New Favorite Snacks!

I love my sweets! I gave up all fake sugars a long time ago (although HFCS doesn't bug me), so now I am forced to deal with the added calories sugar brings. I am always trying to find things that satisfy my sweet tooth without blowing my calorie budget. My first new fave is Edy's Fruit Bars. The icy treats are made with real fruit and only have 45 calories each and no high fructose corn syrup. Best of all, because they are frozen, you get to enjoy them for a long time!

My second new fave replaces something I always feel like I am missing when I am on a diet- chocolate milk! I truly am a kid at heart. These flavored straws only have 16 calories each and work well with about a cup of nonfat milk (about 85 calories). They aren't quite as delicious as the real thing, but a great substitute!

The Arthritis Walk with Friends/Stay Hydrated!

PsA has been one of the hardest fights of my life, but I am so lucky to have my friends and family to help me through. This year, we walked in the Boston Arthritis Walk and have raised $2475! Besides raising money, it was an awesome opportunity to get in some exercise with friends. Seven of us walked, along with 4 dogs! It was nice to get to chat and burn extra calories while we were at it!

I did learn a valuable lesson that day- water is more important than you might think! I drank a 20 ounce bottle before the walk started, but I didn't take any more with me. After walking 5k, I had a terrible headache. It wasn't until I drank several glasses of water that the headache went away. Remember, stay hydrated!

My Exercise Buddy

Meet Dempsey, my best walking buddy! Dempsey demands a mile walk every day at the very least, so she really keeps me moving. Not to mention she comes with on local errands like the bank or the pharmacy. Having a dog forces me to be more active and keep moving every day. But you don't need a dog to stay active! If a friend or neighbor has one, meet up with him/her for their dog walks. Walk to the grocery store, pharmacy or convenience store instead of driving. If you can, walk to work. There are plenty of ways to get in a little extra exercise.

Taking a New Tack

I haven't visited this blog in a while, but maybe it is time to get started again! To recap, in 2010 I lost about 25 pounds...and gained most of it back. In 2011 I lost 50 pounds...and gained some of it back. Today I am about 30 pounds lower than my highest weight ever and am trying to get back in the groove of weight loss. I let my commitment to weight loss slack a little when I started school again, which was followed by a flare of my PsA. When you can barely make it through a work day, the last thing you want to do is make a meal and count points! This time, I am trying something different. The Body Media Fit is a device that you wear on the back of your arm that tracks how many calories you burn, steps you take and even hours you sleep in a day. All you have to do is enter in what you eat, and the Body Media Fit tells you what calorie deficit you must have to lose weight.

I have been using the Body Media Fit for two weeks now and have lost 4.4 pounds. If I want to eat a little extra in a day, I walk home from the train station instead of taking the bus. If I am feeling a little lazy, I restrict my calories more. This device really takes the guess work out of counting calories!

Back on Track

This past week I have felt like I am in a groove. There were days when I didn't exactly count, but I could read my hunger queues a little better and for the most part I made good choices. Weight loss this week, 3.6 (again) for a total of 9.8 in 5 weeks. I am feeling good. Last night, I was out and saw a friend that I haven't seen in a couple of months. He said that I looked less stressed, more relaxed and pretty. Nice! I also have a date this Saturday! We shall see how that goes.

Goal for this week? Make it through LOL! Pace myself day by day and not beat myself up for small slip ups.

I GAINED weight???

Ok. So the 4th week not so good. I got lazy and STOPPED counting last Saturday. then I didn't count Sunday, even though my WW buddy and I went to hours of trouble to make WW friendly Super Bowl snacks. However, you can only eat SOME of them, not ALL of them. I have to say that I had my monthly visitor on my weigh in day and that could account for part of my 1.4 gain, but probably not all.

The question is, did I get back on track this week? Kind of. I made myself accountable even when I ate over what I should have. I paid attention to my choices. Was I perfect? NO. Is the weekend still coming? YES. Are there parties? OF COURSE. And the biggest question- can I do it? YES!

My current goal is to lose a total of 15 pounds before I visit my sister on March 17th. I have lost 6.2 pounds. About 4 weeks to lose 9 more pounds. VERY doable.

Big Loss and Feeling Good!

Weigh in today...I lost 3.6 this week! I am down 7.6 total and feeling pretty good about it. I am back to not feeling deprived, although I did purposely take it easy drinking this weekend for fear of water retention. My WW leader suggested flushing with lots of water after over-indulgence :)

Right now I am feeling good and motivated. If I could only find a boyfriend....