Monthly Update: January 2012

Hello faithful blog readers!

I'm officially back from my mini hiatus, which I desperately needed. Why? Well, sometime around/after my birthday last year (did you see my birthday week blog?) I started slipping into some pretty unhealthy old habits and it finally got to the point where I just had to take some time out to get back to taking care of myself, that way I could get back to being awesome and be here for the rest of you!

So what did I do in my time off? A lot. First, here are a few non-WW/blog related things I tackled:

• I went on a job interview (nope, not a match)
• Signed myself up with an online dating service (yes, seriously. and no, no dates so far)
• Did some apartment maintenance (cleaning, organizing) which I had been neglecting for far too long. (You may not know this about me, but I enjoy cleaning and *love* to organize. In order to feel at peace and get anything else done in my apartment, I need a certain level of order around me, or else I just have trouble focusing on anything else. So it was both fun and rewarding to get that stuff taken care of.)
• Journaling (as in actually hand writing in a journal) I tend to have a lot going on in my head all the time and I need to get it out or I drive myself crazy. I began keeping a paper journal, something I haven't done in a while. It's a great place to record my thoughts and I like to include highlights of that day. Especially the little things that I'd likely forget about a year from now. It's become a fun part of my days.

Then, there were some big WW related things I had to focus on. Things like:

• Back to basics!

1) Eating well & Tracking: I made a promise to myself to track my food in eTools. And I've been doing that for 4 weeks now. What I'm most proud of is that I did something that I've always had trouble doing: I tracked even when I knew I was over. That may not sound like a big deal but I've never owned up to writing those things down in my tracker. It was somehow liberating to finally do that. It kind of takes the 'fear' out of tracking.
2) Weighing & Measuring: I actually broke out my old WW scale and began using it. I also got in the habit of measuring food (like macaroni and beans) and am proud to say I'm excellent at eyeballing 1/2 cup and 1 cup portions.

• Recommitted to my workout schedule: Since the summer I have really slacked on my activity and it did not feel good at all! Since I really wanted to get back to my old routine, I focused heavily on that this month. I scheduled activity in my calendar so that I had reminders. I made sure to make all my appointments and am pretty impressed with my totals for the month -

If you can't read the data, click on the image to go to Flickr and see a larger version of the photo

• Modified my activity spreadsheet a little: I am including monthly totals now (the green text), which I think will be really fun to keep track of. In January, I burned over 9300 calories, ran over 41 miles, biked 52 miles and earned 142 Activity PointsPlus. Very cool!
  
• Marathon Training: I've been talking to super-marathoner and my Weight Watchers leader, Melanie, about how to train for this year's marathon (warning: prepare to read a LOT about the marathon in my blog this year!) and she gave me some guidelines, loaned me a book and I came up with a general guide for my training which I put into Excel. It helps to see it in front of me like that. It scares me a little, but it helps a lot. :)

Other things I thought about and changes I'm making:

• Monthly Updates! I used to post a weekly update in this blog and quite honestly I have no idea how I did it. I decided I'm going to do a monthly update going forward. This is my first one, and of course it's late but I have a lot to report!
• Less Beer! In addition to eating too much, I was drinking WAY too much beer. I put some limitations on how often and how much I drink. For one thing, I stopped buying beer for home. This was actually not at all difficult for me to enforce and I only drank 3 nights in the whole month of January.
• Protein shakes! I love them! They're a great after-workout mini meal filled with protein, healthy fat and fruits & veggies. I bought lots of frozen fruit so I can mix and match on any given day. It's 4 PointsPlus of awesomeness every time (3 PP for the protein mix, 1 PP for the oil, 0 for the fruits and or veggies). *edited: Per your many comments regarding this statement I checked with my WW leader and she confirmed what you are all stating. When fruit is used in a recipe or smoothie in this case, enter it into eTools via the recipe builder. There will likely be some PointsPlus values associated. Thanks to all who pointed this out!

• Soy Yogurt! Despite my many statements to how much I dislike soy yogurt, I decided that I like the plain one. (I just don't like the flavored ones.) I either add canned pumpkin & cinnamon or fresh fruit or cocoa powder or PB2 (peanut butter powder). It's nice to have another healthy snack (one that I don't want to abuse) in my arsenal.

Awesome stuff this month:

• "You've earned your guaranteed entry"! - One morning I opened my email to this sight:

I actually teared up when I got that email. It was suddenly so official, so real! And I quickly filled out that application - I am now officially registered for this year's NYC Marathon! (Like I said above, I will be talking and writing about the marathon a lot this year. It's kind of a pretty huge deal to me.)

• NYC Half! I also found out that I was accepted into the NYC Half Marathon! This is a lottery event, which means it's not a guaranteed entry, but I applied. I told myself that if I get in, it's meant to be. If not, that's OK too. I took a chance and sure enough I was chosen! That means I'll be running a half marathon in Manhattan on March 18th.

• GPS! I joined the cool kids club and got a Garmin so I can track the miles that I run. (this one)
• Measurements! I finally took my body measurements, something I haven't done in about half a year. I'm going to keep track of that monthly going forward.
  
• Fit Bloggers! prepare to get VERY excited because I'm attending this year's FitBloggin in Maryland! It's true! I haven't left the state of NY since Spring 2008, but this year that will all change. If you're going and want to meet me, let's make that happen. (Note: I'm not speaking, just attending) See you in September!
  
• Krystie! I met beautiful Krystie, a blog reader who came to NYC to meet Jennifer Hudson and was able to meet me and attend my weekly meeting too! She's lost nearly 100 pounds already and was such a doll. I'm so glad I got to meet her and her gorgeous sister-in-law. My pics are below, but check out her blog about that day, too.

Krystie, Me, Tamara

Krystie, Me, Melanie

• New veggies! I tried a brand new veggie and loved it - they're called Sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes) and I just roast them at 400 for 40 minutes. I also started eating some veggies I used to not like (I'm always willing to give produce another try!), namely cabbage (both green & purple - I slice it and put it in my salads and my burritos) and baby bella mushrooms (I add these to my salads and to any veggies I'm sauteeing with dinner). 
• Half Marathon! Well, not really... I was registered for a half marathon in Central Park on January 21st but that was the one snowstorm we've had so far this winter. The event was not cancelled, and I was all set to go (I figured I'd walk it)...

All ready to head out to the 1/2 marathon... and then end up on the treadmill at the gym

• ...but it was SO cold outside that I decided my time would be better spent at the gym and *not* risking an injury on the wet and icy surface. One good thing? I bought a really nice thin waterproof jacket for the event. I didn't get to use it, but I'm sure it will come in handy.

I can't wait to wear that waterproof jacket!

• Restaurant Challenge! I went out to dinner with my Dad and a few other family members. You may know that I don't enjoy dining out and have avoided restaurant dining since I rejoined WW in 2006. Of course you *can* dine out, there is no WW rule against that. But for me, personally, I find these experiences far more stressful than enjoyable so I choose to not dine out. However, I had no choice and knew I'd be there for at least 2 hours. I had to use every WW trick in the book to make sure I had the outcome I wanted. I'll save the details for their own blog post but I will tell you that I successfully navigated this event and was very proud of myself.

I had to ask them to give me just lettuce (I didn't like their salads) I topped it with salsa & lemon. And I counted out 8 perfect chips and eye-balled 1/4 cup guacamole. Success!

Upcoming Events:

1. An announcement about the Five Boro Bike Tour. Stay tuned!
2. My next New York Road Runners event is February 25th in Prospect Park, a 4-mile run.
3. I'm returning to Rockefeller Center to climb their stairs again on March 4th and I want to beat last year's record of 15 minutes, 18 seconds. (Thank you to all of you who donated to the National MS Society!)
4. This Sunday I'm doing something I've never done before - running a full loop in Central Park with my friend Elaine. Yes, I've run in Central Park but only 4 miles. The full loop is 6. I'm really looking forward to it!

I know this is long and don't expect future updates to be this long. So if you made it this far, thanks for reading! And I hope you missed me as much as I missed you!
XO
*Bitch Cakes*