Weigh-In #20

Twas the weigh-in after Thanksgiving ...

Yesterday, the morning before the big meal, I had my lowest weigh-in in a while. I didn't do too badly at Thanksgiving dinner, but I did indulge a little too much in chocolate pie. I wasn't surprised when the scale went up again for the weigh-in this morning. Hopefully I'll be able to correct that quickly. It's actually is a loss after the up from last week, but I had been lower the two weeks before that. 

So technically, .5 loss from last week. 

My weekly weight average was up .1 from last week. 

My combined deficit for the week was just over 3300. 

I'm really hoping to drop just a few more pounds and get UNDER 150. You can see in my sidebar that is my secondary goal. I've been so close for so long. Hubby has already lost a few pounds. Hopefully him being in the good eating/exercise mindset will help motivate me a little more. I just got some schedules for the boy's basketball, it's going to get BUSY ...

Tipping the Scales

Scales need to be on a hard surface to register correctly, right? In our bathroom, we only have a tiny amount of tile, the rest is carpet. There is just a small section in the toilet closet. So, we need to store the scale upright, and move it down when it's time to weigh.  I do wish we had a bit more room so that I could leave the scale in a stationary position.

Anyone else have silly scale situations?

I mentioned on Monday that Hubs has begun his own weight loss journey (again).  He hadn't stepped on a scale in a while, and he hadn't ever stepped on THIS scale  ... I got it this past January. I had to laugh at his Facebook post:  "I decided to step on the scale this morning. It's a new-fangled digital device that went through about 20 seconds of "SENSING", whatever that is. At the conclusion of the sensing cycle it insensitively registered "ERR" and no weight reading. Perhaps a hint of some sort..."

The Fitbit Aria scale CAN be a bit temperamental. I know as I shift it from the upright to the down position, I can't step on right away. I need to give it a minute or two to calibrate or something.  Hubby has since had a readout as he weighed in. He doesn't have a Fitbit (yet), but I did set him up an account to track his weight wirelessly.  He hasn't weighed in a few days ... he says he's only going to weigh-in every week or so. 

I weigh in every day, with "official" weigh-ins on Friday. It's been a bit bumpy lately. The weight dropped this morning, if I can maintain, I'd be fine with this number for my Friday weigh-in. But ... tomorrow IS Thanksgiving. So we'll see. I don't really plan on overeating, but exercise will be impacted.  Linking up with Weigh In Wednesday  ...

The Meal Snap App

I was reading on of my many magazines when I was drawn to a  recommendation for a new app called Meal Snap. The premise sounded interesting ... take a picture of your meal, and get a calorie estimate from the picture itself. It does sound a little too good to be true. The app was only $3, so I decided it was worth looking into. 

So I've had the app for several weeks now ... I mentioned it originally in my Photos of Food post last month. I must admit, I haven't used it as much as I should have. Not that I regret the purchase (all three dollars of it). I really like the organization, having all your meals saved chronologically in a calendar form. The estimates are off, I would not recommend trusting them, but I don't plan on stopping my food diary in My Fitness Pal anytime soon. Sometimes it's nice (especially when out and about) to just quickly snap a picture of my plate, then fill in the food on MFP at home ... it's nice to have the photo for reference as it is so easy to forget. 

What I love about apps, is that one purchase can be used by multiple family members. I mentioned that hubby recently signed up for MFP (The Hubs is on Board) and I encouraged him too add the app to his iphone as well. #1 son decided MFP sounded interesting and set himself up as well. He asked me "what was the picture taking calorie counter app you had?" ... so I think we'll be having some additional experimentation with our family.

Here's three "meals" from the past few weeks. I didn't go in and adjust the calorie count, although that is an option. This way you can see the Meal Snap estimates (wouldn't it be nice if my chicken and rice was that low? I did have trouble estimating it on MFP, because I don't eat the sauce that comes with it, which is included in the online counts. I estimated about 600 calories based just on white rice and battered chicken). I do need to go in and calculate the final picture... that was my boy's lunch today.

Capturing the pictures of food is also a fun way to lock a no-cal version in your memory (mmmm, Tepanyaki). You can see there are social media sharing options in the app as well. Sharing what you eat seems to be a popular trend (look around for all the "What I Ate Wednesday" posts). 

I do find it funny that I try to get an attractive staging for my food when taking a picture, even if it's just a little snapshot only for myself. But that extra moment you take to grab your phone and snap a picture does give you a moment to pause and think "Is this something I should be eating?" ... "Is this something I want picture proof that I consumed?" ... on the days I try to commit to taking pictures, I find myself a little more in control. Less mindless eating because I can't just snack ... I need to take a picture first! Ok, I do admit to forgetting to take a picture and pulling out an identical item to photograph after the fact.

   I even took a picture of just the wrappers once ... (ok, maybe more than once).

With Thanksgiving coming, this little app could be a helpful item in controlling and counting your calories. Providing you with a picture record, an estimate (however inaccurate), and a moment's pause before eating your holiday meal.  Linking Up with Tips and Tricks Tuesday. Check out the link for more tips and share some of your own! 

Hubby is on Board

Today's post features the hubby (this is us back in 2007)
I'm on the treadmill, he's on the bike.
We've since rearranged the gym (to add my elliptical)

For me ... after marriage I settled into a fairly sedentary lifestyle. Add pregnancies and family history and I just figured weight gain was inevitable. I didn't really even try to fight it. Then after the birth of our last baby, I lost the weight and added exercise every day. I never really mastered the eating, so in spite of the activity, the weight crept back on over the years. I did gain most of it back (about 50 pounds), but still felt more fit than I had been originally.  I feel like this time is really only my second time losing weight.

Hubby has had several cycles.

He's had his ups and downs as far as weight/fitness goes. 

Hubby and the two youngest (4 and 5)

Hubby said this picture was a wake up call (Spring 2008)

Hubby and the middle two kidlets (2 and 3)

I think the mustache makes him look even thinner! (Summer 2009) 

When the hubs is on, he is on!  When he makes the decision to eat healthy and exercise, he gets results. He's extremely motivated and has wonderful willpower.  But then there are times the healthy habits go out the window. If you look through our Family Photos, you can see some of the changes in him as well as in me. And he had a couple successful weight loss cycles prior to any of those photos too (I remember his first real one was when I was pregnant with #2 ... I thought it was so unfair that he was getting so fit and trim while I was "blossoming" in my pregnancy). 

When hubby is active ... he is active!
Some pictures from the last few years ...

 He has a road bike and participated in a couple of races, 

including a century (100miles)

 He ran a couple half marathons, 

and then finished a full!

He also enjoys trail riding.

We did a lot of hiking together one year (Take a Hike)
Then he did some harder hikes with friends.

... he got into climbing quite a bit too!

He always includes strength training as well.
(I showed you all the machines/weights we have in our home gym).

When Hubs is NOT in a healthy mindset, he can hit McDonalds every day, drink Redbull and inhale oreos ... he's a cookie monster!  When he focuses on health, he'll make his own cranberry/apple muffins, almond milk, overnight oatmeal, smoothies ... all sorts of "good for you" stuff and he actually enjoys it. 

When he's "fallen off the wagon" it's usually one of two things. Crazy work schedule or injury.  Back in 2005 he was quite active up until he ruptured his Achilles tendon. He has tweaked his back here and there, and had a bad case of sciatic pain this past winter. 

The hubs just recently changed jobs. We hope this new one will give him a little more free time and less mental stress. And with this change, the hubs in back on the health bandwagon. He signed up for MFP and has started to track calories and make better food choices. We've talked about getting him a Fitbit, but he's not totally sure he wants to wear one yet. I did set him up a Fitbit account, so our Aria scale can keep track of him.

He's easing back into exercise. During the week he gets up earlier than I do, but this weekend we both headed down to J&G's gym at the same time (so he had to use the stationary bike on Saturday, and I postponed my workout a bit on Sunday so I could use the elliptical after him ... and watch MY show).  

I'm betting he's going to pass me up on pounds lost in no time. But maybe this will be the little boost I need to get things moving a bit more myself. 

Linking up with Motivational Monday

Wendy @ Daily Dose of Del Signore

Tiff @ The Fit Train Katie @ The Carb Monster Alisha @ Coily Locks

Interesting Articles from Fitness Mag and More

I've been trying to get through my magazines ... should I read the oldest first, or stick with the most recent and work my way back? I just renewed my subscription to Self and Shape (they had run out) when the munchkin was selling subscriptions for school and I just got my first issues this week. I wonder if I will ever catch up!

I did get through several magazines these past weeks, nothing really had enough oomph for me to include it here in my Saturday Spotlight until I picked up the June2013 issue of Fitness. It had a few good articles.

• Take the Crazy Out of Busy ... brings up the "not a priority" statement that was also featured in a couple blogs last week (You're Not a Priority Right Now) and the article did have some good tips to consider.
• Can You Be Fat But Fit? ... you can't judge a person's fitness by looks alone. This was a good article. I know as I browse the blogs of several girls who might be heavier than I am, but are probably more fit! You can be "fat" skinny too!
• Home, Slim Home: Simple tips and tweaks to help you burn a few more calories around the house. One was to keep the thermostat turned down a bit ... I've had my house at 68° and my boys think that is too cool. 

I didn't have a lot of other items from across the bloggosphere, but if you like posts like this, check out ...

• Success Along The Way's"What I'm Reading" 
•  trength and Sunshine's Blog Posts I've Loved.  
• The Lean Green Bean's Bean Bytes

If YOU have a post like this (spotlighting links or articles) feel free to link up! Share your reading recommendations! I'd love to check them out.

Weigh-In #19

I must admit, I'm disappointed. I've had ups before ... but they were always "deserved" or explainable. I think this is the first time I've had an "up" with really no idea why. I actually kept calories in check last weekend and the rest of the week was pretty normal. I had a deficit every day.  My total deficit for the week was 3778, so according to the numbers, I should have been down one pound, not up 1.6.   I was able to drop my intake a bit (average for the week was 2100) and average TDEE  was 2850.  I keep thinking my average is 3000+, but maybe I need to adjust me thinking. Although I do still get some days each week that are over 3000, it's been many weeks since I've been able to get my average that high.

We went for Chinese last night ... this was my fortune.

I'm going to forge ahead!

See how everyone else is doing with these Friday Link-ups.

JillConyers at Fitness, Health and Happiness

Katie at Talk Less Say More

Michelle at Mind, Body and Goal

Onto my song of the week.

Music is so important, to workouts, to life. I first heard this song on "The Voice" a couple weeks ago. Sung by A Great Big World, featuring Christina Aguilera I found it free from my library (Freegal) without Christina. It was not the same. I love the haunting harmonies in the duet. It's got a melancholy mood ... matches mine of late.

The station that inspired it: "Back That Azz Up" on Pandora Radio.

The purpose: To start our weekend with some fantastic jams.

The rules: Link your jams up and have a jam sesh with all of us!

Liquid Calories

One thing I've learned as I started tracking calories on My Calorie Counter is that MANY people struggle with drinks adding up. I guess I'm lucky, as I don't consume many liquid calories, what you see in the picture above? That's pretty much all I drink. Linking up with Peas and Crayons for What I Ate Wednesday ... although MY post is a little more "What I Drank Last Week"  *Ü*

• Water: We are a water drinking family. I keep a big jug in the fridge and have to refill it every day. I keep some bottled water (the family prefers Dasani) to grab and go.
• Milk: As featured in the photo, milk is front and center. I LOVE milk. As far as calories are concerned, that is where I need to be the most careful. And while I do love me a nice, cold glass of milk ... milk is often combined with other items (cookies, cereal, donuts, etc.) and that is where the calories really add up. If I can eliminate those carbs, my milk consumption does drop drastically. I have been happy with skim milk for years and years now (even before I was ever consciously trying to lose weight) and I really can't drink 1% or 2% ... they are just too thick. My oldest son had some 2% and fell in love, so I do usually try to keep a gallon around for him (hubby and #2 prefer it too). Even though my two youngest don't drink milk, we go through a ton as a family. I'll stop at the store and often buy five gallons at a time. I'll splurge on chocolate milk occasionally (drinking it myself I mean, it's pretty much a staple for the family, especially #3) ... my boys will ONLY drink "TruMoo" though, no other brand!
• Sugar-Free Punch: I keep a gallon pitcher of punch in the fridge at all times too. I do drink a lot of it. Now, I am using a gallon container, and still mixing up just a 2-liter pouch of powder, so it is a bit watered down. I water it down further when I drink it ... I just like a bit of flavor (although I do love water too, it depends on my mood.) But ONLY cherry or fruit punch flavor, I won't drink anything else (no cherry limeade, pomegranate or raspberry flavors).  The kids got on a lemonade kick over the summer, and we kept a pitcher of that in the fridge too ... I will drink lemonade, but I rarely did.
• Soda: I'm not a big soda drinker, although I will have some on occasion. I have a hard time with carbonation itself. I can't drink it quickly, so it is never something that I would drink to actually quench my thirst. I like root beer, Sprite and the citrus types (Fresca or Squirt), but I've never had any of the colas, Dr.Pepper, MountainDew, etc.
• Juice: I will drink orange juice, although it isn't a favorite ... I don't drink ANY other kind, ever.
• Coffee and Tea: I love hot chocolate, but I've never had coffee or tea. I actually can't stand the smell of coffee. Coffee itself (not all the additions that often go with it) has seemed to have some health claims of late ... tea too, but I'll be missing out on those.
• Alcoholic Drinks: I've never even tried one of any kind. No beer (it smells awful!), wine, margarita, nothing. Yes, there were some religious constraints against drinking growing up, but I honestly don't know that makes a difference for me ... I've got eating issues and I think I'm even pickier with what I drink. Although there seem to be some health benefits associated with certain drinks, I think overall I'm probably pretty lucky I don't like these types of liquid calories. My MFP friends who do drink complain about the calories adding up (and the lack of self-control for eating that can often accompany the drinking). I have no excuses for my lack of self-control ... I just like to eat!
• Creamy Drinks: I'll down an ice cream shake (vanilla or chocolate only though) with pleasure, but anything else ... protein drinks, meal replacements, smoothies ... that's not going down, even if you say "it's just like a chocolate shake" ... it's not, my mind knows it's not.

It's been a discouraging week looking at the scale.
I've been having daily deficits, even over the weekend!
Yet the numbers are inching up.

I have been keeping track & controlling my calories.
I'm lucky the liquid calories aren't too much of a temptation.
Can I count that as an NSV for the linkup?

What calories do YOU consume in liquid form?

Feeling It

Last Work-Out Wednesday, I posted my full body weight workout.  Sometimes, I do get that sore feeling the next day, other times I don't.  I actually enjoy a little stiffness. It's a reminder that I did put in a good workout. If I do NOT feel sore, sometimes I wonder "did I workout hard enough?"

I did my weight workout as usual on Monday, and yesterday... I could feel it. I actually posted on my MFP wall  "Just the perfect amount of soreness, enough that I know I did something, without it interfering in my day to day :)"   But as the day progressed, so did the soreness! By the end of the day, I was hobbling a bit.  Now I managed to work through it all yesterday (10miles on the elliptical, 3.5 miles on the treadmill and 10 miles on the stationary bike) but I am still feeling it this morning. I had some Jillian planned (Ripped in 30) but I'm not sure I'm up to that.  I do still plan on getting in my elliptical, but other than that, I might take it easy.

I've also been struggling a bit with some hip pain. I'm trying to remember how long it's been going on. I remember examining my hip a while back, looking for some visible bruising (wondering if maybe the hula hoop had caused some damage). It's just been a minor, nagging pain. But recently it's gotten a lot worse. It's my left hip, and it's really only a problem as I attempt to get out of the car after driving (it doesn't seem to happen when I'm a passenger). It's gotten so bad that at times it is taking me a full five minutes and grimaces of pain to make that move.  After a few steps, it seems to work itself out and it doesn't really impact my exercise at all ... but I do dread getting out of the car!

... add to that, I'm just in a bit of a funk. I was all weekend, although I did manage to stay on track and not fall into any emotional eating. It was actually a pretty good weekend as far as calories were concerned.  I've been keeping calories in check, I've been getting in my exercise. I have been hoping to see something on the scale to reflect ... but instead, it just inches up. Not by much, nothing like the five pound jump after last weekend, but still, it's a bit discouraging when I've had deficits every day. Weight this morning was 154.2 compared to the 152.7 from Friday. 

Don't worry ... I'm not obsessing over it, I'm not throwing in the towel. I'll keep plugging away. 

How does muscle soreness affect you?  

Linking Up with

Workout Wednesday & Weigh In Wednesday 

Amazon & Exercise

I've been an Amazon Prime member for a couple of years now. Admittedly, I do like the convenience of shopping online, and I've been impressed with Amazon's prices and customer service. So our Prime membership was mainly to get the free two-day shipping. 

The streaming services Amazon offered were just an extra. Our family had converted to Netflix a few years ago and we were finding plenty to keep us busy. I did eventually start looking through Amazon's offerings and watching some of the programming that they stocked that Netflix did not.  It wasn't until recently that I stumbled upon all the exercise and fitness videos available (and what is pictured above is just a small sampling, there were a lot more!) 

I'm not sure if this is a recent change  (I know I purchased Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones on DVD just a month or so ago ... something I wouldn't have done if I had realized it was available to stream for free) or if I just hadn't noticed it was one of the "prime" titles.  I do know that Netflix (and I assume Amazon) is constantly changing their streaming library as contracts come and go, with with my PlayLater service, I can actually copy any available title to my home computer to keep on hand, even if it is removed from the Prime library. 

Linking up with Kristen and Kristen 

for Tips and Tricks Tuesday.

If you already have Amazon Prime, be sure to check out the fitness titles they have available for free streaming. If you don't have Amazon Prime, they offer a 2-week free trial to try it out (you do have to cancel if you don't want to be charged, and they do auto-renew ... but I love my Amazon Prime so I don't think we'll be cancelling anytime soon).  I hope to be trying out some of these many exercise offerings and letting you know which ones I like.  Have you tried any of the titles listed above? What did you think? 

Everymove Update

A while ago, I did a post about some of the various reward sites out there (Reaping the Rewards). Organizations that allow you to connect to your exercise trackers (Fitbit, BodyMedia, Runkeeper, even MFP) and earn rewards for your activity. I thought I'd do some follow up posts about my experience with these various organizations, starting with the one I have been most impressed with ... Everymove.

Everymove has the largest selection of "connections" of any of the reward sites.

Do you see something you use? There are even more than what is pictured here above ...  I connect with my Fitbit  and it auto syncs all my data. I get a weekly email update (pictured above), I can check in on the webpage, or they have an app as well.   I choose my reward and earn points based on my daily activity. Now granted, most of the "rewards" are really just discounts in disguise. I haven't signed up to earn anything I'd have to pay out of pocket for. Usually I just select a $5 donation to the Make-a-Wish foundation as my reward.  Here's a quick recap of what I've "earned" these last few months...

Of course I adore the Amazon gift cards ... they don't come up as a reward very often, but I was happy to snag them a couple times. I was very impressed with how quickly I received an email with my Amazon code once I earned my reward. Make-a-Wish is a good organization (did you see the Bat Boy story in the news?  It was one of my links in my last Saturday Spotlight) and I'm happy there is a charity option to choose.  I went ahead and signed up to earn a t-shirt/water bottle for my last reward... I admit, it was partially a test to see how quickly I would get my reward when it required actual work on their part (shipping and mailing) and again, SO impressed! I got my t-shirt and water bottle this past weekend. 

Ok - so it's orange (not blue, like in the picture) and I ordered it too big (I said extra large, I do still need that in some shirts, although in others I can wear a large or a medium ... maybe it will shrink).  I had to laugh when my son walked in and saw my swag. He burst out "You got a t-shirt? And a water bottle?" I asked if he would like me to switch HIM to earning such a reward and he said ... "no." 

Last week, I mentioned how several family members have a Fitbit (A Fitbit Family). Since then, we've added another (my SIL) and another SIL was also asking about it. We're all friends on Fitbit, and also on Everymove. One benefit of being friends on Everymove, is that you can earn bonus points for an active day, and you can give points away to your friends.

So if Everymove is new to you, I do think it is worth looking into. 

I don't know that it motivates me to move more than I would be already, 

but I'm glad to be part of the program.

Check out my Saturday Spotlight #14, 

where I spotlight the cute shirt I earned with Everymove.