Lifestyle Challenge | Week 17 Update

Happy Monday... it's a dreary, warm day here and it's supposed to be 26 degrees (31 degrees with the humidity) tomorrow and I am NOT a happy camper.  My life has moved into full fall mode and the warm weather doesn't work... I can't believe that I am actually thinking about flipping the switch on the air conditioner for the day.  GRRRrrrr.

On to better things... I changed up my weigh-in day to Sunday (but will still continue posting updates on Monday) to coincide with my rest day.  It felt off taking Sunday as my rest day and then weighing in on Monday's.  Not that I cheat on my diet, it's just not something that interests me, but I was feeling guilty about not doing anything right before stepping on the scale.  So, yesterday was my first official Sunday weigh-in and I am happy to report that I lost another 3 pounds!  My new weight loss total is 41.5lbs!!  WHOOP WHOOP... start the happy dance!!

It's safe to now say that the week before I get my period is definitely a good weigh-in week.  Not sure if there will be any bounce back next week because of such a large drop but hey... I am enjoying it while I can!

WINS for the week:

1. StepBet - DONE!  I completed the Step Through September challenge and am an official winner.  We haven't heard what the official winners are yet but I will add that in once I find out!  Also, I have already joined a new StepBet that kicks off today... it's only the warm-up week but I am going to just keep on keeping on.  My new daily goal will be 13,283 and the stretch days are now 16,972.
2. Flying Solo - The boys went away for the weekend so once again, I was flying solo.  Didn't really have any challenges and even made myself a BBQ Chicken Caesar salad for dinner... who does that when they are alone?!
3. Jeans - I bought a pair of new jeans in size 34 and not only did I fall over from shock that they fit but they are comfortable ALL DAY LONG!  Seriously, so excited!!

CHALLENGES for the week:

1. Period Woes - Once again, I had a 'hungry' day and I know that I have mentioned it before, but it seems like I get one, once a month, right before I get my period... it sucks!  I handled it but I'm telling you... I was ready for dinner at about 3:30 on Saturday.

Lastly... while the boys were away, in Buffalo, I was able to get them to swing by Target and stock me up on some Luna bars that aren't available here in Canada.  WOOOoooo!  I am nicely stocked up for a while and excited to have some new flavours to throw into the mix.

I am still in shock that I have lost over 40 pounds and have less than 10 pounds to go until my initial "Lifestyle/Diet Challenge" goal.  Insane!!!

Lifestyle Update | Week 13 Update

Happy Monday... no?  Too early?  I don't know about everyone else but I have started to look forward to Monday mornings because it's the start of a new week.  I get to see the progress that I have made and start the new week ready to conquer more goals!  Today was the weigh-in for week 13 (insane) and I am beyond excited to share that I lost another THREE POUNDS.  How does that even happen??  So my new weight loss total is 33.5lbs and I can honestly say that I feel the weight loss now... clothes feel better, my legs look thinner(ish) and I just feel more alive.

Yesterday (or today depending on how you look at it) also marked the end of the first official week of StepBet.  Yep, if you missed goals this lasts week you were eliminated from the challenge.  Happy to report that, not only did I kill my goals, but I did so with style and was able to sit on my behind ALL DAY yesterday and take a proper rest day.  Kinda loving the new Sunday rest day thing... I'm debating taking off the FitBit so I don't actually see how lazy I have been but one step at a time.

I've also found myself really enjoying reading again.  Not that I ever stopped reading but I was pretty much only reading at bedtime and was so tired that I would get through 3-4 pages and literally fall asleep while holding up my book.  I spent a good part of yesterday with my nose in my book (okay, iPad) and loved it.  It's so relaxing... maybe a couple of book reviews will pop up here and there because, hey, this blog is about what makes ME happy!

WINS for the week:

1. Family Dinner - we had a family dinner this weekend (roast beef, mashed potatoes, veggies, gravy... the whole nine yards) and WOAH, so good!  It was the first meal in 13 weeks that I didn't count my calories for because it would have been too hard to figure everything out.  So, I just ate a healthy portion of each dish and stopped eating when I was satisfied.  I think I nailed it!!!
2. StepBet - Already touched on it but I nailed my StepBet goals and am ready to kick butt again this week.  Also happy to see that 90 people have already dropped out so we are getting close to making MONEY!!  Whoop!

CHALLENGES for the week:

1. PMS - I have come to realize, three months into this journey, that the Thursday before my cycle begins is the worst day of the month for me.  I can't say there are any definite cravings but more the feeling of being 'unsatisfied'... wanting more of whatever.  Thankfully I haven't given into the feelings yet but I have definitely noticed the pattern... now that I am aware of it, I think it will be something I have to plan for.

Well, that marks the end of week 13 and now we move on to this week... back to baseball try-outs so the meals are a little tricky for the week but we will make it work.  Thankfully, this should mark the end of ball, for this year anyways, so we can officially be back to normal (for us!).

Step Bet | Step Thru September

You guys... I joined a StepBet challenge!

Okay, now you are all probably asking yourselves, "what is a stepbet?" and looking at your screen with those crinkles across your forehead.

Well, because they are better at words than I am, here is how the app describes StepBet:

StepBet is a fitness game that motivates you to be more active.  In each StepBet game, players pay an initial "bet" and commit to meeting certain step goals during every week of the challenge.  If you meet your goals each week, you split the pot with the other winners. 

The cost (or 'bet') is $40USD per challenge and each of the challenges lasts 6 weeks (5 weeks of elimination and 1 week of warm-up).

When I signed up, the app linked with my FitBit and gave me a predetermined number of steps that I needed to reach based on my step history.  Four days a week, I need to walk 13,151 steps which is only a little over my normal average amount now and two days a week, I need to walk 16,840 steps.  Other than having one free day a week, if you miss your steps, you get eliminated from the challenge.

I am so excited to see how many steps I can do every day and while I know that those two days a week are going to be tough, I plan to knock them out first so I don't find myself walking my ass off at the end of each week.  Keep you fingers crossed and send me all your steppin' vibes!  I will post how my week went in my weekly updates.

Lifestyle Challenge | Week 11 Update

Whoops... I totally forgot to post because weigh-in day was a holiday and we got busy doing things.  Hey, life happens, right?!

Monday was the end of week 11 of my new lifestyle challenge and I am happy to report that I lost another TWO pounds this week.  Yep, that means I am now down a total of 29 pounds!!  HOLY CRAP!  I know that I say this almost every week but I am still shocked with the ease with which I have been able to stay on plan... at how the cravings for sweets and eating out are basically gone now.

My husband and I talk about eating out and how it would feel like such a waste of both money and calories.  We can now look back on our past habits and see how 'gross' we would feel after splurging (read binge) on a GIANT bag of candy.  I used to get a huge bag of Malteasers and about 2/3 into it would feel full and starting to feel gross... would I stop eating them?  Nope, I would finish the bag because I felt that leaving 1/3 of the bag would be a waste... as if the treat wouldn't be enough the next time I ate them.  Did you know that a huge bag of Malteasers is over 900 calories?  NINE HUNDRED?  #dead

How Awesome is the 10% reward?!!?

WINS for the week:

1. Emotional Eating - Yes, this is a win... because I didn't do it!  This past weekend I found myself in an emotional/family drama moment and am happy to say that I laced up the running shoes and headed out for a walk instead of eating my way through house and home.
2. Clothes Fitting - One of my biggest wins so far is being able to wear clothes that I hadn't been able to before.  Murray bought me a size XL women's fitted shirts for Christmas and I knew on site that it wouldn't even go over my head.  Well, this Sunday, I wore it out for breakfast and it was totally fine.  In fact, more people noticed my weight loss than ever before.  LOVED that feeling!

CHALLENGES for the week:

1. Emotions - It hasn't happened often, which is great, but I do have very strong emotions and being an emotional eater, I have had to re-direct my feelings.  As mentioned in my wins, I seem to be okay with doing the right thing BUT am always on watch.
2. Lazy Day - Over the last 11 weeks, I haven't missed my step goal once and am finding it really hard to take a 'rest day' or a 'lazy day'.  I don't know if it's because I am afraid of failure or afraid that it will send me into a tailspin, but I just can't seem to let myself have a day where I do absolutely nothing.

Still on track and still totally motivated to keep going.  I am not setting any goals with dates attached to it because I don't want to miss and feel like I failed but I am so excited about seeing how far I can go!!

Summer No Buy | Two-Month Update

Happy August... Not going to say it, you all know what I am thinking.  Yes, I am starting to crave the fall because I am more than over the super hot temperatures and the humidity.  Seriously OVER IT!  If we could have fall-like weather all the time, I would be the happiest camper on the planet.

On to the Summer No-Buy update... month two.  It's a pretty boring one because I didn't purchase a single thing.  Not a nail polish, not a makeup item, not even any body care stuff.  I know, BORING, right?  Well, it may seem boring to everyone else but to me, it is a major victory and I am blown away by how easy it has been to retrain my focus onto bigger and better things.

Even more than NOT buying anything in July, I actually started another purge of my nail polishes and while there aren't very many that I was willing to part with this time (in comparison to the previous destash), I still got rid of close to 40 more bottles.  FORTY!  My new collection stands at 271.  There are definitely more that I can get rid of but I need to get past the mental block that is making me keep them.  It's been close to 3 or 4 weeks since I have even worn nail polish on anything other than my toes and that's only changed every 3ish weeks.  So really, 271 bottles seems like slight overkill!  However, Rome wasn't built in a day so I will continue to check back in with my collection and make changes as needed.

So, there is one month remaining until the end of the Summer No-Buy so let's see if I have a more exciting update for you come September!

Diet Challenge | Week Five Update

Happy Monday... no really, it's a HAPPY Monday!!  But before we get started... need to do a big Happy Birthday shout out to my amazing hubby, Murray!

Okay, enough talking about other people, let's bring the focus back to me ;)  I am SUPER pumped to report that this morning's weigh-in was successful and I lost another 4-lbs for a new weight loss total of 17.5-lbs.  I can't even express how happy it makes me to be down FOUR pounds in one week.  As I have said before, I am not expecting major drops and am happy with not gaining but seeing all the hard work that I am putting in, paying off, brings a GIANT smile to my face and makes me want to keep going!

My newest Fitbit badge!

WINS for the week:

1. First 'Eat Out' Meal - Yep, it was bound to happen, the dreaded restaurant meal.  However, if you read my blog post from last week, you will know that I did it with flying colours!  I planned it all before leaving the house and stayed totally on plan for the meal and didn't feel the least bit guilty with my choices!
2. Steppin' Up - Killed it with the steps this past week.  I did close to, or over, 12,000 a day and made sure to get two walks in each day.  Not sure if I will ever increase my step goal beyond the 10,000 but am more than happy to knock it out of the park every chance I get.  

CHALLENGES for the week:

1. Making Cupcakes - I happen to be the cupcake queen of my family so for most occasions, I am asked to make some version of cupcakes.  Saturday was my niece's 5th birthday and, of course, I made cupcakes.  Usually my routine is to fill the cupcake wrappers and leave enough batter in the bowl for me to enjoy a super yummy, and horribly fattening, batter snack.  Add on top of that, the licks and tastes of icing and sprinkles and whatever else goes into making them look pretty and it's basically an all-out schmorgishboard (no idea how to spell that).  Not only did I not eat any batter, but I didn't even have a lick of the icing!  WOOHOO!
2. Birthday Party - Same day, different challenge!  My niece's birthday party was on Saturday and it ran right into when I would be having lunch (late, as usual) so instead of being tempted by snacks, I just brought along my salad and ate it instead.  WIN!!

This upcoming week is loaded with challenges so I am going to have to do some MAJOR planning to stay on plan, as much as humanly possible.  We have a baseball tournament this coming weekend, out of town, so that means staying in a hotel ALL WEEKEND long.  I plan to bring snacks (fruit and whatnot) to fill in the gaps and eat at Subway as much as possible.  There is also a gym at the hotel (I know, I actually checked... who am I?!) and I will be bringing gym clothes to work out each day in hopes that any extra calories I do eat are burned off!  Fingers crossed that next week's weigh-in, is at worst, a stand still!  My goal is for NO GAINS!

Diet Challenge | Week Three Results

They say that it takes 21-days to form a habit that will last... don't ask me who 'they' are but that's what I have always read and yesterday was day 21 of the Diet Challenge!  I can tell that new habits have already taken root just by the simple fact that I spent 6+ hours on the ball field yesterday and didn't cheat on the diet... even when the fellow parents I was sitting with decided a trip to the Chip Truck was necessary...  THREE TIMES!  Legit almost died!

Picture Source

Week three is now in the books, a thing of the past, and I am happy to say that I have lost another 1.5 lbs for a new weight loss total of 12.5 lbs.  As I have said for the last two weeks, the losses will slow down and settle at a more 'normal' range and I am thinking we are there... losing between 1-2 lbs per week is what I am hoping for!!

WINS for the week:

1. Baseball - I already mentioned my big win on the field yesterday (both the team won and I did!) but I think that was a HUGE sign of how far I have come.  Not going to say that I didn't spend some time researching which fast food restaurant had the lowest calorie foods, but I didn't cave and that is the most important thing.  We went home, had what was on the menu and went to bed completely satisfied with another awesome day under our belts.
2. Steps - Another amazing week when it comes to my fitness goals.  I increased my step count to 10,000 (the most I have ever tried for) and beat that by a mile most days.  It helped that Murray was also wearing a Fitbit so we did a Workweek Hustle Challenge (kicked his butt)... we are too competitive for our own good!

CHALLENGES for the week:

1. Baseball - Do I sound like a broken record yet?  My biggest challenge for the week was by far Sunday on the field.  Just the smell of those Chip Truck fries was enough to make me want to dive off the edge and into a bucket of greasy goodness.  However, I planned ahead and brought a sandwich, fruit and other snacks so was able to fight off the desire.
2. Mental Cravings - There were a couple of nights this week that I felt as though I needed to eat out... I craved junk food like McDonalds or my standard Malteasers.  I don't even think I was hungry when I was having these cravings so honestly think they were more mental than anything... like my mind was in sugar overload withdrawal.  Again, I didn't cave but it did take some serious self-reasoning to keep myself on track.

Overall, a great week!  I did end up eating at Subway on Friday night while the boys were at the WWE event but again, like last time, I only had a 6" sub and water so don't really consider that 'eating out'.  Still haven't had any pop or candy or junk food of any kind so I do really feel like I have made some positive steps towards healthy habits.

The next two weeks are going to be a bit more of a challenge and take a lot of planning on my part because it is basically a BIRTHDAY BONANZA up in our house.  Steven's 9th birthday is on the 18th and Murray's birthday is on the 25th... sandwich my niece Emma's in on the 23rd and you have the birthday trifecta!  Here's hoping that some good pre-planning and smart choices leads to another positive win on the scale next week!!

Summer No Buy | One Month Update

WOW, where is the summer going?  I know that everyone says that but seriously, it's almost mid-July and once August hits, I start craving all things fall.  While I am talking about summer though, it is hot as blazes out this week and I've mentioned before that I do NOT do extreme weather... at all!  UGH... time for a good ole thunderstorm to break the humidity... please?!?!

Anyways, on to the 'No Buy' update...

I originally announced my no buy at the beginning of June but technically started it on my birthday (May 21).  We are sitting at 6-weeks and I am thrilled to say that I am holding strong.  Other than a couple of purchases (two) from Nine Zero Lacquer, I have not purchased a single, unnecessary, beauty item.

Let me explain Nine Zero Lacquer so you don't think that I am cheating...  Nine Zero is a nail polish brand made by my friend Jess and up until I closed down my YouTube channel, I was one of her swatchers.  That means that I have every single polish that she has made since her companies inception and when I started my no buy, I decided that the Nine Zero polishes would be an exception to the rule.  Thankfully, I have only ordered twice and don't anticipate another order until her fall collection releases.

So, how am I feeling after 6-weeks of not buying all the things?  It feels amazing!  I didn't think that it would be an easy task but as time has gone on, it just keeps getting easier.  In my original post (linked here), I mentioned that I was using 'wish lists' on websites so that when my no buy was over, I would remember the items I had wanted and be able to purchase them (if the need was still there) and I can honestly say, it has been weeks since I have added anything to a wish list.  I just don't have the desire to buy things anymore... I love my collection and am using the things I have.  Novelty, I know!

Even though this no buy is scheduled to be a 'summer' challenge, at this point, I can't see myself going back to my old ways... I don't want to.  It's been incredibly eye opening to see the abundance of THINGS that I have and wasn't using because I had so many NEW things coming in... ALL THE TIME!

This makes me SOOOOOO happy!  YAY... that was the point of this journey and we have already succeeded!  WHOOP WHOOP!!!

Next Up: The Diet Challenge

While I still work on decluttering all of the collections in my life, I figure it's also time to get the next aspect of "The Quest for Happy" underway and that is to tackle my health.

Generally speaking, I am a healthy person.  I don't have any communicable diseases, any major illnesses that I worry about (although a slight hypochondriac so there's that) and I don't live a very stressful life, I do need to start living a healthier lifestyle.

For the majority of my adult life I have been overweight... okay, I have been 'obese' but I hate that word so we will just stick with saying overweight.  Do I enjoy this fact?  No.  However, it's just something I have learned to deal with and I am ready to not make that part of my life anymore.

Last Friday, my good friend Tracy, who lives in Newfoundland (a half a country away) and I decided that we are going to lose 50 lbs by the end of the year.  Here's my plan for how I hope to do that:

1. Menu Plan - I always find that if I can sit down and plan an healthy menu for the week and use that to create a grocery list, it makes eating much easier.  We have a heavy baseball life so most weeknights we are on the diamond through the dinner hour.  Making easy meals, like salad or chicken, that you can pre-make is key!
2. Food Tracking - It's proven that if you write down every morsel of food that you put in your mouth, that you will be better about what you eat.  Who wants to look back at a food journal and see that they had crap for all three meals and crammed snacks in whenever possible?  Definitely not me!  So I am going to use the FitBit app to track all of my food.
3. Use My Fitbit - I mentioned it above but I have a Fitbit HR+ that I need to make sure I am wearing so I can track my activity.  I am not an exerciser nor do I want to be but even just making sure I log in some steps (and my food) everyday is more than I am going now.
4. Support - Tracy and I will be a great support for each other and being accountable to someone else is key.  Knowing you have to check in and report a weekly loss makes you try just a little bit harder to stay on track.

Whoa... look at the awesome prep-work!

So, here we go!  I will be starting today with the new healthy menu that is planned and will report in each Monday to see how I did!  Here's to being a new, healthier me at Christmas!