Fitness Fellowship: Week 51 Check-in

[sylvanwitch]

Whatever holiday you celebrate--or don't--I hope the next week is as stress-free as possible for you and that you get to spend at least some time with people you like doing things you enjoy.

This time of year is often one long temptation and also often causes disruptions in routines, making working out, for example, a challenge, but it is only a week or so a year, and we can do it! We'll be the better for letting ourselves have what we want, I think.

Anyway, as usual, please share as little or as much as you'd like to about your fitness journey for the past week and any changes in goal for the week ahead.

My plan is to post one more check-in, on Monday, 30 December, and then post the introduction to the new year on 1 January. After that, my check-in day will be Sunday, for reasons I'll explain in the cut.



Weight: I'm down almost a pound this week, which I attribute to the exercise I've been religious about getting and not the food choices I have been making.

Eating plan: I have been enjoying too many baked goods, but I've also been trying to eat more fruits, veggies, and oats, so there is some balance, anyway, and I haven't been gorging or overindulging, so that's good.

Exercise: I've been getting plenty of steps in on the elliptical, walking outside, and/or walking indoors, and I've done yoga five times in the past week.

Hydration: Yes.

Sleep: Pretty good now that I'm on my holiday break.

The week ahead: I've joined WeightWatchers via their app. In 2007, I lost 115 pounds doing weekly in-person WW meetings, but I found it very difficult to maintain my momentum after I stopped going to meetings. I've been feeling lately like the intermittent fasting wasn't working for me, both because I gave myself permission to eat whatever and however much I wanted during my eating window and because I really miss breakfast. I'm a big fan of oatmeal, and I miss it in the winter, especially. Also, I know myself well enough to know that having a tracking app that holds me to account (and that I'm paying for) will give me the accountability I need to start paying more attention to what I'm eating.

I want to emphasize that I am NOT going to harp on and on about WW, and I am certainly not going to evangelize about the program. It worked for me once, and I'm hoping it will give me the structure I need to lose some weight again, but I would *never* use this space to try to sell you on anything, I promise.

I'll talk more about my specific new year goals when we get to that intro post I mentioned. For now, the app subscription was on sale only until today, so I wanted to take the plunge and start playing with it, but I'm not going to start following the plan in earnest until 1 January. I have far too many baked goods and other delicious treats in the house to do that! Lol!

So, for the week ahead, I'm going to try to not gain any weight, especially while on our mini-vacation after the holiday, and will exercise daily, do at least four sessions of yoga, and try to eat my veggies, fruit, and oats.



May the week ahead be a good one for you all, my friends, and may you find some peace, comfort, joy, rest, and laughter waiting for you there. *hugs*

ETA: Oops! I only just noticed that there are two Week 40 Check-ins. I knew we were a week "behind," as it were, but I had been too lazy to try to figure it out. Anyway, this is more properly Week 51's check-in, so I've adjusted the header accordingly. I apologize for the confusion!

Comments

[cornerofmadness]

well said and hope you and everyone else has a good a week as we can

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you--and right back at you! (I've already failed in the eating dept because I made a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies, and they are *so* good. I can't even care, though, because I only do this kind of baking at the holidays.) I hope there is lots of deliciousness in your days this week, too!

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks. Yeah I've been in the cookies too I fully expect lots of yummy food this week

meh

[oldtoadwoman]

My weight has been slowly creeping up since I started the new job and I know it's entirely due to stress eating. I'm hoping things will smooth out this next year just a little and I'll be able to get myself back under control. (Of course, I'm also making excuses about getting back to eating healthy after Christmas.)

The official weight-loss program that I had the most success with was Richard Simmons (back when the gimmick was the plastic gizmo for tracking portions) and then years later, I had similar success with one of those online food trackers. My problem is that once I fail at something, my brain just gives up and goes, "Nah, tried that, pfft" so whenever I've tried to follow those old programs again, I fall off the wagon within days. (With food tracking I sometimes don't even make it a full day before giving up.) I even understand it's irrational, but it's like I have a petulant toddler at the controls sometimes.

Re: meh

[sylvanwitch]

Like you, if something stops working, I lose focus and have to let it go. I'm hopeful that the WW app will help me put some boundaries on my eating. It's not like I don't know when I'm eating something that it's too large a portion or not a "good" thing, nutritionally. I do know all that stuff. I think all us veteran dieters are well aware of what we SHOULD be doing. It's doing it that's the hard part! Lol! Anyway, I think the stress eating makes perfect sense; since the election, I've been eating a lot more stuff I usually am good about avoiding, and if I didn't have a pretty ingrained exercise habit already, I'd definitely have gained a LOT more weight.

All of this is to say that I hope you enjoy your holidays, guilt-free, and that you find something that works for you come January (or June, if you need to wait until you've gotten through your first full year of school).

[delphi]

I hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Aside from a night of staying up way too late thanks to a noisy concert next door, I've been doing okay with my goals. More or less decent bedtimes, eating regularly, doing some stretching and exercising. Although I'm definitely glad the solstice has passed, so the light for morning walks can come back.

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you so much! I hope you do, as well!

YAY for the return of the light! I'm definitely trying to look at our long, cold winter as a moving-towards instead of a standing-still kind of thing, if that makes any sense. Usually, February is my worst month, but I am mindfully reinventing my idea of winter to try to kickstart my energy levels and not just wallow in hibernation behavior, which, while comfortable, is not the healthiest for me, especially when I'm anticipating an increase in anxiety.

May the week ahead be a good one for you, so you can enjoy good food, exercise, and rest, and may the holiday bring you only good experiences! :-)

[delphi]

That makes perfect sense, and it's a great philosophy to have. I've got some ideas brewing for goals for the new year, but I love that - thanks to you hosting this space - they feel like continuations and incremental additions to this year's habits instead of the "Everything's going wrong and I need to start fresh!" I've felt in some years. Thank you. <3

[oschun]

I'm excited for you that you're trying something different in the new year, and I really hope using the WW app will rejuvenate you. We're all so individual and our bodies respond so differently to things. Some things work for some people and not for others, or they only work for a brief while, and once they stop working you have to then find a new strategy to keep you going.

I feel really differently about breakfast and fasting and oatmeal specifically. When I was wearing the glucose monitor while I was doing Zoe, oats for breakfast was one of the few things that sent my sugar levels through the roof. I was actually glad to find that out because I don't really like oatmeal anyway. I thought it was healthy for me, but it isn't, not for me specifically and the way that I process carbs. My body responds badly to it, especially in the morning.

Good luck with finding things that work for you and that make you feel happy and well. And have a great break!

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you for the good luck and great break wishes! :-) I hope you also have a holiday now and are enjoying some time to breathe and be.

It is fantastic that Zoe provided you with that kind of detailed information. Despite everything I've read and tried, I still feel pretty hapless, like I'm flailing around and sometimes hitting on something that makes me feel better and healthier. It sounds like Zoe definitely gives you the evidence-based tools you need. I'm glad it is working for you and that you have found habits that make you feel good. You deserve all the good things, babe!

*hugs* and Happy Christmas!

[oschun]

You don't seem hapless at all. Quite the opposite! I hope you discover many things that will help you to feel happier and healthier over the next year.

I got your card today. Thank you so much! I agree entirely - what is time anyway :) The missive from you and T always makes me smile. Thank you for the Rules for a Happy Holiday *many hugs*