Celebrating responsibly

My show opened this past Thursday to some wonderful audiences and compliments! It's called I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.  It's a musical that contains various vignettes about dating and relationships.  It's a lot of fun, a lot of costume changes, and I have to be in a slip in front of everyone.  Eh.  I also have about 10 seconds to run off stage with a folding chair, take off my dress, slip, and shoes, and then throw on a wedding dress, veil, and new shoes without looking in a mirror.

Kevin and I in "Stud and a Babe"

 Because of the wonderful support form the community in Lynn (www.artsafterhours.com), the cast and crew have been going out after the shows to support local businesses that support the theater.  Thursday, we went to Cirque (47 Central) for some karaoke (and an amazing dirty Sapphire martini).  So much fun!  Luckily, I had the points for the martini and a beer. Ok, two.  I ALSO had a hangover the next day.

Kevin and I in the Finale

I was a bit concerned Friday because I felt pretty yucky.  I didn't make it to the gym.  I let myself have a break, but was a worried that this might lead to more breaks.
Friday night after the show- Turbine Wine Bar for a glass of (COUNTED!) wine and some music and then we headed to Tatiana's when some people wanted food (not me).  I kept in mind that I'd signed up for Spin 7:30 Saturday morning and switched to diet coke.


Saturday morning.... 6:45 I was wide awake- five minutes before my alarm.  I had set out my clothes, so I just rolled out of bed, threw them on, put my hair up, washed my face and drove to the gym.  I was pretty tired, but it was a great class!  I even packed a banana so I could eat during the half hour between Spin and BodyPump.

PROOF!

I even added some weight to my squats, back, triceps, and shoulders, bitches!

Saturday night- we went out to Northern Nights in Lynn- SO much fun.  They kept the kitchen open for us!  I had another amazing (counted) dirty Sapphire martini (I earned a TON of points) and danced most of the night (more APs!)


I really just need to remember weekends like this when I'm feeling down or like I want to quit the program.  I had a ton of fun and didn't feel like I was sacrificing anything.  :)  BELIEVE

Non scale victories

So my car has been in the garage again for the past couple of days and I haven't been able to get to the gym. That sounds like the beginning of a long excuse, right? Nope! Even though I've been car-less, I worked out at home.  Luckily, I have my old choreography DVDs from BodyPump and Zumba AND a barbell.

It was actually kind of wonderful to revisit BodyPump 66 yesterday (it's the release I trained on).  I was so proud to make it through that training weekend.  It was probably the hardest thing I've done physically.  If I had known what it would involve, I wouldn't have signed up, honestly.  Three days of crazy weight lifting, techniques, and boot camp craziness.

The Zumba today was partially because I'm going to re-certify and hopefully teach again!  It's surprising how much you can remember once you hear an old song you used to teach.  Looking forward to starting that up again!


One more thing- I signed up for Spin for Hope.  It's a three hour spin ride on March 4th for the American Cancer Society.  Please consider a donation if you are able!  My mother and grandfather are cancer survivors, so the cause is close to my family and heart. (actually this is where the car thing becomes a pain- I thought "I'll take a few spin classes a week to train. Sadly, I do not have a spin bike at home)

Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew

Can I be a weirdo who posts pictures of her food? This was EXACTLY what I wanted, but I didn't know until I took a bite. Amazing. Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew from The Kind Diet over some quinoa. Perfect.

Plateaus...?

This is my sixth week back on plan going to Weight Watchers meetings.  I'm very happy with my progress so far, but this is when it starts to slow down a bit for me.  As long as there is a loss, I know I shouldn't complain. And I know that losing at a slow and steady pace is better, but wow I'm impatient.

I want to concentrate on making positive changes and not slipping back into old ways instead of concentrating on the number on the scale.

I've been doing Weight Watchers on and off for a very long time... maybe 10 years or so?  I am going to make sure I measure everything I eat and cook.  I can probably estimate a cup of something by eyeing it, but I am going measure when I can (at restaurants, sometimes you have to give it your best guess) and that means EVERYTHING at home.

Get to the gym. I have the time, I have the membership.  I went six days last week. That exceeded my goal of five days and it was great!  I tried a new class- Total Body conditioning.  I am totally a Les Mills BobyPump fan, but while I'm in a show, I can't make it to the Thursday night class, and my goal right now is to get three days of a full body weight work out in every week.  It was great to switch up the routine!  SO many squats... I also made it to a super popular Saturday morning Spin class.  I signed up 8 minutes after the online reservations started and was put on the waiting list. Yep. Luckily, I got bumped up.  Getting a spot was motivation to get up early on Saturday and head in.  So glad I did.

I've restarted a 5K running program.  I have an iPhone app that I'm pretty sure used to be the C25K, but changed to "Ease into 5K".  It gets the job done.  This time, I'm pledge to do each workout.  In the past, I've skipped weeks or stopped part way through and then just started running as long as I could a slower speed.  I really want to build up to a better speed this time, so I'm pushing myself to run faster than I'm used to on the running intervals.

I'm trying to avoid sleeping in so I can get to the gym in the morning and then eat breakfast.  It's bad to skip and sleeping in feels like such a waste of a day.  I guess I should also try to get to bed earlier...

I want to try a new recipe every week.  Or a new ingredient.  Last year when I went vegan, I did this and discovered some amazing new healthy food.  This week, I think I'm going with a Lentil Soup from The Kind Diet (links to blog).  Also- my local Market Basket (while I still find it to be hell on earth to get through) has some pretty amazing produce.  Last week, I got Shanghai Tips (they're sort of like tiny baby bok choy) and Thai Chili (dear god, they are effing hot). Oh, also lotus roots- still need to do something with those.

Oh- as always- I need to make sure I drink more water.



I'm hoping these things motivate me to keep going and stay positive!  Also- I need to take more pictures for this blog. You know, the one that no one knows about.

Good things!

Ok, I see that I haven't blogged in weeks, but this time, I have been on program for the entire time :)

I'm down 17lbs this go around, 63.8lbs total.  I feel great and motivated and I'm so glad I decided to go to meetings.  I found a great leader and I think that makes all the difference.  (Yay Jean!)  I've also been back to the gym this week (Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday- woohoo).  I do feel better.  Someone at a meeting said something that really is so simple and true- "I never workout and think 'oh I wish I hadn't done that', I always feel better!"  The biggest hurdle- for most of us, I think- is just getting out the door.  Just get dressed and go for it!  You won't regret it! (I need to come back and read this in a couple of weeks when I don't want to leave my heated mattress pad)

So my biggest news is that I'm engaged!  My wonderful fiance (aw, that still sounds nice) proposed on December 27th while we were vacationing at a bed and breakfast in Kennebunkport, ME. I'm very happy!  And slightly overwhelmed by the planning that will have to take place.  I can't believe how far ahead of time somethings need to be done!  We're thinking April of 2013, so we still have some time.  I'm annoyed amazed entertained by all of the people who tell me "Don't listen to anyone else's advice, do what you want" and then go on to tell me why what I plan is wrong and give me their advice. Ah. Yes.  Anyhow here is my ring- he did a great job- picked it out by himself :)


So, 2012 is shaping up to be a great year. I'm feeling positive, strong, and in control!

One week on!

Ok- it's been a long time, but I have good news.  I signed up for Weight Watchers MEETINGS again and went to my second today.  I love 8.4lbs this past week!  That's certainly great motivation.  A great loss even though I used a good deal of WPs on wine last Friday night at Rocky Horror.  I'm feeling pretty great about it and I hope that this helps.  Ok- more later, just wanted to share the good news with... really no one in particular since I haven't reeeeeeeally told anyone about this blog.

A million dollars?

Ok. Yeah. May. I see it, too. Last time I posted.

So, this summer has been rough for me and food and the gym.  I've had good days and even good weeks, but the bad days and weeks seem to even it all out.  I've lost and gained the same 7lbs for months.  It ends now. Or. Yesterday. Technically. Seriously this time.

I guess I don't understand where my motivation goes sometimes.  Weight Watchers is a wonderful program. It's not difficult to follow. You can literally eat whatever you want as long as you plan for it.  I think part of me gets angry that I have to worry about it at all. I know I feel better when I'm on plan. I know I feel 100% better than that when I go to the gym.  I know that I'll get more work if I lose weight (as an actor).  Yeah, I think I just get mad that it's something that I have to worry about at all.

So, I thought maybe I'd use the new season of The Biggest Loser to motivate me (don't judge my reality show watching).  I changed my weigh in day to Wednesday (because that is when I will most likely watch my DVR'd episode every week) and hoped that it would help.  Wednesday last week started off awesome.  I went to the gym and ate well.  Thursday-Monday... less awesome.  Not horrible.  I think it involved some vegan pizza and some guacamole... possibly some dark chocolate... beer...  Again- all of these things would have been FINE if I just COUNTED them.

So there I was on Monday. Ready to start over again. Sort of. I had had some Nyquil the night before and I kicked. my. butt.  So, yeah.  I think I had some pita chips and some plain pasta that day. (Oh, by the way, I had a terrible cold, it wasn't recreational Nyquil)  So, I knew I had to get back to it, but I wasn't feeling super motivated.  I needed a sign. Ugh, I just decided to watch TV.  Aaaaaaaand sign- Dr. Oz is pairing up with Weight Watchers to do this Transformation Nation Million Dollar You contest. Hm.  I need to lose weight... I'm a Weight Watchers online member... I've done it before... I don't expect to win a million dollars, but what the hell.

I went to my local Weight Watchers location yesterday and had my official complimentary weigh in and started to fill out all of the online forms.  Someone's got to win, right? And regardless (irregardless. Oh God. Spell check didn't fix that. WHYYYYYYYY????), I'll lose weight.  So that's still kind of winning something.

After weighing in, I went grocery shopping for lots of produce and dried beans (I'm trying this again. I have some weird inability to prepare beans from their dried state.  Before I went vegan, I had a similar problem preparing bacon. Just can't do it. Not sure why.)  I tracked all of my food and ended up 2 points under (not on purpose).

Today- I tracked all of my food.   (still deciding if it would be useful/interesting enough to post what I eat?) and made it to the gym.  I went to Body Combat.  I love it. It kicks my ass.  I usually would do strength training as well, but it's been so long that this was about what I could do today.  I love Body Combat and shadow/kick boxing so much, that I'm debating joining a boxing gym when my current contract is up.

So here I am at the end of day two feeling optimistic.  I had enough points left over for a pumpkin beer.  See.  Awesome program.