Sunday, January 17, 2021

Giving Weight Watchers another shot

Back in 2006, my employer hosted a Weight Watchers at Work group, so I joined - and lost a bunch of weight (I don't remember the exact amount through WW).  Once the group ended, I continued using Sparkpeople.com and lost even more weight - total between the two was over 80 pounds.  I started this blog (November 2007) when I was down that 80 pounds and had another 50 to go.  Fast forward to 2021, I've regained a lot of that weight, and yo-yo'd quite a bit in those 14 years.  Currently, I'm about 42 pounds down from my highest weight - which means I still have 80+ pounds to go.  Eegh.  Baby steps, I know...

I came across the Weight Watchers site again this week, having read about their latest updates for 2021 (including re-branding as WW... ooookay!).  I'm giving them a three month try again - and instead of using Sparkpeople.com (I felt they got spammy over the years), I've reactivated my old myfitnesspal.com account to track my diet as well.  I figure that using them both at the same time will help give me a more well-rounded analysis of my diet - and then I can decide if I want to keep paying for WW.

I've chosen the WW+ Purple plan as my plan, as it allows for the most zero point foods.  It's interesting to see how the WW program has evolved since 2006 - now there's more of an emphasis on counting sugar grams, not just fat.  As someone who gained a ton of weight while inhaling Snackwells cookies back in the '90s, I can assure you, it's not just about low-fat eating. ;)  I'll be curious to see how things go, and keeping track in two apps might be a bit of a pain, but it's good to see things side by side and hopefully figure out things for the long term.  Wish me luck! ;)

Friday, January 1, 2021

Hello, 2021.

Wow, a lot has happened since I started this blog back in 2007... and honestly, not a lot has happened personally since my last update almost two years ago.  Rather than looking backwards, I'll just write about where I am today.

The weight loss struggles continue, of course.  I am still in constant pain after the car accident over two years ago.  I've now started seeing a neurologist since we know there are damaged nerves involved.  Due to the coronavirus pandemic, my physical therapy stopped entirely in mid-March last year, and partially resumed a few months later (sadly, no more water therapy though, since indoor pools were never re-opened).  I've paused all physical therapy again as of last month due to the spike in cases around here and the lax precautions at the PT location.  I really need to find a new place, but it can wait another month or two until the case volume around here drops down again.  

As for my weight, I've actually lost about 20 pounds during the past year!  I credit it entirely to intermittent fasting.  I strive for a daily 16 hour fast - usually ~8pm-noon.  I've been doing this for just over a year, and started tracking it on Zero almost a year ago.  Looking back through their app right now, I missed the 16 hour mark 20 times last year - usually I still made it to 15 hours.  On my birthday though, I had breakfast. ;)  I've had a couple of 19 hour fasts, and my average is 17.

Honestly, not eating after kiddo goes to bed is a difference maker here.  I'm sure I used to eat several hundred calories after kiddo's bedtime every night.  It's really hard though - I am definitely an emotional eater and would loooooooooove to sit down with a sweet treat when the house is quiet. ;)  I've definitely adjusted to not eating breakfast, and most days I keep fasting for an hour or so after my Zero app tells me I've hit my 16 hour goal.

I do so very much miss my group exercise classes, and I hate that walking still hurts, but hopefully everything will get easier as the year moves along...

My goals for 2021 are to stay healthy, move more and eat healthfully.

Monday, April 1, 2019

March update

Hey!  Guess what?  I actually lost a couple pounds this month! ;)

I didn't set explicit goals at the start of this year since I'm still messed up from the car accident.  My steps for March were only 158,766 - a far fry from my old 10k a day life :(  Ah well. 

Logging all my foods in myfitnesspal every day is annoying but as always, eye opening.  Going to be a struggle in April with kiddo's birthday and houseguests for a third of the month.  Trying to stay positive!

Friday, March 22, 2019

Trader Joe's Riced Cauliflower Bowl

Today's lunch was something new I picked up at Trader Joe's - their Riced Cauliflower Bowl from the frozen section.  Gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan!

I'm pretty torn on this review.  The description sounded right up my alley, and I love tahini (which was the first ingredient listed on the cover).

Unfortunately, it's REALLY spicy!  I wish they had disclosed that on the packaging - I have a headache from it now, sadly.

Otherwise, it was a good base to my lunch.  I added a diced up cooked chicken breast to bulk it up, and could've easily added a bunch more greens to it as well.  I don't think I'd buy this again, because of the headache I'm rocking right now, but I liked this concept a lot and wish it was more tahini-forward instead of mysteriously spicy.

Nutrition Facts per entire package
Calories 280
Total Fat 16 g
Saturated Fat 2 g
Trans Fat 0
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 400 mg
Carb 27 g
Fiber 8 g
Sugars 5 g
Protein 13 g

Monday, March 18, 2019

Review: KNOW Better Pasta (chickpea pasta)

Trying to get back onto the healthy eating train, and going to do the gluten-free and dairy-free thing again.  Oh the fun. ;)

Tonight for dinner, I tried the KNOW Better Pasta (the twists variety).  It's got one ingredient only - chickpeas - so it's dairy-free, grain-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, soy-free, yeast-free, trans-fat-free, etc. 

I so very much wanted to like this pasta.  It cooked up quickly - only 3-4 minutes once it hit the boiling water.

However, the flavor was terrible.  The texture was ok - a bit mushy, but not inedible.  The flavor was the absolute downfall.  I made cioppino which had lots of onion and garlic and tomatoes (and seafood), and even that flavorful sauce wasn't enough to cover up the terrible flavor of this pasta.  It was awful.  I really hate to throw away food, but I don't know what I can do to try to salvage this pasta for a future dinner.  So very sad to say this, but I do not at all recommend this product.


Nutrition Facts per 1/2 cup serving
Calories 190
Total Fat 2 g
Saturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 0 mg
Carb 28 g
Fiber 7 g
Sugars 1 g
Protein 14 g

starting over, again

Oh man.  This car accident has really messed up my life.  I'm still not dancing, walking hurts still a lot, and I'm in constant pain - and the depression about all of that is deep.  Ugh.

I'm trying to start over again, today.  Back to tracking all my food in myfitnesspal.  Going to try to do gluten-free and dairy-free and sugar-free as much as I can.  Wish me luck. 

Friday, February 1, 2019

catching up

Hi there.  I didn't realize I hadn't updated this blog in months!  Oops!

So here's the latest.  The car accident in July really messed me up - I'm still in a lot of constant pain in both ankles, lower back, and neck.  It's so very deeply frustrating.  My exercising is almost non-existent, and even walking hurts a lot.  I don't even want to post my steps or anything, because it's dismal (and of course, I've gained a ton of weight too).

I don't really have set goals for 2019 like I've had in previous years.  Honestly, I'm really depressed about the unending pain and not being able to do the things I love.  Hopefully things will start to turn around soon - just started with a new water therapist and hopefully a referral to a new physical medicine doctor will come through soon.  Here's hoping things perk up soon!

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Goals report - August

Things are not back to normal.
  1. Lose two pounds each month.Absolutely not.
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    0
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    OMFG no.  4,900 average
  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Nope.
Life is still nowhere close to normal after the accident last month.  I am so deeply frustrated and in so much pain still, and currently wearing one of those awesome ankle boot casts.  I miss my workouts so very very much - I miss teaching my class, going for walks, being able to DO things.  I follow up with my doctor next week to hopefully get more insight.  I hurt a lot, and emotionally all of this is taking a toll as well.  

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Goals report - July

This month has not gone as planned.
  1. Lose two pounds each month.
    Nope.
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    Nope. 6.
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Nope.  214k total.
  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Nope.
Started off well - 12k steps average for the first nine days.

Then on July 10, another driver ran a red light and totaled my car.  Thank goodness I was alone in the car, but I suffered numerous injuries and haven't been able to dance since then - walking hurts, driving hurts, lots of things hurt.  I start physical therapy tomorrow, so hopefully that will help me get back on track.  This sucks, a lot.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Goals report - May & June

Ack!  Again with skipping a month with the blog.  Sorry about that.  Here we go.

  1. Lose two pounds each month.
    What a shocker - I am absolutely failing on this front. :(
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    21 in May and 21 again in June.  One goal met at least! ;)
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    357k in May - 11,530 average!
    325k in June - 10,848 average!
    Halfway through the year and I've done 2,044,904 steps (averaging over 11k a day) - awesome!  Yippee!
  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    I think so but I don't remember exactly what I made.  I know my cooking new recipes has slowed down and I need to pick that back up again.
I'm struggling a lot with my fibromyalgia flaring up often lately, and battling the fatigue and pain that comes with that.  Again hoping that things will start moving in the right direction this month...

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Goals report - February, March, April

Oy.  So I'm way, way behind on updating this blog.  Here we go though:
  1. Lose two pounds each month.Big huge super massive fail.  
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    Failed in February (15) but met in March (21) and April (24).  Glad to be moving more often.
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    February was 296,634 total (10,594 average), March was 353,706 total (11,409 average), and April was 339,748 total (11,324 average).  I'm happy that I have been able to keep up the steps even with various issues and last-minute travel these past few months.
  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Yep!  One or two each month, including a fantastic lentil and chicken dish in the Instant Pot that I've made four times already.  Love it. ;)
Hopefully the scale will move in the right direction this month! ;)

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Goals report - January

January's done, let's look at those goals:
  1. Lose two pounds each month.
    Well, let's just call this a fail and leave it at that.  I don't even want to post a graph because this month didn't go well in the dieting department, plus I re-injured my back a few days ago and my weight spiked up dramatically because of that.
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    21!  Several days with two workouts, and a few with the workouts lasting over an hour.  Whee.
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Yep!  I had two days of over 20k steps, so that helped a lot.  Nearly averaged 12k!
  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Yep!  I got an Instant Pot for Christmas so I've been trying a bunch of recipes.  Favorite recipe so far is this chicken and quinoa dish.
My side goal of increasing my "hours with 250+ steps" average is going well too - averaged 7.8 of 9 hours daily, so yay for that.  Will keep hoping that this will eventually reflect on the scale, too...

Monday, January 1, 2018

2018 Goals

Ahhh.  The struggle continues.  Frustrated to look back at my 2016 goal summary and see that in 2017, I basically gained back the weight I had lost in 2016.  Grrr.  So now I look at the blank slate that is 2018 and throw some goals on paper.
  1. Lose two pounds each month.
    OK.  Enough, right?  Two pounds a month would get me back to where I ended 2016 - and honestly, I have 66 pounds to get to a "normal" BMI.  Baby steps though.  Let's reverse this trend from 2017, please.
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    I like this goal from last year.  Though it's fun to get in some 2-workout-days, I think it's more important to move my body more often, so let's track this again.
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Yes, please.  I know this is a good indicator of my overall daily movement so let's keep it going.  I 'finished' my 3.65million steps on November 18, 2017 - can I do it earlier this year? ;)
  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    I know this is a silly one, but I like that it keeps me accountable for trying new recipes. 
I'm still doing my daily gratitude journal, but I don't feel like I need to make that a goal here.  I am also hoping to increase my "hours with 250+ steps" average too - fitbit tracks this, and I can't figure out how to get this to a monthly average but they do it weekly for my chosen 9am-5pm timeframe.  I think my goal is 7+ hours for those 9 hours, so we'll see how it goes.  

Here's to a healthy 2018!

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Goals - 2017 in review

Hi folks.  I know I let the last few months slip away here on the blog - definitely been battling a big funk, and my weight loss is the unending struggle.  But here I am on January 1 to report on the last year overall.  Here we go.
  1. Lose three pounds each month.
    Utterly failed.  Gained 19 pounds last year.
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    On average, I met this goal - 268 days total.  Three months under 20 (two because I hurt my back in November), three months over 25!  
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Smashed :)  I ended up with over 4 million steps for the year.  One month however, I did miss the 10k average - November, when I threw out my back.  Overall though, I'm proud of myself on this!
  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    I don't think I actually met this one, especially near the end of the year.  Not a huge goal though.
  5. Make gratitude a priority.
    I always did an entry in my gratitude journal daily, but I definitely need to keep working on this always!
Though the scale didn't work in my favor this year, at least I kept on moving.

Friday, September 1, 2017

Goals - August report

August is done! Let's review the goals:
  1. Lose three pounds each month.
    Fail - but hey, I DIDN'T GAIN any weight this month for the first time in aaaaages.  Shockingly, I gained a bunch of weight after a long weekend with a LOT of working out, but so happy to see a little green on this chart finally.
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    Smashed: 27 days, including several multiple workout days and three days several hours of workouts!
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Smashed!  Average 13.4k steps a day - including five days over 20k!  Insanity :)  I need to take an honest to goodness rest day more often though - my body is definitely showing its age.


  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Met: Just one, but at least that's something.
  5. Make gratitude a priority.
    Met: continuing my nightly journaling on this.
I met my informal August goal of not gaining any weight, so that's awesome.  I need to do that again, but hopefully lose a pound or two.  I'm not sure what is causing this struggle, but with kiddo now in kindergarten, I have more time to focus on my nutrition and exercise.  Hopefully progress will be made!

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Goals - July report

July is done! Let's review the goals:
  1. Lose three pounds each month.
    Fail: up one pound.  Again this month, I didn't weigh myself every single day because I knew it wouldn't be pretty.  And again, my goal for the coming month is to stop gaining weight.  Sheesh.  
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    Smashed: 28 days with workouts - including 5 days with back-to-back workouts (Les Mills BodyPump then U-JAM Fitness - strength then cardio!).  I know I need to work on my strength conditioning, and doing a cardio class right afterwards seems to help with the lovely delayed onset muscle soreness that used to 
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Smashed!  Average 11.7k steps a day - and only two days of not much going on (actually, one day was spent mostly in a pool so that didn't help the steps!).  Nice to be doing well with this goal at least! ;)
  4. Through the first seven months of the year, I've got 2,354,824 steps!  That's over 11k steps a day average!  Yippee!

  5. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Met: More zucchini, more new recipes ;)
  6. Make gratitude a priority.
    Met: I do this every night, but I need to take more time throughout the day for this too.
So, August is going to be yet another challenge, honestly.  I feel like I say that every month. ;)  A couple of special occasions in there, plus a 4 day U-JAM Fitness conference (which means lots of dancing - but also likely a lot of eating!).  However, kiddo will also start kindergarten later this month (omg time flies!), and that will allow me to have more time to myself and time to get into a consistent daytime gym routine as well I hope.  August simple goal: stop gaining weight!  :D

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Goals - June report

June is done! Let's review the goals:
  1. Lose three pounds each month.
    Fail: up a pound and a half.  As you can see, I'm not weighing myself every single day either - I know when things aren't going well and I just don't want to see it.  I'm frustrated, deeply, about this!
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    Smashed: 26 days with workouts - some with two workouts!  But unfortunately, I keep proving that you can't out-exercise a bad diet...
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Smashed!  Averaged 12k steps a day - with 19k steps one day!  Woo!  Still had a couple of sick days in there, but overall got a lot more exercise in (thanks to kiddo being in a morning summer school session - but that's done now so who knows what July will hold for us...)

  4. Through the first six months of the year, I've got 1,991,855 steps!  That's 11k steps a day average!  Nice!


  5. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Met: Our garden is happily churning out zucchini, so I'm finding new ways to use it ;)
  6. Make gratitude a priority.
    Met: Can always improve on this!
Honestly, I'm not holding out much hope for July.  I really would love to STOP GAINING WEIGHT, but my schedule for this month is terrible.  I know just meeting the steps & workout goals will be a challenge, and frankly, we all know that meeting those goals isn't exactly taking weight off (but it must be keeping more from piling on at least?).

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Goals - May report

May is done! Let's review the goals:
  1. Lose three pounds each month.
    Fail: but on the bright side (?), I only gained one pound this month.  I am so tired of this struggle with the scale.
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    Met: despite getting sick twice this month, I still hit my 20 days of workouts.  Even did a couple of long (2 hour) walks too, like old times. ;)
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Met: so... yeah, I was sick twice this month, and one day felt so bad that I got only ~500 steps.  Cut it down to the wire yesterday to get that 310k total, and didn't feel up to a workout so it was really close but at least I met this goal again.  I switched to a different fitbit, so the floor count doesn't count any longer so maybe next month it won't display on this report again.

  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Met: I know I did one at the start of the month but right now I can't remember it.  Still clearly need to focus on this one!
  5. Make gratitude a priority.
    Met, even if some days were a challenge.  
Again with the broken record here, but hopefully June will be a better month overall.  

Monday, May 1, 2017

Goals - April report

April is done! Let's review the goals:
  1. Lose three pounds each month.
    Yep, massive fail again.  The worst part is that I'm about 3 pounds heavier than I was a year ago.  Very disheartening.  
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    Fail: 17 days with official workouts.  I injured both of my ankles at the same time, so I took it easy for awhile (but honestly not as easy I should have).  However, if I were to go back to counting individual workouts instead of days with workouts, I would've met the goal with 21.
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Success! 313,149 steps for the month - 10,438 steps average.  It was coming down to the end of the month, but with a monster 20k+ day and a few 15k days, it balanced out.  And yes, I was lazy yesterday. ;)

  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Failed: need to put more of a focus on healthy eating this month for sure.
  5. Make gratitude a priority.
    Met, even if some days were a challenge.
OK, well... here's where I try to be all positive and optimistic that this coming month will be the change!  And again, I really do hope that it turns around this month.  For me, I really think it's all about the calories in and less about the calories out, and I need to stop emotionally eating.  I think this month will have less temptations in it, so hopefully next month we'll see some green in that weight chart.  

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Goals - March report

March is done! Let's review the goals:
  1. Lose three pounds each month.
    OK, well, clearly this was yet another fail.  I'm close to having regained all the weight I lost last year (but still down 70 pounds from my highest).  Deeply, deeply frustrating.  April goal: NO MORE GAIN.  This is going to be a huge challenge.
  2. Work out at least 20 days a month.
    Success: 24 days, despite more challenges and repeated fails over the month.  Not that it's helping me lose weight, but maybe helping the weight gain not be as bad?  I don't know.  Very frustrating.
  3. Hit my 10,000 steps a day average over the month.
    Success! 355,393 steps for the month - 11,464 steps average.  You can see in the chart blow, some days were terrible.  But hey, those lowest days were still 5k step days.  Need more above 10k though.  Glad I made it out ahead this month.

  4. Cook one new (and healthy!) recipe a month.
    Failed: yeah, surprise surprise.  Yet another hard month.
  5. Make gratitude a priority.
    Well, I'm still doing my daily gratitude entries, but frankly, some days have been a huge challenge.
I'm really hoping April will be better, but I do have to be realistic - it's going to be hard, with family visiting and staying with us for over a week and several parties and potlucks too.  Aie.  C'mon, I need to get in gear...