Weekly Weigh In

So last week I was expecting a bigger loss on the scale, I ate nearly all my weekly points, but also earned 40 activity points - so maybe I didn't eat enough.

This week I tried something different, I went back to clean eating wherever possible - probably about 75% of the week, I didn't track points I just tried to stick to three meals a day and no snacks. I wore my active link, but I never did any exercise other than my usual walking and walking of the dogs. 

Still managed to earn 12 AP's - as you can see yesterday I spent most of the day on the sofa - Daytona 500 in the morning and Oscars in the evening!!

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I stood on the scales this morning, so was pleasantly surprised with the numbers

Numbers time:

Previous Weight: 276.6

Today's weigh in: 272.4
 +/- :  -4.2lbs   

Total loss 32.6lbs

What's that all about? Maybe I ate a lot less than normal, I'm not really sure. Just hope that it doesn't go the other way next week. I am going to adopt the same strategy this week, I will eat clean as much as possible, cut out snacks and try and increase my exercise.

I signed up for another dietbet, after today's weigh in I am half way to goal, but I am going to Vegas in two weeks, so not sure how that will play out with my plans, part of me wants to try super hard, and part of me wants to say 'f**k it I'm in Vegas lets party!'  I always do lots of walking when I'm in Vegas so that should help, depends if we hit the buffet or not, do have one meal planned, we have reservations at Gordon Ramsay's Steak on the Friday night.

Have a great week everyone
Sarah xxx

Weekly Weigh In

Last week was an awesome week, I tracked 100% - used 35 of my weekly points and earned 40 AP's which is the most I have ever earned in one week. I hit my Active Link goal 120%.

Saturday I ran the Bay Breeze 5k and I got a new 5k PR - which made the run extra special. I am getting close to the 50 minute mark, so hopefully can break that in the next few months. I was toying with the idea of taking part in the Diablo Trails Challenge 5k but the thought of an elevation of 558' put me off - I thought about it for 24 hours, then decided to take the plunge and I have signed up for it :) I am not a big fan of hills (who is?!) but am looking forward to the challenge, even though I won't be creating any new PR's that race.

Numbers time:

Previous Weight: 278.6

Today's weigh in: 276.6
 +/- :  -2lbs   

Total loss 28.4lbs

I will admit I am a little disappointed with this number as I was expecting it to be a lot higher after all the exercise I have done and being on track, but as they say slow and steady wins the race, if I was to lose 2lb every week I would lose 100lbs in a year.

Have a great week everyone and if you haven't entered my giveaway - you have 4 hours left to do it.

Sarah xxx

Weekly Weigh In

I'm actually posting my weigh in on the day it happened for once :) Today has started well, I have tracked my breakfast, hoping the rest of the day works out and then the rest of the week. The last time I tracked was Jan 31st, so it's time to sort that out.

I am doing really well at wearing my Active Link all day, and haven't missed a day since I purchased it. My goal did increase last week as I was achieving it almost every day - this week, I only hit goal once, but to be fair I never really worked out. As a result I hit my goal 82% and only earned 10 AP's - which is a bit embarrassing really.

This week I am on a mission - yes I said it, this is the proof! I will hit my goal everyday - no excuses. Feel free to nag me during the week to check up on my progress :)

Numbers time:

Previous Weight: 279.4

Today's weigh in: 278.6
 +/- :  -0.8lbs   

Total loss 26.4lbs 

Yes it was a loss, but nothing to really be proud of, especially after the huge gain last week. My body is really craving proper food, so hoping that will help keep me focused, plus I have a 5k to run this Saturday which I am excited about.

If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, I am hosting a giveaway for some chocolate goodies in my previous post, so make sure you enter.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by

Sarah x

Weekly Weigh In

OK, so where do I start.... This week hasn't been great, it started off great and then slowly I started to go off track, and just like a runaway train (not sure why I chose that reference!) I ended up being totally out of control and as a result haven't tracked since Friday. You would think after my big gain (numbers to follow shortly), I would have been eager to get back on track, but I am struggling to stay focused. I am a bit OCD when it comes to planning, and the last two weeks we have had a friend staying, so I haven't had a set plan for the week, and I think that has thrown me a bit. I'm not blaming that on my over eating, the eating falls entirely on me, I could have made much better choices in the restaurants and said no to appetizers and desserts, but I chose not too. I'm hoping by the end of the week I will have got my destructive behavior out of my head. I plan to sit own on Sunday and properly plan for the week ahead, you maybe asking why not do that today? - I am asking myself the same question! I do wonder why my brain works like this sometimes.

I guess it wasn't all totally bad this week, exercise wise I did great. I earned 27 AP's with my Active Link (6 more than last week) and hit my goal 112%. As a result they suggested I increase my  end goal for the 12 week challenge. So now my new goal is to earn 5 points a day, it started as a goal of 0-2 points a day. So far this week though I haven't hit goal :(

Time for the numbers:

Previous Weight: 272.2

Today's weigh in: 279.4
 +/- :  +7.2lbs   

Total loss 25.6lbs 

I have a 5k to run next weekend, so I need to start eating healthy again or I will be feeling totally crap during the run.

Those of you who are on facebook - feel free to check out and 'like' my facebook page

 https://www.facebook.com/LosingWeightAndHavingFun

Thanks or stopping by, have a great week

Sarah x

Weekly weigh in

Another week over and I can't believe we will be in February in a few days.

The past week started well, but then went downhill, I was suddenly eating everything and anything!! This lasted for two days, and one of those days (Friday) I gave up on tracking all together. A big thank you to everyone who contacted me on twitter to send me words of encouragement, it definitely helped. I woke up Saturday morning and was right back on track.

The previous week I earned 15 AP's and hit my goal 98% of the time. Here are the figures from this week :)

 

As you can see I earned an extra 6 points this week, and my average goal achievement was 108% so I definitely became more active this week.

5 weeks into the challenge and I am on track, and slightly above the estimations. Let's hope this continues.

Tracking wise as you can see it shows I had points left over, but realistically I probably ate those on the day I never tracked. Also I forgot about my healthy checks once again!

 

Down to the actual numbers:

This week's stats Previous Weight: 275.6

Today's weigh in: 272.2
 +/- :  -3.4lbs   

Total loss 32.8lbs 

I was actually expecting to see a gain so was pleasantly surprised. I thought back to when I did Weight Watchers previously and some of my eating habits, and I recalled that the weeks I ate most or all of my weekly points, were the weeks I had a good loss, so I think that lately I have maybe not been eating enough especially as I have been working out too. So that is my new plan of action for the week ahead to try and eat more! I know it doesn't seem to make sense when I say it out loud either.

This week I have a friend visiting from England and we will be out and about a lot and eating out but I plan to track everything as best I can and get lots of walking in. Today I was very impressed with myself, we went for lunch and I declined the complimentary bread (I think this maybe a first for me) and then I went with a half salad (normally I go with a full one) and it filled me up nicely. I must admit it did help dining in a restaurant that was in the points tracker on my phone. I even was able to have dessert which I shared with my friend. Tomorrow we are dining at the Cheesecake Factory, hopefully I can say no to the bread there as well (which will be hard as I love their bread). I plan to go online before we go and plan out what I am going to have and the points values too.

I unfortunately didn't meet my DietBet goal - I lost 7.2lbs in the 4 weeks, so was 4lbs short of 4%, but it was a fun challenge and well done to those of you who hit 4% and get a share of the pot.

Just a reminder for those of you in US and Canada who have dogs - check out my giveaway on my other blog  www.uktocalifornia.com for a free Barkbox.

Have a great week everyone

Sarah xxx

 

Weekly Weigh In

Welcome back

How did I get on this week? Here is my tracking overview. Although I didn't exceed my points (well not the weekly ones), I felt I didn't make great choices food wise this week.  Yes, Sunday did consist of mainly cheese and salami!! However I did earn 15 activity points on my ActiveLink and hit my new (higher goal) 98% overall this week, which is 4 more AP's than last week.

I was a little better at logging my healthy checks this week!

This week's stats
Previous Weight: 276.4 Today's weigh in: 275.6
 +/- :  -0.8lbs  Total loss 29.4lbs 

I want to try and work on increasing my exercise this week, and really making a dent in the number on the scales. My diet bet ends next week, and to hit 4% I need to lose 6.6lbs, so don't think that will be happening. This morning I walked 2.4 miles after class, and I went to a friends house and did a mini workout on her TRX system, and I did squats without my knees hurting :) I was so impressed with it, I have just been online and ordered one - so am looking forward to making that a regular thing in my workout routines..

Nearly forgot, I went to my Weight Watchers meeting this morning and I won a prize

It was a cookbook of my choice and I chose this one, I'm excited to try some new recipes this upcoming week.

Plus I have another giveaway planned (probably for next week), which I think will be very popular among you sweet toothed people!! 

Also I signed up for a 5k for February - Ill be doing the Bay Breeze run. Need to find one for March now.

For those of you who also missed me post on Facebook and twitter - we booked a vacation last week. We are going to Maui in June, I am so excited as I have always wanted to go to Hawaii. Plus I get back on the Sunday and the following week it is Fitbloggin, so lots to look forward to.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by.
Sarah x

Weekly Weigh In

It's that time of the week to step on the scales again, although I am actually weighing in three times each week, naked Monday mornings for my official weigh in, Tuesday morning at my Weight Watchers meeting and Wednesday morning for the Shrinking Jeans challenge.

So how did I do this week...
I tracked 100% (and forgot to check healthy checks again!). I even used up more of my weekly points this week too. Last week I had 25 weekly points left over and this week I only had 19 left over. Although that was mainly due to the kettle corn and pizza!

Activity wise, I earned 11 points with my Active Link this week, one more than last week, also I am doing so well on my 12 week challenge, that 3 weeks in it has asked to change my goal. The original goal was to earn 0-2 points a day after 12 weeks, the new goal is to now earn 4 points a day. I like a challenge!

The numbers on the scale for this week...
Previous Weight: 277.8
Today's weigh in: 276.4
 +/- :  -1.4lbs 
Total loss 28.6lbs 

Ill be honest, I am a little disappointed (again!) with the small loss this week, I have tracked 100% and worked out and was hoping for a bigger loss. I cut out the processed food - well most of it. I am struggling to get back on track with eating clean - not sure why? Hopefully this week I can conquer it and have a bigger number on the scales next week. I also want to start getting my workouts back to a regular thing, I used my exercise bike twice last week and did the weight watchers workout DVD once, although I wasn't overly impressed with it. Which reminds me I need to still go find a 5k race for February.
Time to go and get the cookbooks out and plan, plan, plan now.

Just a reminder if you haven't already entered you have three days to enter my Simply Snackin giveaway - their gourmet dried meat snacks are only 1 points plus value each.

Have a great week
Sarah x

Simply Snackin review and giveaway

I recently saw a tweet from fellow blogger Lindsey, about a company that was looking for some people to try their gourmet dried meat snacks. I love free stuff and I love meat, so I was there.

I then completely forgot about this until I came home one day to a package from Simply Snackin, which contained the following.

The following is taken from their website.

Redefine How You Snack

High protein, low calorie Simply Snackin® gourmet dried meat snacks are the preferred choice of on-the-go people leading or adopting active, healthy lifestyles.
Although often referred to as “jerky,” Simply Snackin products deliver an experience unlike any conventional jerky — bite after bite of moist, lean, savory chicken breast or beef sirloin is paired with flavorful mangos, apples, blueberries and other artisan ingredients.
Simply put, Simply Snackin is redefining how you snack.

At first when I opened the package and read the flavors I was a bit disheartened as I wasn't sure I would like them, but at the same time I didn't want my husband to eat them all!! I tried the Chicken breast with Italian seasoning and Romano. Wow! It was love at first bite. So of course I had to try another, I received a package containing 12 snacks, and they didn't last long especially once my husband discovered them. He is on a low carb diet and they are all 5g carbs or less. Some of them are even gluten free. They are all 60 calories and contain 0.5g of fat or less, and between 8 and 11g of protein.

They currently have six flavors - not sure if they plan to do more in the future.
Beef Sirloin with Apples and Cherries
Beef Sirloin with Cranberries and Blueberries
Teriyaki Beef Sirloin with Pineapples
Chicken Breast with Black Bean Salsa
Chicken Breast with Italian Seasoning and Romano
Teriyaki Chicken Breast with Mango and Papaya

I think out of all the flavors the Beef Sirloin with Apples and Cherries and the Chicken Breast with Italian Seasoning and Romano were my favorite, but I actually loved them all and have already placed an order for another batch.

Oh, nearly forgot the best part, for those of you following Weight Watchers they are only 1PP, so a great snack to grab on the go, they come individually packaged, so no worry about dividing them into portions.

For the month of January 2013, they are offering you all 10% off your order - just use code SSJAN2013 at the checkout.

Come back and let me know what you think and what your favorite flavors are.

Sarah x

Now on to the part you have all been waiting for Simply Snackin would like to offer one lucky reader a package containing 24 meat snacks in a variety of flavors (shipping included), sadly this is only open to US residents. To enter please do so using rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclaimer:  The Simply Snackin meat snacks were provided to me at no cost in exchange for a review.  The opinions expressed are mine and I was not required to provide a positive review

Weekly Weigh In

I'm actually a day late posting this week, as weigh in was yesterday, but I have delayed posting, as I was disappointed with my results.
As you can see I tracked 100% I was even under on points some days and I had 25 weekly points left plus I earned 10 activity points too. 

Previous Weight: 277.4 Today's weigh in: 277.8 +/- :  +0.4lbs Total loss 27.2lbs 

I was expecting a nice loss this week, so was shocked to see an increase on the scales, even though it was only 0.4lbs. On speaking to a few people it could be that I didn't eat enough, it could be I had too much salt this week, as I did have a lot of canned soup and ready meals. Who knows?!

Anyway, on to a new week and hopefully next week the scales will be going the other way. As I mentioned before, today I went back to Weight Watchers, I have been using just the online for the last year and decided I wanted the extra accountability. I will be using my Monday morning naked weigh in for my blog, so my total loss is consistent, but will be weighing at the meetings on a Tuesday morning too. I was pleased that all but one day I reached goal on my active link last week, and I hope to hit goal everyday this week too.

At my meeting I purchased the Weight Watchers 360 kit, which comes with lots of fun things, including a workout DVD and a cookbook, so I am looking forward to sitting down this evening after dinner and browsing through everything and making some dinner plans for the week.

Also I discovered some very yummy 1 point snacks this week, which I will be talking about in an upcoming blog post.

Also nearly forgot - as you can see by my side bar >>> I have signed up for another 5k. I will be doing the Divas 5k in May. Still need to find a run for Feb, March and April first though.

Have a great week everyone
Sarah x

Final Weigh In of 2012

This morning was my final weigh in of 2012, and the weigh in after Christmas. I wasn't really sure what to except as to be honest I haven't been great at tracking as you can see. I have tracked 100% since Saturday though :)  I did do pretty well with my Active Link monitor, my assessment ended on Wednesday and my challenge started and I have been doing pretty good at keeping active. Let's hope it continues.

Weigh in Results

I ended the year with a loss :)
Previous Weight: 278.6
Today's weigh in: 277.4
+/- :  - 1.2lbs
Total loss 27.6lbs (I realized my total loss was wrong when I posted last week, this is the correct total)

I am pleased with my overall loss, but did check out my figures for this year and I only lost 14.8lbs in 2012, so really need to step my game up. 

I have decided to set myself a weight loss goal for 2013. I would like to try and reach 200lbs, which is a loss of 77.4lbs, part of me thinks this is too bigger goal to aim for, but I know if I really try hard I can achieve it - so watch this space...

I am currently signed up for a few challenge to help motivate me.

This week is the final week of the  Elf4Health 6 week challenge, which has been a lot of fun.
Last week I joined Weight Off My Shoulders  PnPTrackstar challenge, it is all about tracking what you eat as much as possible.
Tomorrow is the start of my diet bet challenge, we have 9 participants and the pot is currently at $180, if you would like to join (it's $20) please email me for an invite link.
I also signed up to the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans weight loss challenge which starts tomorrow and my partner for that challenge is Veronica.
My final challenge is a second diet bet challenge where the pot currently stands at just under $6000!!

So providing I lose 4% of my weight in January it could be a profitable month :)

Happy New Year everyone, have a fun but safe evening tonight and I hope 2013 is an amazing year for you

Sarah xxx

Final 5k of 2012

This morning I completed my final 5k of 2012. I did the Brazen New Year's Eve 5k, don't worry you haven't lost a few days, yes it is 29th Dec today, they did it this morning as NYE is a Monday this year.

All week I have been checking the weather forecast and it kept saying rain, so I wasn't looking forward to the race, but the rain held off for the race. The 5k was around part of Lake Chabot, it was an out and back route which included a few small hills. Dave took part with me and we walked the first half together, but then I got adventurous and started jogging on the second half, it felt really good, at the time that is, especially when I ran over the finish line, but now my back is really sore, so think it was a bit too much impact on my slipped discs - Ill survive though :)

Even though there was no rain it was still cold out there - a chilly 7 degrees, I think I was one of the few people who was stupid enough to not wear a jacket or long sleeves!! As you can see the route actually showed as being  3.44 miles, so just over 5k, so I don't know how fast I did the 5k in, the official chip results haven't been posted yet. However I did get a new PR for 1k - I did it in 10:22 :)
I ran at an average pace of 17:38/mile, I checked my app and my fastest pace is 17:21, so I am getting close to the speed I ran a 5k in back in July. I would love to start the New Year by beating this PR on Tuesday in the 5k.

 

 

This is the first time I have taken part in  Brazen race and they lay on an awesome spread of food at the finish line, including the local It's -It ice cream, I have always wanted to try their ice cream sandwiches  - they were so good. For those of you who don't know I am also taking part in the new Years Day 5k (which is actually on New Years Day!) and they make a special medal that goes with today's medal, you get the one below for today, and then one for NYD and then a third medal so you can make them into a mega medal. I also loved the fact my name was on my bib, this is the first time I have had a personalized bib.

This was my 9th race of 2012 (8 5k's and 1 10k), and I got my sixth medal for my medal rack :)  Planning to fill it with lots more in 2013. Yesterday I signed up for my first ever progressive marathon for June next year.

 

 

I was excited to plug my active link in after the race, yes I finally earned some points - I got 5 points for the race, and I still plan on walking the dogs later so may even make it 6 points.

 

Sarah xxx

Active Link Assessment

I completed my 7 day Active Link assessment :)

I think maybe I should have chosen a better week to do it, as I spent a lot of time at home on the sofa watching TV over Christmas, although to be fair I wasn't expecting the results to be great, but I am a little shocked at them all the same!!

I do like how it says I am an athlete - all be it an occasional one!! 

It now sets me goals, it wants me to reach the base line each day as my goal. Which I guess is a goal, but the base line is 0 points, so it's like a goal with no prize :( It says that my 12 week goal is to be earning 2 points a day, which I don't think is much, but technically it's twice what I am currently doing. I do have the chance to review my goals along the way, and if I find once the holidays are over and I am back in a regular routine that I am moving more I can change my goal. 

I like how it challenges you to also do the following activities: 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity 5 times a week, and/or 20 minutes of high intensity activity 3 times a week, and it automatically checks them as you do them. So far I am on day 2 and have one box checked

This as how I got on yesterday (day 1), I reached 122% of my goal, but didn't earn any activity points :( It would have been nice if it had told me how close I was to earning a point. When I am following weight watchers I don't tend to eat my activity points (which is probably a good thing as I'm not earning any!), but it is interesting to see how little I do - at the moment anyway!!
 

I am taking part in a 5k tomorrow, so hoping that I will be checking a few boxes and earning some activity points finally.

Sarah x

Weigh in and Elf 4 Health

Christmas Eve and weigh in day. I haven't been great at tracking this week, but I have been great at drinking lots of water and have been out walking lots. I have been wearing my active link and am still in the assessment stage so looking forward to getting the results in a few days. Here are this week's results:

Last weigh in: 279.6
12/24/12 : 278.6
+/-: loss of 1lb
Total loss: 26.4lbs 

So a nice small loss for me this week, and I am hoping that I will be ending the year with a loss too.

I have a 5k to run this Saturday and another one on New Year's Day that I am really looking forward to doing. I would like to commit to doing at least one 5k each month in 2013. I plan to start browsing the local racing calendars in the next few days to get signed up for some more races.

I joined the Elf4Health challenge 4 weeks ago, and have just received my third elf buddy. My first elf was Stephanie in MA and my second elf was Ginger in NC - both of whom were awesome. My third elf buddy is Jami, but I've not heard back from her yet. Lindsey and Elle have been great at matching everyone up and setting us some great challenges - thanks ladies for being so awesome. I would say so far I have taken part in about 50% of them, so must try harder in the final two weeks.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays - hope you all have a happy and safe one

Sarah xxx

Weigh in results

This is a bit of a delayed update, I weighed Monday morning but have only just got round to blogging.

The last time I weighed was the week I flew to England and I weighed 278, I planned to weigh last Tuesday to see 'the damage' but I either had gastroenteritis or food poisoning and was really really sick last week, although I did get on the scales mid week and there was a big loss, but that was because I literally had nothing inside me for 3 days!!

Last weigh in: 278
12/17/12: 279.6 
+/-:   gain of 1.6lbs
Total loss: 25.4lbs

I was expecting a much  bigger gain after my vacation so think the fact I was sick helped with this, but I have been eating lots of not so healthy food since I got better.

I made the decision today to go back to weight watchers meetings. The best time for me is Tuesday mornings, which means I can't go next week as it will be Christmas Day and the week after is New Year's Day and I will be running a 5k. So I will be back at meetings on Jan 8 :) In the meantime I will be tracking online starting tomorrow morning and weighing on a Monday morning, I will probably record my weight at home on a Monday morning also even when I am back at meetings.

Also today I purchased an active link as a Christmas present to myself. :) I haven't set it up yet, but plan to in the next few days and am eager to see how much exercise I'm doing (or not doing)!! I have read a few things about it, but not 100% sure how it works, so will be reporting back as I use it. It is an extra $5 a month, but I think I am worth it.

Time to go and read some of the new weight watchers 360 material on their site so I can start tracking first thing

Also if anyone is interested I have created a facebook page for my blog, feel free to come by and 'like' it. https://www.facebook.com/LosingWeightAndHavingFun

Sarah x