Success

As I posted last night on Instagram, I was really looking forward to my first weigh-in since my trial week of restarting Weight Watchers. (It wasn't really a trial, I suppose, since I legit stuck to it and did a darn good job, but I wanted to "officially" restart at the beginning of the month.)

Well, I had reason to be excited:

You read that right: three pounds are gone.

I'm really proud of how well I made a goal and stuck with it last week. There were ample opportunities to "slip up," including a Panera-catered breakfast on Monday morning, candy galore at various meetings throughout the work week, and treats in the staff lounge nearly every day. There were also a couple of days where I really wanted a glass of wine or an easy-to-grab-but-full-of-calories dinner, but I opted against all of the above, especially when I saw the "blue dot" was within reach.

(A "blue-dot day" happens when you're close to hitting your daily points target: ten points below or five points above.)

What can I say? For better or for worse, I am extrinsically motivated. Gimme all the blue dots.

Yesterday was a weird day, including breakfast at 11:00 and lunch at 5:00, so don't judge me on my popcorn dinner.

I mostly stuck to the pre-determined meal plan, too. Some of the meals got moved to different days, and there was one recipe I didn't make at all; but, that will be tonight's dinner instead.

What I am really excited about is that I was not hungry -- like, at all. I think drinking a lot of water and trying to fill myself up with fruits and veggies really helped in that regard.

Also, I was able to have fun meals, too; for instance, I had a poke bowl for lunch/dinner yesterday that was to die for, and on Friday, I had a bagel sandwich (with smoked salmon, capers, and arugula), which was worth every single point.

Last week, I also worked out five days, despite coming down with a late-summer cold. I took Wednesday morning off (a day I normally do Pilates), and I skipped Saturday as well. I normally don't work out on Saturdays, but I was also so ridiculously exhausted (and not feeling well) and pretty much slept all day anyway.

I had some other successes as well: I more than hit my goal with water intake every single day except for one when I was just short of it. (It was Saturday, and I was too busy sleeping all day to drink water.)

I had Caribou and Starbucks once each and sushi zero times; but, to be fair, I did grab a poke bowl twice instead. What can I say? I love me some ahi tuna.

I did an okay job with phone time, but I found myself "ignoring" the time limit a few days. Oh well: baby steps.

What I really need to work on now, though, is sleep and steps. I only met my sleep goal four times last week (although I was just four minutes short one night). And, I didn't hit 8,000 steps or 10/12 "movement" dots at all; perhaps that was due to lots of meetings and focused work time, but regardless, I need to up my game.

All of this is to say that I am really excited about keeping this momentum going. I am ready to feel good again -- and am determined to make it happen.

Thanks for reading. :)

The Plague

This is going to be an ultra-short post, as I came down with some sort of sickness -- likely The Plague -- on Friday night, and it's been kicking my butt ever since. I was couch-bound all weekend, but I did get up to go to work today, only because a.) it was a professional development day and therefore relatively easy and b.) I will be missing Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for a conference in Duluth. Oh, and c.) I never call in sick because I'm stupid.

But, I wanted to update the ol' blog with my weekly weight change. This time, it went in the right direction:

Because this was the first non-January weigh-in, I also thought I'd update my yearly weight-loss calendar:

Despite the two weeks that I've gained weight over the course of this journey (both of which were in January), I have lost a total of 13 pounds in eleven weeks.

I also think I should have taken measurements at the beginning, as I don't think this accurately represents what I've lost. After all, I've been gaining a ton of muscle (that has allowed me to leg-press 720 pounds, for instance), so I've been "tightening up" and "slimming down."

My Pilates instructor noticed last week, which made me feel super good.

February should be an interesting month regarding this whole weight-loss adventure, as I have a couple of trips planned. First, as I mentioned above, I will be heading to Duluth on Wednesday morning and will be returning Friday evening; I will be there for a conference, and I will therefore have limited options regarding food, especially for breakfast and lunch. I plan to make good choices, but I also don't know how much control I'll ultimately have.

Second, I'm headed to Daytona Beach next weekend for a sort of bachelorette party -- that is really just an excuse to have a weekend by the ocean with my girlfriends. I am SO excited. And, I can guarantee you that I'll be eating a lot of oysters, fish sandwiches, French fries with malt vinegar, and hush puppies, and I'll be drinking my share of piña coladas and red wine. And, I'm not going to trip over that at all.

One of my all-time favorite bars -- the Ocean Deck -- where much of the aforementioned eating/drinking will happen.

Oh, and we will be in town for the Daytona 500, so people-watching will be amazing.

But for now, I'm going to go lie down on the couch or in my bed. My head is throbbing, and I have been vertical for far too long.

"See" y'all soon!

Phew

Yesterday, I mentioned that my week started off super strong but then tapered off a bit as it continued. I thrive on routine, so while I am a rockstar during the week at school, I tend to fall off the wagon a bit at home on the weekends. Like, I drink so little water, I eat a box of gummy lifesavers (what? I don't even like gummy lifesavers), etc.

So needless to say, I was -- per usual -- a tad worried to step on the scale this morning.

But, per usual, I had no reason to worry. Weight Watchers works, y'all: there's a reason they give you weekly points.

Yep: I am down 2.8 pounds this week. For those keeping track at home, that is a whopping twelve pounds overall, twelve pounds since Thanksgiving.

I am feeling better, I am looking better, and I am stronger. I am pretty darn proud of myself.

Today, I slept in, am going to do a bit of work for school, hit a Pilates class, do some more work for school, get a haircut/color, and meet with our wedding venue representative. For a "day off" of school, it's a pretty jam-packed day. But, after a lot of lounging around yesterday (save for a tough Pilates class and grocery shopping), I'm ready for some productivity.

And then maybe some more binging of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. Y'all, that show is amazing.

Plus, it has Ricky Martin -- ooh la la.

I hope y'all have a great day!

That's What I Like to See

Well, friends, I'm back on track, and the scale is moving in the right direction yet again:

Unfortunately, this still means that I'm two pounds over where I was two weeks ago, but I am confident that it'll keep creeping down as I continue.

I have, however, been a little hungry lately, and I'm wondering if I'm not getting enough food. Also, as I've mentioned before, Weight Watchers seems to limit fat, so I'm wondering if I'm not getting enough fat in particular. I also know that I'm working out pretty intensely (like, really intensely), and I'm wondering if I should be factoring that into my daily points.

(I do get "activity points" for Weight Watchers, but I tend to just use those "as needed" rather than factor them into my daily points. Maybe I should average those out over the course of seven days and up my daily points accordingly? I don't know.)

What I should really do is have a stash of hard-boiled eggs and other zero-point options at hand all the time.

Also, on a completely random side note, I have realized that I should not have tortilla chips in the house: they are a major weakness of mine. I'm fairly confident that the additional two pounds is comprised entirely of tortilla chips.

Two things to note:

1. I went to the doctor on Friday, and I was honestly dreading the scale a little bit. For some reason, I feel like the scale there is totally different from the scale I have at home, and I was worried that it wouldn't show weight loss. But, it did! It showed that I have lost seven pounds since the last time I was there (in October, I think). Considering my app is showing that I have lost 9.2 pounds since I started tracking (and I went to the doctor after school and had all of my clothes and shoes on), I was pretty pleased!

2. I did something I was sure I would never do: I signed up for a Diet Bet. A few bloggers that I follow regularly host these challenges every so often, and I've always frowned on them (Diet Bets, not the bloggers); and honestly, I'm still frowning on the idea of these challenges. But, I decided that since I'm actively trying to lose weight and have had success thus far, it might be beneficial to add another layer of motivation.

Essentially, if I lose 4% of my body weight in four weeks, I get back my entrance fee ($35) and split the pot (that is currently up to almost $36,000). Truthfully, that seemed totally manageable -- until after I paid (kind of by accident via PayPal) and actually calculated the pounds I would have to lose.

It's going to be rough, y'all. So, bye-bye tortilla chips.

Before I wrap up for the night, I'm going to leave you with this:

I saw it on Instagram and immediately took a screenshot as writing inspiration. I can't promise that I'll write every day for the next seven days, but I am going to write about each of these at some point.

I certainly don't want to just write about my health journey via this blog, as I am so much more than just a number on a scale. But, I have so many other things going on that make writing regularly relatively challenging. Since I want to be sure to track my progress, though, I feel like talking about weight and Weight Watchers is all I'm doing.

Here's my schedule: I wake up at 5:15 every day, workout, teach, get home around 4:45, clean up, cook dinner, veg out for a hot minute, take a shower, and go to bed (hopefully before 10:30 p.m.). Sprinkle in some reading, some wedding planning, some hanging out with my boo, and some TV watching, and I have very little time left over.

But, writing is one of my "habits" that I'm tracking, so I would like to get into more of a routine.

So, that being said, other than the above ideas from WW's IG, what are some topics you would like me to cover?

Peace out for now, friends. "See" you soon!

Stop Doubting Yourself

The title of this post is my new mantra: stop doubting yourself, Emmy.

After over a week of not tracking a single thing, eating an entire box of ginger bread cookies, going out for drinks two nights in a row (who am I?), grabbing a bite of candy and/or brittle here and there, etc., I still managed to lose weight.

Yes, that's right: I made it through the holidays and lost a pound.

For those of you keeping track (i.e. my mom, the only person who reads this), here's the grand total for 2018 (well, the last five weeks of it, that is):

Eleven point two pounds overall? That's not too shabby -- not too shabby at all.

After a week of (feeling like I've been) binge-eating, I am back to tracking religiously via my Weight Watchers app this morning. As soon as these thyroid meds kick in (I have to wait an hour after I take them to eat), I'm going to indulge in some Mushroom & Swiss Potato Breakfast Casserole. It's been cooking all night and smells delicious -- and, it's only two points!

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time prepping for nutritional success in the coming year. And that preparation has some special (crazy?) kind of "Emmy Organization" to it.

I have found myself cooking a lot of Skinnytaste recipes over the last five weeks: first, her food is super tasty, and second, she already has the points values figured out, so it is much less work for me. But, every week when I go to make my meal plan, I spend quite a while perusing her website -- when I own all three of her cookbooks, have already made (and love) several of her dishes, etc.

So, I went through each of her cookbooks and noted recipes that I would like to make, sorted them (by type of dish), wrote down the title of the cookbook and the page number, and found how many points each was worth. I then went through and highlighted ones I'd already made.

The "Chicken" section is much more highlighted. We eat a lot of poultry.

This will be a super helpful ongoing document: I know that I will continue to look on her website --as well as the Weight Watchers website, Pinterest, Cooking Light, etc. -- for new things to make, so I can update this as I do so. It'll make life so much easier.

And speaking of meal planning, this is how I figure out what the heck I'm making:

First, I identify what my schedule for the week is (second row from the bottom) -- like, if there's anything "out of the ordinary." Then, I figure out when I am able to work out; typically, I do Pilates on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday, and I workout with Tyler on Thursday. This week, though, is a little goofy because a.) the studio is closed for New Year's on Tuesday, and b.) I have an afternoon meeting instead of a morning meeting on Wednesday, which means I'm able to workout in the morning.

Side note: when I first started working out before school, I always scheduled my Pilates classes far in advance, knowing that if I "just pressed snooze one more time" and missed the class, it would be a $20 no-show fee. What can I say? I'm externally motivated. Now, though, it's just the norm for me to wake up at 5:15, so I don't usually schedule in advance; also, with it being winter and the weather being so dicey, I don't want to risk not making it due to ice/snow/sleet/etc.

So after I figure out my schedule and my workouts, I plan my meals accordingly. If I have an evening obligation, I know that I should plan an easy dinner for that night (i.e. something in the crockpot). I also know that when I make something that has several servings, I'll be able to eat a lot of leftovers -- hence the duplicates, especially for lunch.

I also obviously left a few "time slots" empty. I don't want to over-plan for a couple of reasons. First, I may have way more leftovers than anticipated, and I don't want food to go to waste. Second, I want life to be able to happen. Like, if I come home from school, and Jesus wants to cook dinner, awesome; I'll let him do so and save my planned meal for the next day. Or, maybe we decide we want to go out to dinner -- great!

Just because all of Sunday is empty for now does not mean it'll be a free-for-all. If I do end up going through all of the planned food prior to then, I'll just quickly plan another menu for us to stick to on Sunday. It'll all be okay.

When I have the week figured out, I look through all of the recipes, make a list of all the ingredients (separated into four columns: produce, refrigerator -- meat, cheese, dairy, freezer, and aisles), "pantry shop" to cross out what I already have, and then do one big run to the grocery store. I sometimes have to stop at a store on my way home from work if I can't find something on my big grocery run, but that's a rare occurrence.

And that's that, friends! Here's to continued success in 2019!

A Surprise

Last night I expressed my worry about stepping on the scale this morning. However, I'm happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised!

That means -- that since November 26th, which was just three weeks ago, I have lost a total of 9.8 pounds. Nearly ten pounds in three weeks? I'll take it!

I know the first week was a bit drastic; after all, I dropped nearly seven pounds. (Thank you, Thanksgiving.) But, the last two weeks (1.4 and 1.6 pounds respectively) have been slow and steady, which I know is what will make the biggest difference in the long run.

I currently have five months, one week, and two days -- or approximately 23 weeks -- until the Big Day. If I continue losing 1.5 pounds a week, I will drop 34.5 more pounds, which means I will weigh less than I did when I felt the most smokin' hot of my entire life -- three years ago, just before I ran a 19-minute PR in a half marathon; shortly prior to running a 200-mile relay race; months before multiple MRIs, steroid injections, and half a year in and out of a boot; and a year before ankle surgery and the subsequent recovery.

Spring Break Fashion Show, 2016

Wearing 7 For All Mankind jeans that I had bought years previously -- as motivation.

Three things:

1. I know that I should not be focused on losing weight for one day. Of course. But, it's also hard not to think of such a big day as a teeny tiny bit of motivation.

2. I know that I will not lose 1.5 pounds a week. I know there will be weeks that I lose less than that, weeks where I do not lose at all, and (hopefully very few) weeks where I gain. But, I'm hopeful that I'm moving in the right direction.

3. I know that while the scale may say even less than what I weighed in Spring 2016, there's a chance that my body will not look the same: I was running a lot of miles each week (training for a half marathon) and lifting heavy weights at least five days a week. (Gosh, it's so weird that my ankle pooped out during that time...) While I am working out at least five days a week now, only one of those days is heavy lifting, and the other four to five are focused on Pilates. I'd like to add in some additional core workouts (like I was doing in 2016) and hopefully some walks when it's not super freezing outside.

And speaking of the aforementioned Thing Two: I have a sneaking suspicion that this week will be one of those weeks. First, I'm not even sure how I'll track lunch and dinner this Wednesday: we have a potluck at school, and then Jesus and I have a tasting for our wedding that evening. Second, Jesus and I are heading out of town on Saturday -- to see our brand-new baby nephew (!) and then to my parents' house for holiday celebrations -- and we won't be back until Monday afternoon. (How will I weigh in? I don't know. Tuesday morning, I suppose.) And then there's Christmas Day.

While I am going to track as best as I can, I'm not sure how accurate much of it will be, especially on Wednesday and when I'm out of town. But, as long as I continue to be mindful and not go too crazy, I should be okay.

Fingers crossed!