Spring Chick Challenge–Week 2 Update

Start Weight	213.8
Week 1	213.4
Week 2	210.3
Total Loss	3.5

What worked

Food. I did amazing with food this week, ate clean, portion control, counted and tracked. Except for a few bites of Bailey’s Cheesecake on Saturday night, I have not had any processed sugar in 11 days and feeling really good about it. I also ate twice but I made good choices and counted everything and made it fit into my week.

The mini challenge was to eat with my non dominant hand and I have to admit, it didn’t slow me down! I even mastered twirling spaghetti with my wrong hand. That’s dedication for you!

The recipe I made was Butternut Squash Macaroni Casserole from the Whole Foods app on my phone. The link will take you to the recipe on their website. If you go by their recipe, it makes 8 humongous portions that work out to 11 points each. I made 16 portions and counted it as 6 points each. Next time I’ll halve the recipe. I really liked it, it seems rich but it actually is very light tasting. I enjoyed it and my 15 year old loved  it. To lighten up the fat and calories (and therefore WW Points Plus), I might substitute half the coconut milk with unsweetened almond milk. The coconut flavour is barely noticeable, its more of a sweetness that you taste.

I went to my WW meeting and stayed. The topic this week was Organization – one close to my heart. If my house is cluttered, my head is cluttered, if my bedroom is cluttered I can’t sleep, if my life is cluttered with ‘stuff’ – I have a hard time focusing. Organization is my life saver and my mantra.

What didn’t work

Running. I did walk every day at lunch that I didn’t have meetings or plans to meet a friend (I missed 2 days out of 5). I didn’t get to the gym or hiking. My hike was off because I slipped on ice on Saturday and bruised my knee. It seemed fine when I went to bed on Saturday night – a bit sore but nothing major. Sunday morning it was blue and swollen and hard to bend and although I probably could have gone at slow pace, I was more scared of falling again so I cancelled. I did walk 3k on Saturday and again on Monday. The knee is fine now, still bruised and a bit scraped up but not sore or swollen. The gym just does not motivate me at all and the thought of running on the treadmill does nothing to excite me.

When I was running four times a week with my friend Guenther, I couldn’t get my eating right – it was too much, too little, too irregular and now that I have my eating right, I can’t seem to get the exercise in sync.

Next Week’s Goals

Fitness

I had to think about this. I think as much as I would like to think I’ll run – in my heart I know I won’t…so I’m going to walk as much as I can on my lunch. It’s easy to bump the 30 minutes up to 45 minutes and also fit in longer walks on the weekend. Maybe if I take the pressure off trying to force myself to run – I’ll do it…reverse psychology? Who knows.

I never loved running and I’m not sure I ever will. I got this far by telling myself I didn’t have to like it, just do it….but that’s not working for me in the cold and dark of Winter.

Food

Of course I’ll keep tracking, staying within my WW Points Plus and eating clean 80% of the time. I achieve this part by making at least 19 of my 21 meals at home as well as 3 snacks each day and taking all my food to work with me. It also saves me a ton of money when I’m not buying food during the day – even healthy food adds up.

Fun

Spending time with family, friends and my books always makes me happy. So does cooking and new recipes. I’ll make at least one new recipe again this week.

Mini Challenge – No Sweets

I’m going to clarify that for me that means no processed sugar so I’m going to keep on riding that wagon. I do use maple syrup, raw honey or agave syrup for cooking and sweetener when needed.

Final thought

Just gotta keep goin’, cause givin’ up ain’t an option!