Smooth(ie) movies

You know what? Smoothies are awesome. I've been having one every morning for breakfast and I kind of love them. I just make one each night before bed and grab it on my way to the bus stop and by the time I get to work I'm full of fruity (sometimes veggie) goodness - though I still need a coffee.

It's also a great way for me to get more fruit in my life since I'm so hit and miss with my fruit consumption. (The mad apple cravings I was having a month ago have passed.)

I've been fervently collecting smoothie recipes and I'm finally getting brave enough to change them up and add and subtract ingredients as I see fit. One thing I've done is stop making my smoothies with yogurt. While using Greek yogurt gives a smoothie a great protein boost, I'm just not a fan. For liquid, I'll use 1% milk but mostly water is just fine. I guess it depends on how think you like your smoothie; if you want to be able to walk on it, go with yogurt. If you like it a little thinner, milk or water will do that for you.

And that's a big reason why smoothies are so great: customization baby! I've already shared my love of the peanut butter-banana smoothie; here are two more I'm into right now:

Spinach-strawberry-mango-banana smoothie
1 banana
1 cup mango
1/2 cup strawberries
Handful spinach
1 cup liquid (I use milk in this one)
Then blend it up and drink it up!
I also through in one scoop of vanilla protein powder and a tablespoon of flax seed oil.

Spinach and strawberries and mango, oh my!

 Grapefruit-mango-strawberry smoothie
1 medium grapefruit, peeled and sectioned (I cheated and used stuff from a jar)
1/2 cup mango
1/2 cup strawberries
1 cup water (I feel like milk would be weird with grapefruit)
Blend and drink!
Again, I did my protein powder and flax seed additions. I don't eat a lot of citrus fruit so this is a great way for me to get some extra vitamin C.

See those grapefruit chunks in the bottom?

WW hiatus

I have decided to take a brief hiatus from weighing in each week. I'm still part of Weight Watchers and I'm still doing my best to follow the program, but my body has been going through some weird stuff lately.

It may be from our trip to Prince Edward County and all the delicious food we ate, but I've been feeling off recently. To look at me, I don't appear to be any heavier (and have, in fact, been asked if I've lost weight and told that I look really good) but when I get on the scale the number keeps going up.

One culprit, I'm sure, is that I feel backed up, so clearly I need more fibre in my diet. But there are other things I need to change and I need to spend some time focusing on that and not worrying about what the scale will say each week.

So what's my plan? I'm still figuring it all out, but it will involve smoothies, more fruit, more fibre, regular exercise, more weightlifting all while still treating myself when I want. I also want to keep up the good habits I have, like how much water I drink, walking whenever I can, lifting weights while watching TV and eating vegetables/salads every chance I get.

I'm not doing a detox or a cleanse; rather, I see this as a reset, a way to get myself - mind, body and soul - back to a place where I'm happy and comfortable and confident. And knowing that I have to get on the scale each Wednesday has been stressing me out of late so I need to step away and focus more on myself, rather than the numbers.

But I'll still post here, even if it isn't about my weight. And I'll be back with a weigh-in on Wednesday May 22.

Cheers!

WW Weigh-In #32

It was another crazy week with lots of work hours and lots of being busy at home. One of my colleagues is on vacation (in Italy - lucky girl!) which has led to the longer work hours. It's weird, but 14-hour workdays honestly seem to fly by. If/when I'm ever back to a normal 8-hour workday it's going to feel like nothing!

In all this craziness, I did my best to keep up with my good eating habits but there were some slips. That's why, this morning, I weighed myself twice out of disbelief:

Last week: 187.2 lb
This week: 184.0 lb
Total lost this week: 3.2 lb

Weight loss target: 181.8 lb
To reach target: 2.4 lb

I promise you there were no unhealthy tactics used over the past week! I even had wine, pizza and tacos on the weekend. So how does one lose over 3 lb in a week? The short answer is pooping.

Okay, yes, it's kind of gross, but my digestive system has been in revolt the past few weeks but over the last few days I've managed to eat enough fibre and other good stuff to get back on track. My issues have also served as a wonderful reminder to eat lots and lots of fruit and veggies because they help keep one regular.

I've also got to get back to my running. I haven't had a good run in over a week. Being busy is the worst excuse, I know, but at work the only real breaks I've had were when I went to buy lunch. Now that the worst of the busyness is over, though, I'm going to get back on the running. My zombie run is coming up - September 22! - and I've got do to more outside running. But I'll do another post on that - I'm starting to ramble now!

But it's nice to feel back on track right when summer is winding down. Bring on the fall!

Lunch!

Sometimes you just need a veggie-ful meal.

WW Weigh-In #13

Guys, I weighed myself three times this morning because I didn't believe the number. Three times. But every time was the same, so I'm going with it:

Last week: 189.0 lb
This week: 183.8 lb
Total lost this week: 5.2 lb

Weight loss target: 181.8 lb
To reach target: 2.0 lb

Total lost with WW: 18.2 lb

WW chastised me and reminded me to make sure I'm losing weight at a healthy rate. I didn't do anything unhealthy this past week; in fact, I made an effort to be as healthy as possible and I think that's what helped. I also ate a lot more vegetables that I had the past couple of weeks which I also think helped with the weigh-in.

I'm also only 2 lb away from my next weight loss goal! I guess I'd better start thinking of a reward...I love rewards!

WW Weigh-in #9

I've been eating dangerously the past little while. I have still logged everything but I've been burning through my weekly points faster than I'd like. I know that I'm supposed to use them up so that's not the problem; it's that I'm using them up on Aero mint chocolate bars and an extra helping of naan bread and red wine. And yes, it's okay to use my extra points for treats like these, but I'm having them far more often than one would have treats. I'm also not eating as many fruits and vegetables as I was when I first joined Weight Watchers so there are some little changes to my eating habits that I need to make. On the plus side, I've been rocking a pair of jeans that didn't fit me a month ago and every time I wear them I get compliments. (It's hard not to wear them ALL THE TIME.)

Despite my dangerous eating, I did manage a loss, albeit a small one:

Last week: 189.0 lb
This week: 188.8 lb
Total lost this week: 0.2 lb
Total lost with WW: 13.2 lb

Weight loss target: 181.8 lb
To reach target: 7.0 lb

If I can get back into my healthy eating habits I'm confident I can hit my next goal by Easter. And then I will have lost 20 lbs. I can hardly even comprehend that number. I want this so badly!

Vegetables

I've come to the realization that I don't eat enough vegetables.  This is strange, though, because I LOVE veggies.  Seriously, they are the best thing ever.  I could give up meat before I could give up veggies.  Heck, I would even give up chocolate before giving up veggies.

So I find it strange that I don't seem to eat enough.  Generally I get some for dinner - and some nights I get plenty (like when we make roasted cauliflower and I eat half a head of cauliflower in one sitting).  I've been finding at work that I don't get to the cafeteria before it closes, so I'm missing out on the salad bar most days.  My standard go-to for lunch are chicken wraps from Tim Horton's because they're yummy, they fill me up and they're pretty low in calories (420 for two).  But they only have lettuce and tomato on them and, while that may barely count as a serving, it's far from enough.

I keep snacks at my desk, but I prefer the pre-fab snacks, like almonds and All-Bran bars, because they're easier to keep.  We have plenty of fridge space at work, so it's not like I can't bring my own veggies...I just don't.

And that's what has to change.  I wish I could say that from this moment forth, I'm going to eat 5-6 servings of veggies everyday, no questions asked...but that is not going to happen.  I am going to make more of an effort though.  I'm going to try to get to the salad bar sooner, even if it's just for a side salad and then get one chicken wrap.  I'm going to try eating baby carrots again (I used to eat them all the time, then noticed I was, erm, awfully bloated and gassy...while at work...and it became uncomfortable for a few reasons).  I'm also going to make sure I get at least two servings worth at dinner.  I love steamed veggies and we always have bags of frozen vegetables at home, so I really don't have much of an excuse.

So here's to eating more veggies!

(Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you about me and fruit.)