Sand Up Sunday - Week 9

You may have noticed that we didn't post last week. Rebekah decided that she needed to take a step back from the link up, but Britt and I wanted to keep going. We have a new button and just a different posting timeline. 

We will now be posting the first and third Sunday of the month. We figured it can be hard to post each week and sometimes there isn't a big difference from one week to another. We still hope you'll join us! The button is at the bottom of this post! 

   How many pounds did you gain or lose?

I’ve been seriously lacking in the weight loss goals lately. Something pushed me off track and it’s been hard to get back on. I’m still going between 158 (never 157.9, always 158) and 159.6. I definitely need to work on this. At least I need to hit 157! At work we had our mid-way weight loss check in and I had lost 5lbs.

How many inches did you gain or lose?

I still haven’t measured myself… so nothing to add here!

Your weekly exercise or step goal, and did you meet it?

I’m still LOVING my FitBit and except for a few days week before last in which I just did not get out to do long walks in the evenings. I did finally get back on track this week and I am above my 70k goal per week! In the last 7 days my FitBit says I've walked: 94,854 (as of Saturday night - and of that 21,049 are from Saturday).

What was your biggest challenge this week?

I was pretty good this week but I did got out to eat twice. Part of my problems the last couple of weeks have been home problems. We had a gas leak and so the gas was off for over a week. Then our garbage disposal broke so doing dishes was difficult since I couldn’t run the dishwasher (yea, I know, that’s princess-y of me to say/do).  We also had a lot of issues with our refinance and our TV/Internet. It’s all been resolved now (well, minus the refinance, that’s in the works) so things should be getting back to normal.

What is your favorite healthy snack or meal?

I started eating apples with Tajin (look it up if you haven’t heard of it!) and have been enjoying it. I’ve also been sticking with Yoplait Low-Fat (90 Calorie) yogurt cups (in Cherry mostly).

Do you have any advice or tips for the rest of us?

Get back on the wagon when you fall off. Eventually it will pay off!

<a href="http://my-sunshines-blog.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l574/Britt_Hanson/Step%20Up%20Sunday.png" alt="Step Up Sunday" style="border:none;" /></a></div> </span>

Stand Up Sunday - Week 8

1. How many pounds did you gain or lose? 

I started the week at 158 lbs. I ended at 158 lbs. I broke even.

2. How many inches did you gain or lose?

I still haven’t measured myself… so nothing to add here!

3. Your weekly exercise or step goal, and did you meet it?

So far the FitBit is working. I walked a total of 80,266 steps (as of 8:30pm on Saturday) this week! I try my hardest to make my step goal each day. I take my puppy for walks in the evenings to get to 10,000 and don't come home until I do! 

4. What was your biggest challenge this week?

I went to be on a TV show on Thursday so I couldn't control my eating there, but I was pretty good this week. I did, however, go out to lunch twice and then on Friday a co-worker brought cupcakes for her birthday and OMG it was amazing. 

It was raspberry filled! 

5. What is your favorite healthy snack or meal?

Well... I don't know if this is really healthy but it's been keeping my occupied. I was introduced to Starbucks' Very Berry Hibiscus. It is delicious! Best of all the calories are relatively low. 130 calories for the Trenta size (31oz). 

6. Do you have any advice or tips for the rest of us?

Don't deprive yourself of things you like - you'll end up eating more of it! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Stand Up Sunday - Week 7

(I'm sorry for the bad formatting today. It is Saturday night and I've slept 1.5 hours in the last 24, so I'm too tired to figure out how to fix it! I'll update the weight in the morning!)

1.      How many pounds did you gain or lose?

I started the week at 158.6lbs. I ended at __________. A total loss/gain of ______.

2.      How many inches did you gain or lose?

I still haven’t measured myself… so nothing to add here!

3.      Your weekly exercise or step goal, and did you meet it?

I forgot my Fit Bit at home on Monday (I didn’t put it back on after my shower) so my steps are bad for that day. Then on Thursday I went out after work so I didn’t end up getting to my 10k steps. However I stuck to it the rest of the week.

4.      What was your biggest challenge this week?

The question is really what WASN’T a challenge. Once again the weekends mess me up. I end up eating things I shouldn’t and I don’t count the calories because they are not an easy to count (like pasta, I ate some noodles and I didn’t measure it out). I want to say I will be better this weekend (I’m writing this on Friday) but I have a an all-day thing I’m doing on Saturday and I don’t have a choice as to what I’m eating and on Sunday I have a baby shower.

5.      What is your favorite healthy snack or meal?

I discovered the Very Berry Hibiscus. I don’t know how healthy it is, but it’s not that high in calories (100 for a Venti) and it is delicious. I’ve been snacking on that this week.

6.      Do you have any advice or tips for the rest of us?

I cannot come up with anything this week because I haven’t been following any of my advise lately.

Stand Up Sunday - Week 6

1. How many pounds did you gain or lose? 

I started the week at 158.8lbs. I ended at 158.6lbs. A total loss of .2 ounces.

2. How many inches did you gain or lose?

I still haven’t measured myself… so nothing to add here!

3. Your weekly exercise or step goal, and did you meet it?

So far the FitBit is working. I walked a total of 82,785 steps (as of 8:30pm on Saturday) this week! I try my hardest to make my step goal each day. Those of you who are friends with me on FitBit you might see hat I didn't reach 10k steps on Monday or Friday, but as you can see by my total number of steps I made up for it on other days.

4. What was your biggest challenge this week?

The weekends are becoming my hardest challenge. When I'm home or, worse, when I'm out doing things on the weekends I can get off track. This week because Thomas had surgery at the hospital I had a hard time. There was a farmer's market there that day and I bought some not-so-good things. They are all gone now, but the damage was done.

5. What is your favorite healthy snack or meal?

A week ago I went picked grapefruit and oranges, so I was loving grapefruit this week! Delicious!! 

6. Do you have any advice or tips for the rest of us?

My issues with weekends then to be that I go out and don't bring anything to eat with me and then when I get home my blood sugar is low and I just need to eat and don't have the energy to make myself anything. So plan your weekends out as you do your weekdays would be my advice - at least for myself.

Stand Up Sunday - Week 5

1.      How many pounds did you gain or lose?

I started the week at 158lbs. I ended at 158.8lbs. A total gain of .8 ounces.

2.      How many inches did you gain or lose?

I still haven’t measured myself… so nothing to add here!

3.      Your weekly exercise or step goal, and did you meet it?

I bought a FitBit Charge Sunday night and have reached 10,000 steps every day since, so definitely an increase of steps from last week. I hope that the FitBit keeps inspiring me to get out there and get to my goal daily.

I walked a total of 76,376 steps. (I got Sunday's steps from my Samsung app, but the rest were from the FitBit)

4.      What was your biggest challenge this week?

Wings. Have you guys had Buffalo Wild Wings? They are delicious. You can order wings and have them put whatever flavor you want on them. They have a vast array from not spicy to extremely spicy. They have one that tastes like a Christmas Tree. They are amazing. They had MAPLE flavored ones as a special this week. I went to lunch there on Tuesday with my supervisor. On Tuesdays the wings are 69 cents each. $10 for lunch and leftovers! So I had them for lunch 2 days in a row. Each wing is about 90 calories. I still stayed under my calorie goal because of all the walking, but NOT eating them would’ve been better.

5.      What is your favorite healthy snack or meal?

I bought some plums this week. They are not quite ripe yet, but at about 30-40 calories each, they are a good snack. Last summer peaches were super cheap (.49/lb) so I ate peaches ALL the time. Finally I got tired of them, but it was about 3 or 4 months of only peaches (and sometimes pears mixed in).

6.      Do you have any advice or tips for the rest of us?

Try fresh fruit! It’s delicious and most of the time available year round at the supermarket (or is that just here in CA?) and farmer’s markets. Most of the time they are low in calorie (watch out for bananas, avocados, grapefruit, and apples) and delicious!

Stand Up Sunday - Week 4

1. How many pounds did you gain or lose?

I started the week at 159.8lbs. I ended at 158.4. A total loss of 1.4lbs.

2.      How many inches did you gain or lose?

I still haven’t measured myself… so nothing to add here!

3.      Your weekly exercise or step goal, and did you meet it?

Last week I INCREASED the number of steps I took from the week before. This week I walked 11,375 more steps than last week. I walked a total of 66,201 steps. This is mostly because I went for a hike with co-workers on Saturday morning which gave me over 15k steps for the day. We're doing another hike next week, so I'm sure I'll do well next week, too! 

4.      What was your biggest challenge this week?

Can I talk about periods here? We all okay with that? Good. Well, I started mine this week and it brought the mental weakness of “well that means I can snack on yummy treats!” with it. On Tuesday I ended up eating more than I wanted to and dined with cereal (French Toast Crunch to be exact) – however on Wednesday I woke up weighing the same as Tuesday morning… so yay! Also crap is going on at work so it definitely made me want to treat myself with sweets. Also the Cutie’s I bought this week were not very good so I was not too interested in eating them.

5.      What is your favorite healthy snack or meal?

With the clementine’s not being too sweet I didn’t really find an alternative snack. However, I went back to an oldie but goodie… fruit cups! Only 60 calories each! I put same Tajin in it (if you don’t know what it is you should look it up… adds some flavor!) and it is delicious.

6.      Do you have any advice or tips for the rest of us?

I’m not the one to say it since I fell but I guess this advice is as much for myself as it is for anyone reading this. Don’t let hard times in other aspects of your life make you want to ruin your goals. Sure, I enjoyed the extra sweets I had, but will I when I step on the scale and the number went up? I was lucky this time, but maybe next time I won’t be.

Stand Up Sunday - Week 3

This was a bit of world wind week. I joined the Biggest Loser at work. I'm on a team with 4 or 5 other people and we are competing against the other teams as well as other counties. They weighed me there, fully clothed and in the afternoon, at 163.8. 

Let’s get to the questions…

1.      How many pounds did you gain or lose?

I started the week at 161lbs. I ended at 159.8. A total loss of 1.2lbs.

2.      How many inches did you gain or lose?

I still haven’t measured myself… so nothing to add here!

3.      Your weekly exercise or step goal, and did you meet it?

Last week the number of steps that I took decreased, so I really worked hard to increase my steps this week. I’m proud of myself because on Wednesday I took Lance for a walk after work and when I was done with my usual route I was at about 8,000 steps. I thought that it was enough… but I pushed myself and made it to 9,905 steps by doing an extra walk around a block.

I walked a total of 54,726 steps.

(6,425 steps MORE than last week!)

4.      What was your biggest challenge this week?

This week was actually pretty easy. Thomas was out of town so I didn’t have to worry about making him dinner and making me something different within my calories. I did have issues with worrying about my weight loss/gain. I had a decent weekend, but I did have some excess on Sunday because of the Super Bowl. On Monday morning I weighed in at 163.6 (or so). I had no idea why I had gone up over 2 pounds in 2 days. Then, after eating lunch on Monday I figured it out – I had been eating cup of noodles for lunch. While they were within my calorie limits – they contain nearly 1200mg of sodium causing a lot of water retention! I cut the soup out and went back to my Lean Cuisine lunches and voila! I was back down to 161 on Wednesday and down to 159.8 on Friday. I hadn’t seen a 5 in a long time. I’ll eat soup, but I won’t have it several days in a row like I was doing (they are just SO good!).

5.      What is your favorite healthy snack or meal?

I discovered FiberOne soft baked bars a couple of weeks ago and bought a box of the peanut butter ones, then at Costco I saw gingerbread flavored ones. I love gingerbread. They are delicious and only 90 calories per bar. It’s not a huge bar, but it’s enough to satisfy a sweet craving. Yum!

6.      Do you have any advice or tips for the rest of us?

Push yourself! When you need to do that little extra to get to your goal, do it! It’s worth it in the end!