Cleaning Bathrooms and Losing Weight

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Why is it when I start going in a good direction I have this great desire to sabotage myself?...and I don't mean just a little bit. I'm talking ALL OUT sabotage.

You know, when I was losing weight before, I had people that I'd see week after week. They weren't anyone I knew. They were complete strangers to me, actually, but regardless, they were a face-to-face accountability crew. Is that what would make the difference here?

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I can choose to account here or not, right? Maybe I don't want this badly enough. I mean, if I did, I wouldn't be eating Krispy Kreme donuts whenever they're offered to me, and I wouldn't have purchased those ginormous Symphony bars and smuggled them into my closet, right?

Back in the day, there were people who'd ask, "What did you do good this week?" I'd share with the world how many great things I'd done.

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The other day, I taught #6 a more thorough approach to cleaning the bathroom. He is five, so it's about time he knew more than just how to pick up the towels and empty the garbage.

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As I did so, I remembered a principle that's been in my brain for the past couple years. I guess you could call it the "creation" approach. I didn't learn this from anywhere; it just kind of popped into my brain one day while I was reading Genesis chapter one and wouldn't leave. I've probably even blogged about it, to some degree or another, before.

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The first thing I had #6 do was clean the mirror. We decided on, and verbally listed, the things that would need to be cleaned that day. I told him that he would need to clean the high up things first, and then I let him decide just what the highest up thing was.

He sprayed the mirror, wiped it beautifully and started to climb down off the counter. I stopped him before his feet hit the floor and directed him to look back at the mirror. I asked him how it looked. He shared that it looked "good."

I replied, "Yes it does. Was it the best work you could have done?"

He responded, "Yes."

I said, "Then take a look at that mirror and repeat after me....'I did it, and it looks great.'"

He repeated these words and beamed. He was so proud of himself.

As the bathroom cleaning continued and #6 became very aware of doing a good job, all I had to say was was this job worthy of your good words to yourself. If not, work until it is. He became very good at this.

We moved from job to job. By the time we were finished, the room was practically glowing and so was he.

I've pondered on this from time to time since then and realized that this really is a great way to look at life....Not always thinking "What could I have done better?" but "What have I done today that was great?"

A few posts ago, I shared some of the ways I communicate with my children. A friend asked me what I say to my children to praise them. I really don't have any special words I use. As I read her question, I thought that it's in my demeanor--in how I say words not necessarily what the words are that makes the difference--but as I pondered this "and it was good" experience with #6, I see now that the best thing I can do is teach my children to praise themselves when they know they've done well. This behavior needs to become their reward.

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So....Here's my lesson to myself. In this weight loss experience, as well as other experiences in my life--whether cleaning the bathroom or losing weight,--I'm seeing that I need to seek to treat myself well. I need to do this with the idea that at the end of the day (or maybe at first, at the end of the meal), I need to pat myself on the back and tell myself the things I've done well.

I need to be worthy of my own praise.

Just So You Know

A glazed ring Krispy Kreme donut is 5 points for me. The Warden is doing the new system. It's 6 for him.

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Does this give you some indication of what's going on? Yup. I'm struggling! But....that I'm still aware of how many points it is, that's a good sign, right?

Checking In

Time to check in....

I weighed in on Monday. I'd lost three pounds. Pretty exciting, huh? Twelve to go.

I'm doing the Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred workout level 1. I do it everyday but Sunday. To make up for it this past week, I walked home from church. It's about a mile.

I'm no longer sore when I do the workout, but I was for the first four days or so. I struggle more with the aerobic endurance stuff than the weights and other exercises. I'm thinking I'll switch to level 2 on Saturday. I did a quick preview of it this morning. It doesn't look all that much harder than what level 1 requires.

As far as points go, I slacked for two days this past week--Saturday and Sunday. I mean "slacked" in regard to counting points. I was still very aware of what was going into my body and was careful, but I didn't take the time to write them down. That's a pretty dangerous thing to do this early in the game.

My three pound loss put me down one more point. I'm now at 21. I went back to Wendie's and recalculated my points per day.

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So, confession time, yesterday, we went out with some friends to dinner (I mentioned that on my most recent post). I knew we were going the day before, so I went online and looked up Famous Dave's. There it was on One More Pound. I did some research and learned that the grilled chicken sandwich was only 5 points, so that's what I went for. After I was done, I also ate a cornbread muffin. I thought that should be pretty harmless, so I went for it.

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Last night, as I was adding up my final points for the day, I remembered the muffin. Get this....7 POINTS! 7!!! Considering everything else I ate during the day, that put me well above my 21, and actually, with Wendie's plan, I was supposed to consume 23 points. Well, that took me above that as well.

I think in this case, Wendie's plan saved me. What Wendie's does is it takes your regular point allowance and takes the additional 35 points you're given per week and divides them amongst the other days of the week. When I set up on Wendie's, I chose Saturday as my big point day. I get something like 36 points on that day alone, so last night I simply took all of the points that I shouldn't have eaten yesterday (anything over 23) and subtracted them from Saturday's planned points. Does that make sense? Because I had eaten them already yesterday, those points will not be eaten on Saturday. I think it took me down to 25 for Saturday. Yikes! That's some serious over eating. Darned muffin! But, it was delicious.

So, how are you doing? Any great workouts you're doing? Challenges?

Finishing off the Day

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Dinner tonight was turkey kielbasa, rice and broccoli. I put a little bit of beef boullion in the rice and the broccoli was the Green Giant brand with the cheese sauce in it. The broccoli was only one point per serving. The rice was four points for 1/4 cup, so I went fairly easy on the rice. The kielbasa was only two points per serving (1/7 of it). Anyway, I just stirred these ingredients together. We also, last minute, found a number of zucchini and yellow squashes ready to be eaten in our garden, so those were sauteed in a small amount of butter and served as well. They were really good stirred in with the rest.

Everybody else had bread and butter. I passed because I also ate a very small piece of strawberry rhubarb crisp with about a tablespoon of vanilla ice cream on top. YUM! I just couldn't resist, but that's the joy of the points....you just serve yourself a smaller portion.

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So, I went over in my points by one, but #1 and I did a kickboxing workout in on our back deck after dinner. We did "10 Minute Solution: Kickbox Bootcamp" on Netflix. There are five different workouts. We did three of them--basic, fat burner and abs.

I've drunk twelve glasses of water at this point. Do I dare drink four more? If so, I'd better down them all rather soon.

I've had my veggies and fruits and met my points as well as ate my exercise point. It kind of irks me that I can work out like crazy but still only get one point. Ah well. If I'd worked a bit harder, I'd have gotten three, but I was unfamiliar with the workout. I will definitely do these again. They were very doable, and I tend to be on the less-coordinated side of things, so that's saying something.

All in all, it's been a good day. Tomorrow will be 22 points. Yikes! I felt spoiled with my 27 today. That's okay. If I exercise more and harder, I can work it up to more points and get to enjoy a little extra.

Starting Off

"To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done."

--Richard G. Scott, "Finding the Way Back," Ensign, May 1990, 74

As I venture once again into this portion control and exercise thing, I'm finding that having been there before and knowing that it's achievable is a HUGE help. The quote above is for anyone joining me who hasn't done this before.

Before I was in my late 30s, I never had to watch my weight--thanks Mom. Now it's a different story. A friend asked, as a comment to the last post, whether I was doing this for reasons other than health, and to be honest, I am. I mean, of course there's always health reasons. I'm right now just at the cusp of the healthy BMI for my height. I want to catch it before it becomes discouraging and too difficult to battle.

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To be completely honest, my main reason is more mentally based. I remember how great I felt about myself when I lost weight the first time. You know, when you first start out, it's a bit frustrating. The weight doesn't seem to come off as quickly as you'd like it to. But, once you get over that and continue to eat right and exercise, there's a point where your clothes become baggy and you start to notice the change. There's a great sense of satisfaction in knowing that you were able to rise above and control yourself and that that level of control has become somewhat second nature--you don't have to try so hard. That is my main reason for doing this. I just want to feel good about myself in that way again.

So, here's what's going on today....

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I had two pieces of 12 grain toast this morning with blackberry fruit-only spread on it. Although the website said bread was 1 point, I put in the numbers on the side and found that this particular bread is two. The jam is 1 point per tablespoon. I didn't measure it, but figured I put about a tablespoon's worth on each slice, so I gave myself 2 points for that.

Breakfast total:  6 points

I took the kids to the movies today. They had food to eat during the movie, and although I was tempted, I didn't touch any of it. Because of this, by lunch I was STARVING! We went to the Warden's school and had burgers. I threw caution to the wind and put mayo along with my ketchup and mustard on it. Ketchup and mustard are each zero points up to a certain amount, but mayo'll get you every time.

I'm SO LOVING onemorepound.com. I mean LOVE IT! I go there to search for point amounts. Just so you know if you go there, to find point amounts for jam and mayo, go to the section on the main page that says "POINTS for Thousands of Items" then go to "POINTS for Condiments, Dressings, Marinades, and Spreads."

I have the books that I purchased back in the day, but onemorepound.com means I don't have to spend the time looking things up in the index and rifling through the pages. Did I happen to mention that I LOVE onemorepound.com?! Well, now you know.

I also ate blueberries with lunch. They are zero points for 1/2 cup.

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I created a simple spreadsheet to keep track of my current weight (I figure I'll weigh in every Monday), the points I have to eat and have eaten, and the goals I've set and where I'm at with those. I want to make sure I eat five servings of fruits and veggies a day, exercise for at least 20 minutes and drink a huge load of water. Normally that water would be somewhere around 64 ounces, but dealing with some health issues right now, it's been suggested that I double that. Ugh! But, I'm doing it. It seems to be making a difference.

Exercise is my hardest thing. It's just difficult to slip out of the house and get moving. I would also much rather have company, so I think I'll grab a kid or two once they get home from today's activities. It may end up being after 9:00 tonight, but it will happen! 

One other suggestion....As with all goals, in order to be successful, there must be an aspect of accountability. That's the very reason why I'm posting this here. Yes, dear reader, I'm using you for accountability purposes. I know if I'm going to have to fess up to what I'm doing, I'll be more careful about what I do, so thank you! 

Here's what's left to be done today....

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• 11 more points to eat
• At least 20 minutes of exercise to do (which will add more points that I can eat)
• 8 more glasses of water to consume
• 3 more servings of fruits and/or veggies--our garden's needing to be harvested a bit, so I think I'll be spending some time out there.

If you're joining me, I'd love to know how things are going for you. What are your goals? Do you have any additional pointers for me? If you do, I'd be happy to share them in a future post--if you're okay with that.

It's High Time

As you can see from this picture....

the time has come to do something.

It's funny how I don't notice by just looking at myself in a mirror. It takes a photo to make it real.

I had so much success with weight loss four years ago--before I got pregnant with #7. I really want to do it again, but I don't want to do the new system. I had lost enough after having #7, that I was content and just left the program when it changed.

So, tonight is my last night to not count points. I have found a few resources to do the old school program online. If you're at all interested in joining me, here's a list for you:

• A list of five resources from Roni
• onemorepound.com. I found this one tonight. I'm excited to use it.
• Dottie's was a site I used A LOT when I was going through this the first time. It was especially great when we'd go out to eat.
• Wendie's is another site I've just run across. Love it!
• I also used this site to figure out where to begin

There you go. So, I ended up with some amazing strawberry rhubarb crisp and vanilla ice cream--a nice way to go out. Thanks Kim!

Tomorrow the  fun begins. According to what I figured out with Wendie's site, I'm going to be eating 26 points. I used to like it when I figured out all of the food I would eat the next day before I went to bed at night. For tonight, I'm just heading to bed. I've got kids to get to Cub Scout day camp and EFY in the morning, so I'll do all of that figuring at some point tomorrow.