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.

Holiday Hoedown

It's started! The new challenge that's going to get us through the holidays without regrets and self recriminations. Unlike the Shrinkvivor challenge, we're going to start as a team and end as a team. I've loved all the people that I've been teamed up with before but never as much as I love my present teammates. For this challenge we got to form our own team and they're all family - one honorary family member - but family just the same.

I get to be on a team with my four daughters, my two daughters-in-law, my granddaughter, and a previous teammate and supportive, loving friend. It just can't get any better than that.

Yesterday I posted my True Confessions and it all seemed pretty dismal because really it felt pretty dismal, but after weighing in this morning, I'm stoked! I'm .6 of a pound higher than on my last Shrinkvivor check-in and while I shredded this morning, I figured out how that was possible after my pathetic eating habits during the last couple of weeks.

I slept too late this morning and almost talked myself out of shredding but I'd seen that our fitness challenge was exercise minutes so I knew this was not the time to skip an exercise session. So I shredded and while I did, it came to me that the shredding helped me maintain my weight while my eating was less than ideal. And then I realized that when I reach my goal weight, whatever that turns out to be, I'll be able to stay there as long as I stay active and don't get crazy with the eating.

As if those revelations weren't reward enough for soldiering through on my exercise, the minute I finished, while I was still dripping sweat and huffing and puffing like a spent racehorse, there was a knock at the door. Fortunately Mr. Right is working evenings this week and was there to answer it. And then I got my second reward for soldiering through on the exercise today.

Wheeee! I'm SO excited. I want to rip open that box and look at all the pieces but I won't. Mr. Right said he'll put it together Saturday so I can wait. BUT, when I looked at this picture, I saw something I didn't see with my naked eye. If you look in the hand carry hole, you can see part of this beautiful bicycle! Thanks again to everybody that helped me win this awesome prize as the Ultimate Shrinkvivor!

Okay back to the Holiday Hoedown challenge. My head is getting where it needs to be, I'm excited about this challenge, and I'm anxious to get in some more exercise minutes today.

Then I'm going to write a post about my beloved daughter, Lori's birthday. What an awesome day!