It's in the budget

DH and I listened to Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" as we were driving home from vacation-- as we've not been nearly as dedicated as we once were. We needed our motivational fires lit...again. (Huh-- this seems to be a recurring theme in my life these days!) DH and I decided together that we want to thrive, and it seems like all we have done the last few months is survive.

Dave Ramsey's whole thing is making a budget, and he loves to say that most people feel like they've gotten a raise when they get on a budget-- when every dollar has a job. He also says that the first step in controlling your money is learning to control the person that you see in the mirror.  "I want it now!" is what the red faced toddler says-- and the grownup who should know better, but who isn't willing to deny gratification for a little while.

It's dawned on me that financial responsibility has a lot of similarities to physical responsibility. (Hmmm... physical and fiscal-- those sound an awful lot alike.) If I want to thrive (which is really what the Pudgy Parson is about), then I need to learn to deal with that person in mirror.  And if budgeting helps my wallet, then I have to believe that budgeting is going to help my waist too-- which is exactly the idea behind weight watchers.  I can budget my points each day, so that I know what my limits are.  I get extra points for exercise, and splurging on treats quickly dwindles my surplus.  It's all about budgeting.  Thinking of it this way makes it seem managable.  I know exactly where my money and my calories are going-- and it helps me be in control of my environment.  Feeling out of control also makes the Pudgy Parson feel a little mean-- which is definitely not a good thing!

Look out, wallet! Look out, waist (and hips and thighs and sticky-outy girl parts), the Pudgy Parson is on a budget!

Better Together

He was my best friend in the fourth grade.  Then four years ago, he became my husband.  And now he's become my weight-loss partner.

I've been begging him to join Weight Watcher for me for quite some time, but it was never something that he wanted to do.  But then he started going to the gym when a friend begged him, and while he suddenly became a weight-lifting superstar, he wasn't seeing the results he wanted.  So DH joined with me, and for the first time ever, conquering this 60-lb bulge seems doable.  We've instituted a new rule, which he calls "If I bite it, I write it".  We plan our meals, do the dishes, and then get out our respective I-devices and track our meals. We cheer each other on, instead of accidentally sabotaging each other.

And God love him, he's even coming with me to Hot Yoga--which in prior times, might have been his vision of hell. (The room itself feels like hell--as it's heated to around 95 degrees...)  But he goes, and contrary to my original thought, he's not even going because my spandex-clad body parts are in strange positions in front of him.

Certainly, all this "together" is good for our health-- it's a whole lot easier this way.  And it sheds new light on "Two are better than one... for if one falls, who will help him up?"  But the best part is that it gives us a common interest-- and for two people as different as we are, that's kind of nice.  We are, after all, better together.

Going Green

Green Feather Boa? Why yes, please!

I read in this month's Weight Watchers magazine that signing up for a race is one of the best ways to stay motivated.  (Which, duh, somewhere in my over crowded brain I knew that because I've done it several times... It even worked with I did a triathlon...uh six years and 30lbs ago.)  But when my motivation was flagging, I was having a hard time recalling that advice.

I'm not Irish, but these socks are awfully fun!

I was looking for races and found one in my parents' town-- on March 17, no less.  I mean hey, if you can't do a turkey trot or a reindeer run or a jiggle butt, then you might as well do a leprechaun loop, right?  The timing was right, the place was right, so I'm in-- and training for another 5k.  (I did do a very slow Turkey Trot in November as part of my Girls on the Run Coaching, though.)  I've even talked my mom into doing the race with me.  (Right, Mom? No backing out!) I've been toying with several couch to 5k programs since before Christmas, but now with a goal in mind, it's time to get serious.  I'm using Get Running (available from the App Store).  There's a lovely british woman in my iphone that tells me when it's time to run and when I should walk.  And I'm tracking my runs with RunKeeper.  Because I'm that nerdy that I need to see stats and maps and other fun things.

I'm excited--I'm a goal driven person, so this works just right for me.  I have great plans of dressing up and going green (right again, Mom?) and having a generally goofy sort of time.  I found a lovely pair of green and white socks at Hobby Lobby that I'm thinking of buying to hang up as a visual reminder of my goal.

Seeing progress...

Huh.  Now why didn't I think of that!  That looks a lot more fun than the overly-perky "It's your weight-tracking day.  Have you tracked your weight?" reminder that pops up on my iphone every Thursday.  Because when I've had a busy, motivationless week like I have, I hit "ignore" quickly.  Who wants to fess up and watch the graph go up instead of down?

 But this is lovely.

A friend of mine suggested using quarters-- that could be loads of fun too.  Because when you hit your goal, you could spend all the glorious quarters.   But I kind of like this the way it is-- a nice, color coordinated reminder of how I'm doing.

I totally ripped this off from a friend on Pinterest.  You're welcome to rip things off me from pinterest too!  You can do that here or by clicking on the button on the right side bar.

Mean voices in my head

Love this quote: "People often say that motivation doesn't last.  Well, neither does bathing--that's why we recommend it daily." Zig Ziglar, as quoted in the Jan/Feb edition of the Weight Watchers magazine.

We were at Chick-fil-a and Mom asked, "So how many points is that?" Like I would know off the top of my head.  Uh...which I definitely would have at one point.  But truth be told, points weren't even on my radar then (or since.) I could've looked it up with my happy iphone app, but once again, my motivation is flagging.  It seems like such a big goal (even though I keep telling myself to just lose ten pounds, which is a small easy to achieve goal, some mean voice in my head says, "Uh...ten plus fifty would be closer.")  And the weather in the mornings is making it hard to run (and the new bed is forcing, yes forcing, me to stay in it longer.)  And I'm busy.  And I feel like a ten or twenty minute workout is a waste of my time (which I know it isn't, but it's those mean voices again.)

And I'm making excuses.

Tomorrow, I won't sleep through my alarm.  Tomorrow I will hit the gym even if it is too cold to run in the morning.  Tomorrow I will find my motivation.  Tomorrow will be better.

Of course, as Annie so famously sang, "Tomorrow is always a day away."

Coffee-Flavored Sabotage!

It's sabotage, I tell you! Pure sabotage!

Only I'm doing it to myself.  But whatever the case, it's a problem.  On days when I work from home, I seem to want to keep my coffee mug filled up with something warm and caffeinated--especially on chilly, soggy days like this one.  I used to be a one cup a day sort of girl, but now I'm moving up around the 3-4 a day range.  (And I love it so much, that in the afternoons I'm just as happy with the low-voltage version.)
Not only do I recognize that 1)this habbit is expensive and that 2) no one needs that much caffeine, but there's a bigger problem. I don't do "black" coffee.  In fact, my husband calls my concoction a "coffee milkshake." I think that's a little unfair, but I do like...uhem... a bit of cream and sugar.

I looked at my WW log one day, and realized that I had used up six points on nothing but my coffee addiction.  That's a lot.

I've heard people suggest things like drinking warm broth, but seriously? I've tried the tea thing, and while there are some marvelous flavors, I still prefer a nice cup o' joe.  At least with tea, I can stomach using splenda (with fiber, no less...double fab points for me!) instead of sugar, but I just am not willing to do that to my poor, innocent coffee.

I don't know what the answer is, but I'm going to have to find one... I am unwilling to lose this battle due to  sabotage. I just wish that coffee flavored sabotage didn't taste so good.

A New Year, A New Start

That's right folks, the Pudgy Parson is back and ready to conquer the world, after a blah-inspired hiatus.  And I couldn't be happier (or feel better).

My body started all sorts of foul back-talk in the week after Christmas.  It said "Enough, already! Enough!"  My stomach was ten shades of mean from all the rich foods I had been eating during the...uhem...holidays (which embarrasingly lasted from Thanksgiving through Christmas).  So the doggie and I (and her fun new hands free leash) headed out for some bonding time in the neighborhood at my in-laws. I think I managed to get in a walk three of the five days we were there--which was pretty amazing considering how busy we stayed.

But once we got back (and picked up the new Iphone which had been waiting on me), I've been on the move ever since.  I've either gone walking in the cornfields or running in the park or have  hit the gym every single day.  I have all sorts of snazzy new programs that are helping me get back into running. (Seriously...a few weeks makes that much difference? I thought I was going to die.  Or at least pant really unattractively forever.)

And I'm back to weight watchers, which meant I had to confess the yes, sixteen point sandwhich I had at Jimmy Johns yesterday.  Good thing I'd been doing all that exercising!

Here's to 2012: the year of the pudgeless parson!

To Cheesecake or Not to Cheesecake...that is THE question

It's been a rough week--really rough. Stress has been high, time and patience have been low.  If ever there was a week to have been a candidate for emotional eating, this would have been it.  But I haven't. I haven't hibernated on the couch and eaten my favorite comfort foods.  In fact I've exercised every day, and I've made what I consider to be healthy choices. 

Except yesterday when DH and I went on a date to the Cheesecake Factory.  It was a special thing, and it was something that we needed to do.  It was more than comfort food, it was heart-healing food.  Maybe with everything going on, I'm not as hungry as I would've normally been.  Or maybe its that I'm so ready to beat this weight-monster.  But whatever it is, I didn't have a hard time showing restraint.   I ordered a lunch sized portion and only ate half of that.  And instead of ordering my own cheesecake (ummm, hello... it is the cheesecake factory), I ate only a few bites of the one that DH ordered.  Sure, I could've faired much better at some other restaurant, but compared to the damage I've been known to do at the Cheesecake Factory, I came out ok.  Besides, thats what activity points and weekly points are for, because sometimes you just need to cut loose...a little. I know that today, I'll be back to watching it and even before we went, I planned a long walk on the trail to clear my head. 

To Cheesecake or Not to Cheesecake never would've been a question before.  But it was yesterday, and I'm glad I made a choice that allowed me some much needed fun and doesn't leave me feeling guilty today. 

One Year

I have no idea why date was important enough to stick in my head, but it was a year ago that Weight Watchers revealed its new "Points Plus" plan.  I had been getting emails (and thinking it mildly amusing that they chose to launch it on the Monday after Thanksgiving) and was super excited about it.  I put the launch date on my calendar and signed up that very day.

I expected that a year later I would be skinny, healthy, and athletic. But instead, I'm ten pounds heavier.  I'm slower.  I'm more tired.  And I'm $216 dollars poorer ($18/mo for 12 months) on just Weight Watchers alone.

Helloooooooo! That's a poor return on investment by anyone's standards!  But maybe that's just the wakeup call I need.

Turns out the program only works if you actually follow it.  Huh.

Where were you at 6 a.m.?

I was having a hot, sweaty time at the gym, because I knew if I didn't then, then I wouldn't.  And I can't say I've regretted the decision.  Since I exercised early, I have more energy, more focus, and more willpower. And I used the time to read a book (ipads are amazing!) which I won't have much other time to do in the next few weeks.  I used to run to a loud playlist, which was the only way I thought I could survive it.  But today I did the elliptical at a pretty good clip and enjoyed the reading.  Then I got on the treadmill and only ran for a little while.  Instead, I backed off the speed, and upped the incline considerably...and burned a heckofa lot of calories.  In less than an hour, I earned 12 Weight Watchers points (which would be awesome if I was actually following the WW program).

This week is my birthday, then next week is Thanksgiving...and then we're just in full fledged holiday mode.  Ask me how I feel as they get closer, but the last few days I've not been craving rich foods very much.  I'm still making the whole shebang, but since I'm not a thanksgiving-food lover, then maybe I won't go overboard too much.  The plan is to do as much exercising as possible these next few weeks, and enjoy what I want to in moderation.  Besides, exercise may just be what keeps me sane these next few busy weeks!