This is what I do

This past week at Weight Watchers we were taking about spring cleaning your fridge.  We talked about good things to go into and out of the refrigerator or pantry.  I wanted to take time to share something that I started this past February and changed up a bit just a few weeks ago.  This has been a big change for us.

Before pictures...

Yes, it was a MESS!   We could not find anything.   My husband used to come and once or twice a month go through and just dump boxes and move things around to try to organize.  Not that I didn't try, but this was really a source of frustration.  

Now, here is the after (back in February, I've done some tweaking sense already and I will share below).

Ok, so the fridge is still WAY too full but both are so much better!   Now, I am not a Tpperware consultant or anything, but that is the direction I went.  For the fridge, all of my fruits and vegetables went into fridge smarts (the entire middle shelf) so I put a lot of items in the drawers at the bottom like cheeses, meats, and yogurts.   Things are much easier to get to and even more importantly everything can been seen.   Usually, my fridge is not THAT full so it is even easier to get around in than it looks.  You get the idea though.

My other project that turned out even better than the fridge was the pantry!   It was a mess before...as you can see.  I purchased two sets of modular mates and then went a little label crazy.  Above is my first attempt.  If you look closely you will see that the modular mates are all labeled and color coded also (all of the snack stuff is green, breakfast is purple I think.  I put the labels on construction paper and then laminated them.  I attached Velcro so they would be interchangeable.

I ran into a few problems.  First of all I cut too close to the labels and the laminate fell off and the label got bent and warn way too fast.  I also had too small of pieces of Velcro.  I had bought the smallest pre cut circles an it just wasn't enough to hold the tag in place.  I also didn't like the look on how each tag was a different size.

THEN, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I revamped the pantry.  Here is how it looks now.

This did not take me long at all.  Maybe 45 minutes to change things around because I had things pretty much in place and just changed the labels.  They are still color coordinated so things get put back into the right area but they are all uniform sizes.  What I did was buy the small multi-colored sticky notes so I didn't have to do any cutting.  It made laminating them a lot easier because they stayed where I put them when I put the sheets together.  I also made sure to cut them leaving plenty of laminate around the name tag.  The last thing I did was put the point value, at least for the snacks.  I might add the point values to some of the other items too, but so far have not really seen the need.

I also attached a close up picture of how the tag comes off to show how interchangeable these are.


We are able to find things a LOT easier now.  I am much more unlikely to buy multiple identical items (before this my husband will tell you about the time he searched and found 6 bottles of taco sauce various places in the pantry, along with other times too but that was the worst), and I find I am much more likely to recycle because I am opening and dumping boxes all at once instead of as I go along.

So, I am not sure if you are looking at this post with envy, eye-rolling because you think I have too much time on my hands (which both projects took me under two hours and saved us countless time in searching and reorganizing), or maybe you have something similar which I would love to hear about.   This change has really made a difference in our household.

I'm Not Defined by the Numbers

I finally got back to the  Made to Crave series.  Wow, I really needed this chapter this week.  I had my first bad weight in just yesterday.  Now, before this I told myself time and time again that I will have a weigh that is not a loss. It is just part of the process.  I might even be working really hard and there might seem to be no reason for it.

Well, this happened this week.  I had a first gain and it is 1.4lbs!

I can’t exactly say that this came from no where, but I don’t think it I a real gain but some water weight from high sodium.  I did have I an opps though.   ’

This happened Tuesday night.  Well, my very hard working husband has been getting home later and later during the evenings (he is a farmer).  My goal is to eat some with my daughter, usually my salad and then when my husband comes home I eat the rest of my meal.  So, this is my intent, but it doesn't always happen.  Sometimes I get too hungry.  Sometimes it gets too late.  I think it was a variety of both that evening.

I had made roasted red potato wedges and I was having a turkey dog while my husband and daughter were going to have brats.  This was probably my first mistake.    I LOVE brats and at the time I had ’planned’ this meal I thought I would be ok with this, I maybe should have just planned a real brat into our meal because we really don’t have them very often.    So, this started out ok and I ate my salad.  I got my daughter ready for bed and she was playing and I was still pretty hungry.  I ate my turkey hotdog.

Then when my husband got home he grilled up the brats (I had them boiled so it didn’t take too long) while I put our daughter to bed.   Then, yup, you guessed it when I was finished the brats smelled so good that I had one too!

So…that is 7 points for a brat and 3 points for a wheat hotdog bun, 10 extra points.  Then later when I was entering them into my meal I realized that I had made an opps and forgot to put a bun in at all, even for the turkey hotdog! So, with both it was 6 points.  So, I was 16 points over my goal for the day!  OUCH!

Yup, that says that on Tuesday I used up 47 points and my goal is 32.  That is not helpful at all especially the day before a weigh in.

I will say on Wednesday I did all I could to make up for even just the sodium.  I drank TONS of water (I lost count) and ate pretty light all day.  I stopped drinking water the last two hours before my weight in so I wouldn't hold it.   I had checked my weight at home various times throughout the day and right away in the morning I was 2lbs up but as the day was going on it kept going home so I was hopeful.

I went to my meeting, got on the scale and can’t say I was terrible surprised to see I was up a pound and four ounces.

I was disappointed though, really disappointed.   I silently cursed myself during the entire meeting and I had a thought of pulling into a fast food place for a hurt feelings splurge like, “ha body!  See what happens when you keep weight on when I want it off.”  Yeah, that would have worked.

Well, I didn’t.  I stuck to my plan completely and kept to my point plan for the day.   I was not a happy camper.  There was a point last night though that I wasn't sure if I was upset about the gain or more upset that I was so upset with myself.  Ga!

So, again…this Made to Crave chapter is “I’m Not Defined by the Numbers.”   Yup, I needed that!

Lysa makes a point to say right out that, “Like many women, I’d (Lysa) struggled with a flawed perception of myself.  My sense of identity and worth were dependent on the wrong things.”   So, I want to add something to this.   My sense of identity, worth, and success were dependent on the wrong things.  

This does not pertain to weight loss or body image, but how someone does financially, how they perceive they deal with their relationships, their career status…

What is beneficial and vital is to exchange these perceptions with what really is the answer.   His truth and foundation is our identity.  Lysa says, “It is important to fill our hearts and minds with God’s words.”

In the past, what the scale said last night might have defeated me.  I could have thought that I am a failure.  I had worked out practically every day last week and all but one stuck to my calorie goal.  I had sabotaged myself so what was the point with continuing?

But, I won’t let the scale define me or my success.  It isn’t about the numbers it is about my identify.  God’s love for me and my love of myself.  How I am bettering myself and becoming healthier one day at a time during this journey.  It is about the overall journey, not every bump.  My overall journey with weight loss is still going very well.

One of my favorite lines from this chapter Lysa has us say over and over again.  “I can step on the scale and see the numbers as an indication of how much my body weighs and not as indication of my worth.”

That one evening did not define my entire journey...or my entire week.   Looking at my week at a glance my week went well.

I stayed at or near my point goal every day except for Tuesday.  I wish there was an easier way to see how many activity points each day I earned because like on Thursday it looks like I went over a lot but I actually have about 8 ap and I added 4 to my daily goal for the extra work.

If you look at the screen shot from my steps per day it helps give you a little better idea.  I rocked this week on steps for most days.  Sunday was not so good, but other than that got 10,000 every day.

So, if you remember my goal is to use half of my activity points.  As you can see above I was quite a ways from that goal (32 out of 41).  I can say honestly I did not use any of my extra weekly points, so at least there is that.

So, what can I learn from this?  For one, every day counts.   I did need to watch myself and try to plan accordingly, but be prepared to go off plan if need be.

Also, and most importantly that the scale does not say anything really.  The overall picture is not about the numbers but how I am doing.  The steps I am taking and how I am feeling.

Thanks for reading!

What Did I Do?

Finally back to it!  I titled this blog, "What Did I Do?" because this week I had GREAT results at my weigh-in and I want to use this blog to discover what exactly I did.  I finally got out of my kick of losing just a few ounces and dropped almost four pounds these past two weeks!

As you can see above, on my May 5th weight in I was -3.2lb this week!   I was practically jumping up and down!  As you can also see above I had a smaller amount lost the week before at .6lbs, but I actually think I had some water weight that night because at home (and the scales are fairly similar) my scale showed I was down at least a pound more than that.  So, I am looking at it as a two-week loss of 3.8lbs!  I am very happy!  

There are some more things that can be observed from the weight watcher's monthly summary above.  My activity points increased each week (this was 33!) and my days tracking too.   It was about two weeks ago (4/24th actually) that I made a decision to start pre planning my entire week by logging in everything into the weight watcher tracker; from snacks to meals.  It really has made a huge difference.  I make sure then to stay within my point range and I additionally get my health checks in each day (2 dairy, fruits and vegs., 1 healthy fat).   It also makes sure I have better variety throughout the week.  Before I think I was probably having the same cereal most mornings and now I am trying to switch things up to something different for each meal.  

There were a few days these past few weeks that I did change things up quite a bit, but it did save me time overall.  It gave me a great starting point to the day and guideline.  Helped with prep for meals and even snacks and it took away the idea of thinking about what I was going to eat because it was already planned!  This is something I plan to continue doing.

Next, I want to share the pretties I earned at my last weight watchers meeting.

The bronze key chain is a reward for when you hit 10%.  I was not aware of that.  There is also a 10% charm.   Also I got the 25lb charm and another unexpected item, a 25lb lost magnet.  The magnet is on my fridge.  

Speaking of activity, going to post a monthly summary from fitbit.

As you can see these past few weeks I have been doing very well!  I have definitely stepped up (pardon the pun) these past few weeks!   Part of it has been the nicer weather.  I have been getting out and walking and just working in the yard a lot more.  Between appointments instead of sitting in the office for 20 minutes I go for a walk around town.  When helping my husband with chores instead of riding with him to the neighboring farm I walk and meet him there, and then walk back.   I have also been doing the elliptical and turbo jam during the week.  At least 4 out of 7 days.    

The next pictures I am going to post is the individual tracking weeks from the the weight watchers tracker.  The other two snips are activity points earned and swamped (when I go over my daily goal it takes from activity points).

The very bottom (darker green) is points used from breakfast, then is lunch, supper, snacks, and the lightest green is activity points earned.   As you can see I stayed very close to my daily target most days.   The activity points used I am afraid isn't probably completely accurate.  I remember a few days that after I was finished tracking I ended up having an additional snack, but I would say that happened less than 2 times a week and each time was 3 or less points.   So, for the first week I would say I used more like 15 out of the 30 earned activity points.  This a past week let's say 12 out of 33 earned.  

I do see a bit of a pattern here.  I am using about half of the activity points I earn.   It is kind of hard to see day by day because fitbit does not sync with weightwatchers day by day usually, the activity points often show up days after I have actually earned them.   This was good to actually look back and see exactly how many I earned and used.   I did not see this before.  

Something else I want to point out again is additionally there are 49 weekly points that are offered to use on weight watchers.  At this current time I am not using them week by week.  On the days that I did not track I probably blew through them by overeating, but when  I am tracking I try not to figure them into my week.  That is not to say that down the road I will end up using some of them, especially when I get really down there for points or if I don't have as many activity points earned. The default for weight watchers is for the weekly points to be used before the activity points (when you go over the daily point target), but I switched it around because I kind of feel like I earn them.

So, I am 25.8lbs down!   I keep looking at the 25lb magnet on my fridge and I can already see another one being there, then a 3rd!  Maybe a 4th!  It is embarrassing to say, but according to weight watchers when I started at 236lbs I needed to lose over 100lbs to be at goal.  I still have a long ways to go and it is going to take a long time, but being 1/4th the way there feels good.  

I am going to do this the right way, slow and steady!  Changing not just my weight but my eating habits and more active life style.  I can see why weight watchers is the most effective program for people not to only lose the weight but keep it off!   I want to be there.  I am going to get there.