Thought Provoking Quote

"If hunger isn't the problem, eating isn't the answer." ~ author unknown

This quote came to me in a newsletter from a friend of mine in Wisconsin who has lost a bunch of weight. She sends updates on her weight loss journey to her friends and family on just about a weekly basis. She also started a challenge for her chubby buddies who also want to lose weight. We all send our weekly weigh ins to her. She sends tidbits of motivation and encouragement, and sometimes includes a healthy recipe.

This quote showed up on a particularly timely email from my friend. My husband and I had just spent the previous evening, eating our cares away. Granted, it was sushi, which for us was a relatively healthy path. The unhealthy part of the sushi-fest was the motivation behind it: we basically took a one-two-three punch in the gut that day when we discovered the house we've been trying to buy since last June (we've been renting it, the owner is in over his head, we put in a short-sale offer, which took B of A six months to approve...our Realtor at the time was incompetent, etc.). We also learned that same day that our plan B and plan C home options were no longer available to us.

To "solve the problem" (drown our sorrows) we bought over $100 in sushi "appetizers." We knew it was wrong, we knew it didn't solve our problem, but we did it anyway. Actually we never really stopped to think about it. We just knew we were devastated.

When I read that quote the next morning, it really hit home. Hunger was not our problem that night, and $100+ of sushi certainly didn't get us the house we've been working so hard to buy for the last several months. Also, in the grand scheme of things, not getting the house is NOT that big of a deal. We are both relatively healthy, as is our beautiful daughter. Things could be a LOT worse.

The GOOD news is, I have a very vivid situation in my mind that I will hopefully return to in bad times. I try to remember "hunger is not the problem, so food is not the answer here."

Marching to Success!

Well the pounds may be dropping slowly, but my pants are starting to
fall off!

Goal for the rest of the month: 8 glasses of water a day & track it!
30 min. Of walking or Wii fit at least 3 times/ week. Took a good 45
minute walk in the park yesterday. I have lots if Avon books to "toss"
so I should have no problem achieving that this week!

~*~Sara~*~

Sent from my iPhone
Please excuse any typos or auto-corrections. :0)

Reality Sets In

It has been an emotional week and some change! By "change" I mean week and a few days, but also change as in change. My husband found out he's borderline diabetic. We also decided for multiple reasons it was finally time to put our precious daughter into day care.

The borderline diabetic diagnosis was a big eye opener and Hubby is really getting serious about getting healthy. I am so happy about that and very proud of him. We are now on a 1500-1800 calories/day diet. He scours the SparkPeople website and carefully plans out our menu for each day.

My employer has a new program in which everyone gets screened for certain things, including weight/BMI, cholesterol, etc. In order to save BIG BUCKAROONIES on our insurance premiums next year, we must meet their standards or else participate in an appropriate wellness program in order to get a certain number of points. The number of points we get by August of this year determines the rate of increase in my premiums for next year.

My LDL and HDL were not where they want them. Obviously, neither was my BMI. As a result, I now have to talk to someone about it once a week in order to not have my premiums go up by $450 next year. Hubby has to do it too or there goes another $450 on premiums next year. The whole thing has me pretty stressed out...embarassed, regretful (of neglecting my body the past few years), etc. Just so emotional.

Here are the numbers. I dont know how long it will take to get them on target, so all I can say is they will be better six months from now!

Total Cholesterol: 159 (desired range for me is less than 200, so I guess this one's OK)

HDL Cholesterol: 26 (they like to see this one at 50 for females so I have some work to do here)

TC/HDL Cholesterol ratio: 6 (ideally, this is 4.0 or less)

LDL Cholesterol: 110 (the target is less than 100)

Triglycerides: 112 (finally one I didn't blow it on! Target is less than 150)

Glucose: 77 (I passed another one! The target is 100/fasting, 130/non-fasting)

Blood Pressure: 112/78 (target is 120/80, so this is another one I don't have to worry about, which is good because worrying raises your blood pressure!)

Body Fat Percent: 39% (Ideally this should be 18.5-24.9%)

BMI: 32 (considered "obese" at a BMI of 30. BMI of 25-29.9 is considered overweight)

There you have it!

Haven't had much to report

My progress depends on whether we go by the Wii, which I think tells
me I've lost 8 pounds, or my bathroom scale, which credits me with
about half that much.

We kind of fell off the Wii wagon already due to company and
illnesses. That's all about to change as it seems my husband is either
diabetic or borderline. Either way, it's time to buckle down and get
serious about our weight and overall health & wellbeing!

Our daughter starts a new daycare tomorrow and will be there about an extra hour and s half longer than our current care provider has watched her. I am excited about it for go many reasons but the most relevant one is that it gives us time to squeeze in some exercise time
during the day.

Sent from my iPhone

Quick Check in!

I confess: I have not been as faithful with my water, entering my food intake in The Spark, OR my Wii Fit...however, since my hubby has been planning healthier dinner menus, I have still managed to drop some weight since the New year. How much depends on where I weigh! The Wii Fit board tells me I've lost about 8#. My bathroom scale credits me with about half that. Either way, the virutal "needle" is moving in the right direction!

I have no doubt that when I get fully back on track with just those three things I will be shrinking like crazy! My goal this week is to drink all my water and track it. I have no excuses because I can even do it right on my iPhon!

Stats to Date!

I jumped on my bathroom scale this morning, expecting it to practically congratulate me on my progress. Instead, it pretty much reported what it has been prior to embarking on this adventure. Hmph.

I wasn't sure if I was going to track using the bathroom scale or the Wii Fit scale. I still haven't decided, but what I have record of right now is from the Wii Fit. So, the numbers don't lie. Here are my workout stats and weight stats:

Date: # mins. of exercise Calories burned Weight
12/29/2009 I need to get workout stats off the Wii 185.6
12/30/2009 43 142
01/01/2010 52 175
01/02/2010 29 99 193.1 (I adjusted the weight of my clothes)
01/05/2010 33 144 190.7
01/06/2010 10 45 189.2 (started weighing in the morning!)
01/09/2010 I need go get workout stats off the Wii 187
01/10/2010 30 115
01/13/2010 28 100

In looking at the preview of this, I need to figure out how to do tables in Blogger!

Wii Fit Plus: One week report

We got started with our Wii Fit Plus on Tuesday, December 30, 2009. Our friends came over for dinner and to help us get started. They're the ones who introduced us to the Wii Fit about a year or so ago.

I think it's funny that the balance board says "OH!" whenever you step on it! I'm hoping some day when I'm much lighter it won't groan under my weight! I don't think that will happen because it even does it to my very thin friend.

So far I'm having a lot of fun just exploring all of the different activities the Wii Fit Plus offers. According to the tests, I need to seriously work on my balance. Once I've tried all the "games," I'll start putting a routine together. Right now I'm just enjoying testing the waters and burning calories without actually feeling like I'm exercising!

As for my diet, I've been within my target range every day that I've fully tracked so far. I do need to work on my water consumption, though.