summary sunday [on a monday, no less]

monday:  pure barre
tuesday:  ran 3.5 miles
wednesday:  rest
thursday:  pure barre
friday:  rest
saturday:  cherokee harvest 5k
sunday:  rest

this is after class on thursday with my awesome friend/pb instructor lindsay. Pure Barre is hosting a challenge this month on FB and everyday they give you a prompt for a photo. this was for PBFF.

i picked up an extra shift this week so between working 50 hours and preparing for a visit from the in-laws, i was pooped.

i had a mixed experience at my WW weigh in this week, that i have to share with you all. okay so i go to weigh in and i lost another 4 pounds. of course i was ecstatic but the person weighing me was not. she gave me a very long talk and explained that if i had another week like this i'd have to get a doctor's note. i'm trying to be objective, but i'm not really sure what to think of this. here are some of the thoughts i'm having...

• yes the program is designed for 1/2 to 2 pound weight loss per week but it even says in the getting started book, that it might be more during your first 3 weeks (this was my second week). 
• my first week i did not eat all my extra weekly points (they encourage you to), but the second week i did (anniversary dinner, ate out a couple of times, etc.) so i'm following the program. 
• WW gives 5 pound stickers out for every 5 pounds you lose, she didn't give me my sticker :(
• now i'm scared to death to go weigh in next week. i've OBVIOUSLY still got weight to lose but i don't want to get scolded again. part of me wants to weigh myself during the week to make sure i haven't lost too much. but that's just dumb, i'm following the program and weighing myself everyday is not good for me. 

what do you all think? 

i still went to get a celebratory diet coke afterwards!

why i decided to head back to weight watchers and a bit of background on my weight loss battle

so as i mentioned yesterday, i rejoined weight watchers last week. i put a lot of thought into this decision and i really do think it's the best one for me.

some background... i have fought to control my weight for pretty much my whole life, but seriously after i graduated high school. i did weight watchers the summer before i started pharmacy school and had a lot of success. unfortunately, when i went to school i quit going to meetings (i'd been going with my mom and grandmother at home), so i never got lifetime status, and i gained back the weight. i've done various things between then and now and i'd definitely classify myself as a yo-yo dieter. food is my achilles heel for sure.

as i shared on here last year, i worked with a guy who made a workout plan and an eating plan for me. it helped me to lose a little more than 20 pounds. for reasons that i don't really want to get into right now, i gained pretty much all the weight back.

so here we are again. i did a lot of thinking and spent some time trying to figure out what's important to me. i kept coming back to weight watchers.

here are the major reasons why i chose weight watchers over all the other options:

• it's tried and true. they've been around for 50 years and they're constantly updating the program to incorporate new research. they know what they're doing. i have personally done weight watchers twice before (here's hoping the whole 'third time's a charm' thing rings true here also) and when i work the program, it works for me. 
• i am sick of being so extremely restricted in what i can and cannot eat. while i had great success losing weight with the clean eating approach i followed last year, maintenance was very hard for me. i mean, i couldn't eat a peach for goodness sakes. and unfortunately, i'm very much the type who thinks once i eat one thing that's not on the plan i've messed up the whole day, week, etc. i'm not saying it makes sense or is rational, i'm just saying that because of that, my previous plan was no longer an option. plus the guy who made my plans had no idea how to help me fuel to run. NONE. 
• i like the accountability of weight watchers [weekly weigh ins + going to meetings with friends]. 
• my OCD self loves tracking points and looking at spreadsheets/charts (WW has seriously stepped up their online tool game). 
• i want something that helps me to keep the weight off, instead of abandoning me when i've worked so hard to lose the weight. 
• i want something live-able. 
• i enjoy cooking, and i really like that i can try new dishes and cook some!

anyways, i just wanted to share. i'll keep you all updated!

summary sunday

october 7-13

monday:  pure barre

tuesday:  pure barre

wednesday:  rest day

thursday:  ran 3 miles

friday:  pure barre

saturday:  rest day

sunday:  whoops, another rest day

i'm feeling a little under the weather (just stuffy nose/headache) so i took it easy this weekend. my parents were also able to run over for a quick, last minute visit so i'd obviously rather hang out with them than go run! i also got in touch with the cherokee harvest race director and i'm dropping down to the 5k next weekend. i hate to drive so far for a 5k, and i thought about just deferring. But this race has the best swag, and i do want to show my support because i think it's a great local race. you get a lot of bang for your buck, it's a beautiful course, and they really put on a great race. 

friday was our 5 year anniversary and brad stepped up and spoiled me rotten. we both had to work all day and saturday, but we went downtown to eat a really nice dinner at limone's. we discovered it during our staycation week and wanted to go back (short rib nachos... i die). i have got to start doing posts about all this great food in asheville. it's a small miracle that i don't weigh 300 pounds. 

in related news, i sucked up my pride and re-joined weight watchers last friday. i had my first weigh in this week and i lost 4 pounds. i'll have a post tomorrow discussing more about why i decided to do this. 

i hope you all are having a great weekend, i'm off to do some grocery shopping and food prep!

Where did June go?

So today is the last day of June, I didn't get the memo... One whole glorious month of summer gone. At the beginning of the month I talked about my goals for the month. This was my first time setting monthly goals, so let's see how I did.

1. Log at least 60 miles this month. Walking or running. I logged 41 miles on daily mile, plus I'm doing 4 tonight. So let's just say 45. I didn't do a great job logging the miles, but I'm happy that I did this well. Next month I'll pick a new miles goal and have a tag-along goal of logging them all. Like they taught us in school, if you didn't document it, it didn't happen! 

2. Finish reading the new rules of lifting for women, and figure out a plan to realisticly get it going. This was an epic fail on my part. I cracked the book and made it halfway through the intro. And that is all. Not only did I not read it, I got a fat overdue book fine from the library. Nice.


3. Track my weight watchers points. Have a solid month of losses. (that's technically two i guess). Well this one is a little a lot embarrasing. It probably warrants its own post but that would be even more embarrasing. My first three weeks were golden. Slowly but surely I quit tracking. At my fourth weigh in I should have been on track to hit my 5% goal. And I gained 3.2 pounds. That was the total of my losses in week 2 and 3. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR. As you might imagine, this sent me into major depressive mode. So what did I do? I ate all day and thought, get it out of your system, tomorrow is go time. Then I repeated that for 6 days. Which brings me to today, I'm supposed to weigh in. NOT HAPPENING. But I am getting my life in order, throwing all the excuses out, and 'starting over'. I will weigh in next week. Come good week or bad week. And I will not let the number on the scale dominate me like it has over the past week. Done and done.

4. Wash my face before and after I run. I'm really good about the after, not so much the before. I've done really well with this goal. I even visited the Clinque counter last week and got set up with a new skin care regimen that I'll give the deets on in a later post.

5. Plan my half marathon attack and get it started. This is a win for me too. You can follow my training for the Asheville Citizen-Times Half Marathon here. I'm two runs in, with a third tonight.

I'm a list maker, and this goal setting for the month was really good for me. If you know me in real life you've definitely heard me say, "If I don't write it down, it will not happen." That's usually me alluding to my superior ability to forget anything and everything, but it also has to do with me being me. It helps me so much to write things down then be able to check them off and feel accomplished.  Emily pointed out that today is the halfway point for 2011. She used it to evaluate her yearly goals and see where she sized up (that chick is amazing). I think I'm going to post July goals as planned, but also some goals to complete by the end of twently eleven.

Just a typical Friday grocery run at 730am...

This morning I had to get up super early (for a day off) and run errands before leaving for KY. I had a hair appointment with my awesome aunt at 2pm so I had to get going. On the agenda-- Weight Watchers weigh in, grocery store, and pick up breakfast for my silly face husband who was in bed the whole time!

I lost another 0.8 lbs. Not awesome but a loss none the less (is that all one word?). Then I treated myself to Panera for breakfast. I made smoothies to go with.

If I was a good wife I woulda taken this up to B-rad in bed... But I'm not so I woke him up by throwing a pillow at him instead. Mature, I know.

While my cinnamon crunch bagel was delicious, the best part of my morning by far was taking this buggy (yes I'm from the south and they aren't shopping carts) through the checkout:

Awkward much?

Hope you all have a great weekend!