Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In: Starting Week 3

 
Idea borrowed from Josey.

So Christmas hit me a little hard this year and I'm not making as much progress as I would like. It's not that I'm not trying, I just think that my cookie-intake to days-at-the-gym ratio is skewed in the wrong direction. I also wanted to reiterate that I'm not making a weight loss resolution, and I think that starting a New Year's resolution that involves weight loss is a surefire loss and a hopeless case. So FYI, I consider my WWW (Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In) just another step in Project "Get A Baby" 2012.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 145        
Last Week's Weight: 142 
Current Weight: 143 (+1 from last week, stupid Christmas cookies, and pumpkin pie! They always get the best of me, but we've given our stock away not to a friend's children.) 18 lbs to goal.   
Goal Weight : 125       

Starting BMI: 26.5
Last Week's BMI: 26.0
Current BMI:26.2 (headed in the wrong direction)
Goal BMI: 18.5-24.9 or exactly 22.9 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:
1. Run a mile straight and time myself so that I know where I'm starting:
I varied my pace during my run, but I ran 1 mile in 12:10! I also kept track of how far I could go in a single hour: 3.5 miles with a combination of running and walking.
2. Make it to the pool on base to swim for at least a half hour:
pool was closed most of the time over the holidays
3. Join co-workers for one day of morning exercise at the gym on base:
I neglected to factor in the Christmas Holidays and people travelling.
4. Try a new salad recipe:
Made a new (well new at home, I've had this at a restaurant) salad dressing by putting fresh avocado in with some ranch dressing in my mini food processor. It turns out that this is a great way to reduce the amount of ranch salad dressing you use and therefore also reduces the number of calories slightly in the meal
5. Track how many times I eat out in one week:
1 time at Pizza Patio, it probably was to my benefit that most other local restaurants are closed during the holidays

Activities for this coming week: (the more activities I attempt, the more I am likely to achieve)

1. Time my mile and get it down to 12:00 that means a pace of 5.0 miles an hour
2. See if I can go 3.75 miles in an hour with a combo of walking/running
3. Stop drinking Soda!!! Ginger ale and cherry seven-up are the bane of my existance!
4. Try a new chicken recipe
5. Allow Nate to train me for 1 day at the gym

3. Try to motivate others to join in on trying to lose weight 

We all know that weight can be an issue with TTC, so those of you who need to shed a few pounds while TTC or are trying to shed some after having your baby, please join in, you are welcome here.
Write in my comments section if you'd like to join in on Weekly Wednesday Weign-ins so that we can encourage each other and keep each other accountable
If you like, put it in Josey's icon in your sidebar so that people will know you are participating.

Bloggers I follow that are participating:
Josey (of course) @ My Cheap Version of Therapy who is 3 weeks post partum
Gee @ GeeBaby who is relatively new to blogging and could use the support

4. Post a (reasonably healthy) recipe that I've tried, a cooking tip, a new idea for working out for people to try, a photo update of my weight loss, or anything else I feel like sharing.

I've been hovering around this same weight for a while now, so I think I've finally figured out how to keep my weight stable without actually exercising (minus this last week!). Anyone wanting to make slight changes without totally altering their diet should try the following:

Get rid of the white crap on my plate! Or at least exchange it for the healthy version. I now always choose wheat bread instead of white, brown rice instead of white, whole wheat pasta instead of white, and sweet potatoes instead of white. I think that in addition to making this switch, I should now lower the intake of each of these but so far this simple switch has made a difference. The switch itself wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and now that I've made that change routine, I don't even think about buying the regular white kind. When you are at a restaurant, it never hurts to ask if they have these healthier versions too, many times they will! IH.OP and Denn.y's now have wheat pancakes, just FYI (and sugar free syrup and turkey bacon if you ask for it).

What's the difference? Why make the switch? The main idea is that whole wheat products and sweet potatoes are complex carbs that take the body significantly longer to digest and break down as opposed to white products that are broken down quickly and processed nearly like sugar in the body. They also are a better source of fiber!

Switch from 2% milk to skim. This was a hard one for me, I can't give milk up completely and I was raised on 2%. I read somewhere, sometime ago (an article like this) that only babies need that much fat in milk, that it helps their neurons to develop their myelin sheath. As I am not a baby, my neurons must be ok by now, and my love handles definitely don't need the extra fat. It took me quite a while to make this switch because I though that skim seemed watered down by comparison to 2% but now that I'm used to it, 2% seems unnecessarily thick! That article, similar to other related medical studies, talks about when is a good time to switch your child from whole milk to skim, I guess my mom and dad didn't get the memo.

What are your opinions on skim milk, turkey bacon and sweet potatoes? (maybe not all on one plate though)