Holiday Hoedown Check-In: Week Two

Right off the bat I'll admit that this was a tough week challenge wise and I'll also admit that I got lucky. Or did I just reap the benefits of the tough workouts that I've been doing? Either way, I'm okay.

With company coming and a house that needed a lot of preparation, I had to forego my exercise routine starting last Wednesday morning. Yikes! I will say though that on Tuesday and Wednesday I got tons of exercise - it just didn't count because it was housework. But I was active - my was I active!

Santa's Little Losers had six members here almost the entire weekend. We had big and smart plans too. Everybody was to bring their dumbbells so we could shred together and we planned at least a couple of outings at Striebel Pond. But I guess we forgot who we were. We forgot that we get together so seldom that we stay up late at night talking and laughing. We forgot that we like to have special beverages for our entertaining pleasure. And we forgot that the kids get up early and one of the special treats about staying at Grandma's is setting up a table and eating breakfast in the living room in front of the TV. (That's right - the shred TV.) Not that it mattered - because none of us was in any shape to shred or worry about it. Mainly we were just too tired (wink wink) which is one of the things I'm going to address in the next month's effort to stay on track.

So the shred fell by the wayside. We were also planning outings at Striebel Pond but although we didn't have snow, we had cold and wind - big wind that made the cold even colder and the idea of walking in it pretty much an anathema.

I have to suspect though that the rigors of keeping the house tidy with fifteen people staying in it and the exercise accumulated while shopping on black Friday helped to offset our exercise shortcomings.

Most of all I think gaining some muscle mass to replace some fat mass helped me get through the weekend despite my will-power weaknesses.

I ate pretty much what I wanted. I didn't bother too much with things I don't love like turkey which I usually feel obligated to eat but I did indulge in the things I do love and that I only have the opportunity to enjoy two or three times a year - yeah like cheesecake.

And for someone who steps on the scale about 30 times a day, I avoided it altogether this weekend. (I really don't think I had time to be stepping on scales. lol)

And Monday morning I had gained almost 3 1/2 pounds. Ouch.

A couple of other things happened Monday morning. Weight Watchers started a new system called Points Plus which I love love love and which gave me a fresh start in a system that I was getting altogether to familiar with AND I got right back into shredding and counting points (did I mention that I love the new system?). And today.......I posted a loss of 1.4 pounds. Woo and HOO!

In years past I would have looked at that gain on Monday and then pretended I was going to do something about it pretty soon and before I knew it, it would have been part of me going into Christmas week where I'd be sure to pack on a few more pounds and then I would have lamented how frustrating it is to gain weight when I was pretending to be so weight conscious. Yeah. That was years past.

Thanks, Sisterhood, for making this a brand new kind of year for me. One where I was able to indulge and get right back into sensible Mary mode.