This space is turning into a forum for my weight loss (or lack thereof) tracking and that's really not at all what I meant this blog to be but since it is my current main focus - there you go.

I knew I wasn't going to show any shed pounds this week since I ate out twice and made brownies once - but I wasn't exactly expecting to show a +1.6 pounds this morning at weigh in. ALAS! Once again, reinforcement on "exercise is very good for you, but if you want to drop the pounds you HAVE to change the way you eat." Okay, okay! I get it!

So I pulled out my Points Plus tracker and started listing for today what I ate, and calculated the points, etc. I know that if I pay attention to what is written down I will eat less, esp. since I am not so much as a hungry eater as a bored eater.

Keeping busy and active and eating less stuff and more fruits and veggies is the goal for this week. Maybe all that time spent being busy and not eating will lead to some actual craftyness, which is what this blog was supposed to be about when I started it years ago... ha! probably I can count on my hands how many posts are actually about craftyness....

Just means I'm well rounded, right? ( looking down at the spare tire around my middle, I think I can say that I am, quite literally.)

So I went ahead and joined Weight Watchers, at the prompting of a friend who is also doing the program and likes the point tracking and the weekly accountability it offers for her motivation. That was a week ago, and the scale there said 153.8.

Today it said....... 153.2

I have to admit, while I know 1-2 pounds a week is healthy and normal, I was hoping for 2-3 pounds. I did increase my exercise by a TON, after all! Okay, maybe just a LOT.

I ran Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. For about 30 mins each time with walking in between so as not to jack my knee up right off the bat. I did yoga twice, and my weight training workout once. All in all, about 3.5 hours, Plus I walked a few miles this week too, between going to parks and walking around town.

I changed my eating habits but not a ton. I did great Sat-Tues, and then Aunt Flo came to visit with a vengeance and I disintegrated into a hormonal chocolate and muffin consuming automaton.

One thing I did notice with some surprise was how FULL I was the days I ate well. When I add more healthy fiber and protein to my diet, I feel considerably more satisfied than when I am stuffing my face with things that get used up real quick. So with that, and my meager .6 lbs down, I suppose week one was not a total loss.

Also, on my measurements, I lost an inch at the hip - which could mean that I will lose my bum weight before my belly weight; or it could mean I was wearing thicker pants that day. :)

Fashion Crisis!

I am currently obsessing over clothes and fashion and style - not style in general but style as in, my own personal. Likely the dominant reason for this is that I can not fit into most of my clothes right now but at the same time I do not want to go shopping for a size that I hope/am determined to be out of in the next couple of weeks.

Observe:

These next 3 photos are from the Garnet Hill online catalog. I discovered GH when we moved to Burbank and the lady who lived here before us did not forward her mail.

I love these items! Pretty! Feminine! Simple! Neutral! You notice that they are all gray/black? Yes, well, I have this love, in the blackest corner of my heart. For things like this:

Things sassy, and ruffley and dark and vintage looking.

This black bustle-skirt? I long for it! Yes I know it isn't practical or even in the realm of stay-at-home-mormon-mom but it calls to me!

However, I also have this other and very opposite urge in fashion:

The bohemian, peasant-y, colorful things that hale back to when my mom was in her 20's. (lucky dog, mom)

Speaking of Mom, if she's told me once, she's told me a thousand times that I should not be wearing black because it makes me look dead. My response is just to wear more makeup.

Anyway, back to my crisis. See, I used to have this Gunne Sax skirt, made from a pattern (by my mom, natch, when she was young) that I would wear on hippie day during tourney week - and I would wear it with a yellow vintage greenpeace t-shirt and that was possibly my favorite outfit that I ever wore those 4 years of fake-soap-opera-life we like to call High School. I wore it just once or twice.

Mostly I wore jeans and girly tops or a mens shirt. In college I wore the mens shirt with slacks more often - like this:

Here are a couple of...compromises? Both kinda goth-y and kinda bohemian? What do you think?

Nordstrom Free People Dress. This one I couldn't copy the image on. Go ahead, click over. I'll wait. Isn't that cute?

image.image.image.image.image.image.image.

And then there is the whole obsession with Anthropology which is definitely colorful and bohemian rather than dark and vintage.

You see? After all this - hours of looking online and talking it out - I'm still not closer to figuring out what the heck to do with my wardrobe. I don't WANT to do both - that is impractical and expensive. And I DO wand to have a "look" that defines my style.

Argh!

Motivation.

The Great Plan of Greatness

Okay. Here goes.

For some time now I have wanted to shed 10 or 15 pounds to get down to a more, svelt-ier me. And since we moved to Burbank in August, there has been a 10-15 pound change in my physique.

It was just in the wrong direction.

So now that 10 pounds has turned into almost 30 pounds and in my last post I announced my intention of running a 1/2M to try to fight the effects of my eating and laziness.

My eating: yeah it's a problem. Today for instance, I had a banana and cereal, 2 cups of hot cocoa, almost an entire container of toffee from Trader Joes, and a large bowl of mint chip ice cream. And then Round Table.

and, okay, today is not perhaps the best example of how I eat but frankly it's not far off and There are certainly days where it's even worse. The thing is, if I looked appropriate compared to how I eat, I would look a darn sight worse than I do. And this is where I get into the nitty gritty:

I weigh in currently at 151 lbs. I am 5' 6" tall.

My measurements are:

38 (nursing! woo!)

34

42

For reference, in high school in my very-slender-with-no-muscle-tone days I was 118 lbs and my measurements were 32, 25, 35.

I'm putting this all out there so I can make myself accountable and hopefully somewhat motivated here. While I don't look disgusting, and mostly just like a mom of 3 kids, according to a recent health magazine I read I am firmly in the "overweight" category, and pushing "obese".

Yep. That's what they said. *shrug* Either way, it means I need to be more fit. My own personal goals:

EDIT: According to the Weight Watcher's weight guide, I am at the very upper end of "healthy" weight for my height. Who to believe??

firm up those things that should not wiggle

destroy that extra cushy roll that shows up over my waistband whenever I sit down

get my waist measurement out of the 30's (okay honestly? I'd LOVE to hit 25 again...)

Here is the Plan - the 1/2M training has running done 3 or 4 times a week, cross training 1 or 2 days, and one rest day, and one stretch day. My cross training is going to be a combination of walking, yoga, and strength training. It's a pretty hefty regimen, but it's going to be necessary. Most of the links I see has "beginner" as someone who runs 20-25 miles per week. Starting as of now, I could run probably 15 miles a week if I pushed it.

sigh.

So please! Wish me luck and root me on, and send me nasty messages if I mention chocolate or ice cream!