thursday tidbits
i had a good workout yesterday and pushed myself beyond the recommended 30-mins... i also decided to increase my speed, little by little, on the jogging intervals and went from 5.0 to 6.0 and it felt great... even though i'm only on week #2, i think doing the whole 5K thing won't be as hard as i thought so i feel a sense of relief... since i have off tomorrow, i am going try doing the workout outside and see how that goes - the weather is going to be on the cooler side so maybe that will work in my favor... :o)
in celebration of the long weekend (for me anyway, sorry!), here are some tidbits that i found during the week that i'd like to share... enjoy... :o)
—valerie bertinelli is the latest celebrity to join jenny craig...
—celebrity fit club #5 premiers on april 22nd, this time including tiffany and screech...
—too lazy to do your own exercising? get a dog powered scooter instead...
—create, annotate and share personalized maps with google's my maps...
—roni has created a new, weight loss community so check it out...
—if you're a fan of stuff on my cat, you're gonna love stuff on my mutt...
—not sure how many calories you burned? try this activity calorie calculator...
—to be successful at losing weight, slow and steady wins the race...
—beware of the easter candy breakdown...
and on a more personal note - i would like to give a shout-out to kathleen, who's been suffering w/back problems and continues to share her struggles along the way... she has decided to go back on WW and wrote a really great post yesterday about her decision to do so - i found what she said to be pretty sincere and pretty motivating... she lost an incredible amount of weight (check out her before and after photos) and worked the plan to a T - most of us can relate to getting awesome results when sticking to something, but for others its a constant struggle...
personally, i've had success with WW (and variations like the wendi plan) but i'm not sure if i can really call it that since i've never really got to my ideal weight... i've also gone back and forth between (1) wanting to be a certain number and (2) wanting to feel good about myself at any size - i truly feel the latter is harder to achieve because you have to learn self-love and self-acceptance... does that mean you're giving up if you're no longer working towards losing weight? does it mean that you're less of a person if you'd rather not give up chocolate and pizza? no, but it really goes a lot deeper than that - the question should really be: are you truly happy with yourself, right here and right now? there comes a time when you either have to stick to a plan, no matter what, OR stop beating yourself up because you're never going to be a size 4 (again)... THAT is the challenge we all face, and not whether we can stick to a weight loss plan or not...
i know it may sound like i can't make up my mind but after reading so many WW success stories (anne, amanda, marie, and amanda, just to name a few) and seeing kathleen's recommitment - it was almost like a sign that i need to give it one more shot... so will it really work? i would like to think so and really think i owe myself one more try - i will NOT, however, drive myself nuts, over-analyze things, beat myself up, or hate myself if i don't lose every week... if anything, i HAVE learned that this weight loss journey will never be perfect and to expect myself to be perfect too is just plain crazy... i will still be incorporating what i've learned and read from other books, and continue with my exercise routines since i think i have that portion covered...
so my final question is for those of you that use e-Tools, can you tell me the benefits of that over using sparkpeople? e-Tools is something i've never tried and thought maybe i would give that a shot as well, esp. since my insurance offers a discount...
sorry for the long post but i felt it was time to come clean... :o)
happy thursday...
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Great post.I most def used to beat myself up, though I would never say so on my blog. I'm past that now and can honestly say that I am happy where I am now, even though I want to continue losing, I can acutally live with myself right now, we are not all meant to be a siz 2.
I've been following WW again since Jan (seriously) and for the first time in a long time, I can say that I have been doing the best that I can and that's all I can do. I don't freak out if I had a bad day and don't stress over special occasions anymore. I am able to move on.
As for WW online vs. Sparkpeople..I signed up for sparkpeople once and it seemed like there was "too much" on the site and I found that annoying, the tons of emails I got from them didn't help either.
Suff on my mutt, love it.
Hey Jodi,
I have been on and off weight watchers for 4 years and I have recommited again, since February. I think things are going much better since I am following core.
I still beat myself up though because I am never happy no matter at what size I am, it is something I have to work on. I think that weight watchers is great but again as we all know to lose weight it is a simple science, although not simple to do. Burn more than you consume right, easier said than done.
I attend meetings and I am an online memeber, I need all the support I can get, I love etools just because I track everything I eat and can build my own recipes, try it out for a month and if you don't like it or need it, unsubscribe. Hope that helps babes hang in there :)
Fantastic post, indeed!
I tried Sparkpeople a bit -but I agree with Anne -there's so much going on, it was hard to keep up. But I think it's kind of motivating to mess around with it, looking at different articles and taking quizzes and stuff.
I personally haven't had the desire to do WW. I think it seems like a great program, and if followed correctly, it seems to work really well for people. I just like the thought of doing it my own way, and not having to pay for it.
Wow. I read your post literally 10 minutes after writing a post on my blog about how I was letting weight loss affect my happiness about going on a trip. Thank you for writing this post, it's exactly what I needed. No more beating myself up. Thanks Jodi.
Thanks Jodi!
I've tried sparkpeople and felt the same way others felt..the emails were annoying. I like eTools because it's simple, but to be honest, I lost my original 75 lbs. using a pad and paper to journal. The techie geek in me thought it would be fun to try something new and so far so good...but the tracking does lean me towards obsessive behavior. This is my trial week, if I feel like I can't deal with it, I'm back to pen and paper and once a week scale WI's at home.
Foo
hey!!
a little late but i think the stripping class would be a hoot!!
have a great weekend!
WW will take doctor notes if you and your doctor feel a higher weight is better for you.
I lost my ww meatings due to a move but my health providor found out that my BMI is wacked out and a higher BMi was better for me,
Great post, Jodi! The journey of weight loss might be important - but we're also living life at the same time! And that means pizza or chocolate on occasion, and NO - it shouldn't make us any less of a person. I'm glad you're recommitting to something that makes you feel focussed.
Great work on C25K! Look at you - you'll be running 5K soon like it's nothing!;-)
that really is the crux isn't it? i struggle with that as well. this is a great post! thanks for sharing.
Hey Jodi!
I've tagged you!
i think thats a great idea, allow yourself to be imperfect. otherwise you will be so rigid when it comes to what you eat, how much you exercise, etc. that one day you will just snap. be flexible. you have to live your life and enjoy each day. that may not always involve a slice of pizza and a beer...but hey, sometimes it does!
you can do it, and your running in intervals sounds great! i did that the other day, its really invigorating to run FAST! :)
I became a life time member with Weight Watchers five times! Yes, five times. Because I was so hard on myself, when I regained my weight I would rejoin at a new location rather than telling them I was a lifetime member. I truly believe of all the "diets" it truly is the best, since it is the closest to "real life." What I have come to learn about myself (after losing and gaining over 1000 pounds in my adult life) is that I don't want to be on a diet. I want to change my lifestyle and eat healthy and live my life.
Since 12.27 (105 days) I have lost 29.5 pounds by not dieting. It seems to have averaged one pound every three days and I am totally excited about it...sorry about my long comment - your great post got me thinking about how I am feeling doing what I am doing.
Cheers, Judi
I use etools, but not very religiously. I do it about four times a week. I eat a lot of the same things, so I'm pretty good on what equals the numbers of points. I do like how it helps you count activity points. I signed up for sparkpeople, and also found it a little 'too friendly.' You can get lost on the site.
I love WW and am really glad I went back to it. I'm following my own WW-esque plan and am doing great.