How do you deal with nighttime snacking? Do you budget points? Not even allow yourself a snack even if you are truly hungry? Ready to hear your tips.

Tags: snack

Hello! It’s Molly again! Back to share with you thoughts on things that you may not realize you care about.  (see what I did there?)

I have procrastinated on bringing Molly Monday to you all day because I really don’t know what to talk about.  I could become a fiction writer really quick and tell you all kinds of inspirational and life changing stories.  But that would technically be lying rather than fiction.

Instead, I will tell you about my new love-hate relationship with cycling class.  I’ve been taking this cycling class at the YMCA since January.  The cycling class is the same as a spinning class but some person has the rights to the phrase “spinning class” and therefore no one else can call it that without paying an exorbitant fee to the word owners.  The teacher’s name is Cheri (pronounced Cheery.  The irony is not lost on me.) She is amazing.  She really somehow can sense when someone is about to fall over off of their bikes because at the exact millisecond before I give in to my brain saying “ohmygosh, thishurtsobad, you must stop!” she will yell out “come on! You can do it! Do NOT stop!” Then my brain usually mumbles back something about how it really doesn’t care for Cheri and her making me do things that are painful, but I don’t usually listen to my brain because I’m too busy trying not to fall over dead.

When I first started the cycling class, I hated it.  True, unbridled hatred.  It hurt.  I couldn’t make it through the whole class.  It hurt after the fact.  And not in the “oh my legs are sore from working out” hurt.  It was a hurt that can only be compared to riding a horse for 4 days across the desert in the sun.  I made myself go back. (and by “I” I mean “my husband”) and it was no less torturous.  The only improvement was that I had a slightly better grasp on what was about to happen to me.

That was back in November.  I believe I went a total of 4 times before declaring that I hated cycling and would never ever EVER be going back.

When our new YMCA opened up here closer to me, my husband really wanted to give it a go again.  So, in the name of going to the Y at the same time he does and therefore eliminating quite so much time spent at home alone with all of my kids and no other adult, I agreed to go too.  It started out very similar.  The pain.  The hatred.  The questioning of sanity.  But suddenly, on about the 5th time, I began to enjoy the way I felt.

Let me clarify that statement.  I began to enjoy the way I felt….afterwards.

I still do not enjoy the entire 45 minutes that I am on that bike.  I usually begin by muttering something along the lines of “I am so not in the mood for this today” but I press onward.  I know I’m getting a good workout and that makes me feel good later.

It also makes me feel good before.  That sounds strange, but it actually makes me feel better beforehand than afterwards, which inspires me to eat better during the day before I go to class.

I wish I could get to the point where I enjoyed both before class, after class, and, you know, during class…but for now, I suppose,  2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

I will be honest.  I wasn’t sure what to expect when I weighed in on Saturday. I did my best. I dealt my youngest being hit with the stomach flu. I had a rough day eating on Wednesday and shouldn’t have caved in like I did.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my loss on Saturday. 0.8 pound loss. I will take it! Of course I would have loved more after no change in the previous week’s weight. But I am happy with it. I only have two more weigh ins before we leave on spring break. It is obvious that I won’t lose 6.2 pounds in 12 days.

The next few days will be a little challenging. My husband just left on a business trip. So he isn’t here for that late evening accountability. I will probably be in bed early. I am really exhausted after our busy weekend.

How is everyone doing in their work towards their goals?

Tags: weigh-in

Thankfully I haven’t experienced any pain since my run yesterday. I had a twinge of discomfort last night but nothing like I was experiencing. Thank you for all of the suggestions & comments. I have been taking some Motrin to help with the inflammation. 

On a different note, I am stuck in the house with Megan who has been hit hard with the stomach flu. Poor thing. She told me a little while ago that “it is no fun being sick”. I think this might go down as the longest day in history. I have worked some on purging the house before we make the move. I am determined that we aren’t going to move a bunch of junk. If I can purge out one room a week, I will be done with the house before we move.

That is all I got. I am going stir crazy and doing my best not to eat mindlessly.

Tags: run

I mentioned on Sunday in my Week “Eight” Weigh In that I was experiencing some hip/leg pain. I ran last Thursday and was fine. I am not sure what is causing the pain. If I was a betting person, I would think it is a sciatic nerve problem. It comes & goes. No real rhyme or reason. I notice it the most at night. Every time I try to roll over in bed it wakes me up. It has been discouraging because I haven’t been able to workout like I would like.

So today I knew that I was going to the Y. I figured I mgiht as well give a run a try. My 5K race will be right around the time we are probably going to be moving to our new house. Talk about chaos. So I want to be as ready for the race as I can and not be rushing to train.

It wasn’t necessarily a pleasant run but it wasn’t terribly painful. I didn’t want to push it and injure myself so I only ran two miles and not as fast as Thursday. So far so good. The true indication will be tonight when I try to sleep. I am being hopeful. I really do feel so much better after I run. I am ready for the time when I can be consistent in my running. Who would have thought that would be something I would look forward to……consistent running.

Tags: run

It is Monday and I have sick kids.  Why does it seem like every time I am ready to buckle down and have a “perfect points counting day” complete with exercise and everything, someone in my house gets sick?  I give myself too many excuses as it is, but when there are legitimate excuses, it gets extra frustrating.  The good news is, it won’t affect my eating.  I also worked out a way to still go to my spinning class with my husband.  I will not let it stop me today!

You can’t ignore a month starting on a Monday as a perfect starting day to re-energize a diet! (or start one, or re-start one)  I have had more than a few days where I have slacked off in the last few weeks.  Because of all the sickness at our house, I didn’t even get to weigh in this weekend so I can’t even give you a report.

Wow, this post ranks right up there as one of the least informational and not at all inspirational posts ever!  I should really drink some caffeine before I try to post again.

I was hopeful yesterday when I weighed in. I fought hard against the emotional eating monster. I ran and I worked out only to find that I was exactly the same when I weighed in. Hmm. This was one of those times that I had to give myself that pep talk that I have given to many members at the scales.

• The scales will show your progress but it might take some time.
• Keep doing what you are doing.
• Don’t let the scales defeat you.
• The scales are not the only measure of success.
• Persistence persistence persistence

I am just getting so close to getting back to goal. I know now that it isn’t going to happen by the time we leave for spring break like I had set my goal for. Hmmm.

It has been nice for some different friends to notice that I have lost weight. No I don’t have a lot to lose but it is nice that some have noticed my success.

Ok. I am headed to the heating pad. I have hurt my hip or sciatic nerve. Pain like I haven’t experience before. Every time I roll over in the night it wakes me up. Off to call my favorite masseuse.

Tags: weigh-in

Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.

I really did post on Monday.  Really.  I posted it and then I hit “publish” and then my internet went out.  However, apparently the way it really happened was I posted it, my internet went out, and then I hit “publish.”  It didn’t even occur to me until today to ask Kristen if she could see my post.

Anyway, here I am…albeit a few days late.

So…what amazing pearls of wisdom did I have to share with you in the post that never was?  Well, none really.  I am still struggling to figure this all out.  My new accountability partner, Kristen, and I have been texting during the week to compare struggles and ideas and motivation.  It makes a world of difference in my attitude.  If I feel like sitting down and pigging out on something, I can text her and let her tell me how horrible I will feel later if I eat that now.  Will it really be worth it?  The answer is usually no.  Now, if I can just make myself text her BEFORE I eat something I shouldn’t, we will be in business.

Hopefully any of you that are trying to lose weight have someone that you can turn to for support like that.  It is an invaluable resource.