Weight Watchers Week 5

Sorry for keeping you in suspense for an extra day. I am sure the weekends are long enough for you, just sitting there, waiting for my weight update post.

This week I lost 1.5lbs and 1 inch.

As I always say, when it comes to losing weight, I'll take any loss I can get, big or small.

What I did:
- went to 2 spin classes
- rode my bike w Avery on the back, 10 miles
- ate all my points with only 30 weekly points left over, hoping that covers anything I under measured

Summary:

Week I (5/20/13) - down 9lbs and 7.75 inches

Week II (5/27/13) - down 2.5lbs and 5.25 inches.

Week III (6/3/13) - no pounds lost - down 3 inches

Week IV (6/11/13) - down 3lbs and 3 inches. 

Week V (6/17/13) - down 1.5lbs and 1inch

So here is to another week, some more exercise, and eating right.

xoxo

Success in Numbers

Source

Ryan gave me my scale back last night.

This is the scale I use

I resisted the urge to jump on after I set it down on our bathroom floor. I know weighing myself at night is a sure way to be discourage, especially after I felt I worked hard all week and stuck to The Plan.

I woke up this morning, peed, stripped down and gingerly stepped, one foot at a time, onto the 1'x1' piece of glass that holds the weight of the world -not really, just my weight.

And I was down! 3.5 pounds lost forever. Like my cousin's He-Man in the Ocean City, NJ beach when we were 5.

Then I got to measuring my important areas. Another loss of 3 inches. In my arms (1"), Waist (0.5"), Hips (0.5") and thighs (1").


It feels good.

source

SO good.

source

I wore shorts yesterday that never really fit me, even when I first bought them, although I told myself they did - ew. And they definitely did not fit me last summer - at all.

It feels good to walk and not feel my arms graze my love handles/muffin top.

So what did I do different this past week?

1. I had Ryan hide my scale.
2. I took a spin class (Uh, hello, 10 activity points for 45 minutes!!!)
3. I walked 5+ miles in New York City  - of course this will not be a weekly occurance but it is an excellent push to move, a lot more.
4. I only ate after 7pm 2 or 3 nights, and only because I had to. Like Wednesday night because I take Avery to gymnastics at 5:15-5:45 and then went straight to spin 6-7, so I HAD to eat after 7.
5. I swapped my activity points first before my weekly points, so I actually used points I earned through sweat and busting my bum.
6. I earned 30 activity points for spin, c25k and the hours of walking we did in NYC. I used 23 of those, but I did not "use" any of my weekly points. I say "used" because I am quite sure I underestimated points here and there and forgot to track a thing or two (at the most because I have been very diligent about tracking everything) which the leftover activity point and unused weekly points should cover.

What I am planning for this week:
1. Spin tonight (10 Actv pts)
2. C25k tomorrow (3 Actv pts)
3. Do not eat after 7, if avoidable
4. C25K Friday (3 Actv pts)
5. Spin Saturday (10 Actv pts)
6. Going to dinner with Ryan's friend and his wife, so I have already went to the restaurant's website and figured out the points values and what I can eat.
7. Ryan hid the scale again.
8. Stick to it, drink water, eats lots of fruit and veggies.

Summary:

Week I (5/20/13) - down 9lbs and 7.75 inches

Week II (5/27/13) - down 2.5lbs and 5.25 inches.

Week III (6/3/13) - no pounds lost - down 3 inches

Week IV (6/11/13) - down 3lbs and 3 inches. 

Totals to date - 4 weeks - 14.5lbs and 19 inches

xoxo

Conviction and Spending and Debt

Jesus said to them, "Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. Life is not measured by how much one owns" (Luke 12:15, ICB)

Ahhhh, being convicted of a sin is no walk in the park. And if you are like me, and surrender your life to the Lord later in life (as opposed to "growing up saved") there are obvious sins that you need to repent and ask for forgiveness and change. Some things are easier to change - for me at least - like drinking too much. I just don't do  it. I don't put myself in the position to be tempted and that helps. Some things are not as easy, like cursing. It's something I have to make an effort everyday to watch my mouth. And by the grace of God, I am forgiven. Every. Single. Time.

Recently, I have been convicted big time of my spending. It is this feeling like when you eat too much and just feel gross. When I buy something, that I do not need, for no reason at all, I keep getting this feeling. Then I stumbled upon this blog.

BAM!

A slap in the face. Particularly this part: " “YOU DESERVE IT DARLING!” 

I almost always justify my spending with, "Well, I work hard and I deserve it!"

Nope. No, no, no.

What I deserve is to live a life free of debt. Because if I am spending, I am not paying off our debt (and even contributing to it <gasp>). I have always suspected I have a teeny, tiny addiction to shopping. The rush of finding something GREAT! and ON SALE! Ripping tags off to put on a new shirt, peeling size stickers off some new pants. All stuff we (I) really didn't need in the first place.

This is The Plan:

Make a list of all debt.
1. School loans - yes, my company footed the bill for my recent degree BUT I went to school - a private college, cha-ching! for 3 years when I first graduated high school. That, my friends, was not paid for. In fact, my mom and I took loans out to cover my tuition. And then those loans sat there for almost TEN years in deferment while I finished my degree. (if you didn't know, you can defer your loans if you are at least a part time student. They give you the option to pay the interest but of course, I chose not to). So now I have some school loans to pay off. Granted the total is nowhere near what the average college graduate would accumulate, it's still a debt and it still needs to be paid.
2. My car loan - I always pay about $100 over the minimum payment so that has helped our balance go down quickly and I am hoping to have it paid off in the next 18 months (it was a 4 year loan and we are 1 year in)
3. Credit cards. Ugh. I gag just writing it. I HATE CREDIT CARDS. HATE. Think of a food you hate. For me it is liver. I hate credit cards more than I hate liver. I know our credit card debt is not even that bad compared to most. But it is still there and it is still a burden and it is still sucking a lot of money a month that we could be using to, oh I don't know, SAVE.
4. Mortgage. This one I am on the fence about. Since we live in a townhouse, we hope that it is not our forever home and that in the future, we can get something a little bigger. With a garage and a basement. 3 people and 3 dogs, can make it feel a lot smaller than it did when we bought it 4 years ago. (On the positive side, it really makes you evaluate what you NEED and what you do not need) So since we do not plan on living in this house forever, I do not know if it is really beneficial to pay off THIS mortgage. Plus, with the housing market as it is, we will be here for some time and hope that we gain some equity back in our home.
We decided to see where we are at when we pay off the school loans, car loan, and credit cards.

Find the proper tools.
Not only did I find this blog. But I found this one too. And they have an app. I love apps. This one lets you enter all your debts, the balance, the interest, the monthly payment and then it shows you how long it will take you  to pay off. Every month, or anytime you make a payment, you enter into the app and it will adjust your balance and time frame. Right up my alley. Plus, both blogs feature posts by others who are now debt free or working on it.

Choose which debt to start with first.
We chose the credit cards. 1, because it seems like the worst. And 2, it is the most burdensome to me.
If all goes as planned, we should have them paid off by January 2015 - less than 2 years!!!
I am estimating that the car loan will also be paid off by then - or sooner.
Then we will throw the snowball at my school loans. I am giving us 5 years for those. It could and hopefully will be sooner, but that is the max.

Figure out your budget.
I redid our budget so that we know exactly where we will be spending our money each month (bills, food, gas). Any extra money (overtime, birthdays, etc) will go immediately to the current balance we are paying.

Recognize the lifestyle changes you need to make to reach your goal.
On our list of necessary bills are Mortgage, HOA fee, child care, water, electric, car insurance, cable/internet/phone, cell phones, gym membership, food/gas. I think if we were in deeper hot water, there are bills we could cut in half and or eliminate such as the cable bill and the cell phone bill. I budget $150 for food per week and $50 for gas. I am going to try to cut the food bill down to $100/wk and when my office moves closer to home in September, my gas will definitely last longer. Right now I am driving 50 miles a day round trip to work. When we move office buildings it will be about 25 miles round trip. (fun fact: that is an answer to one of my prayers! Hallelujah!) Instead of shopping, I will find other activities to spend my time (go to the gym, Meg) and when I am out shopping and I see something I really like, I will take a picture of it and add it to my list (I actually found an app - see, I told you I love apps - that you can compile a list of "wants". You add a picture, the store, price, website...kind of awesome). Then when Christmas or my birthday(May 29th, people) rolls around, Ryan will actually  be able to surprise me with something I want.

Stay committed.
Any lifestyle change is hard. In a world that is Me!Me!Me! NOW! NOW! NOW! we will definitely be challenged daily. What we have to keep in mind is that we are blessed. All of our needs are met and then some (and more!) This money that we are blessed with is not truly "ours". If we are not responsible stewards of the gifts God blesses us with, how can we expect Him to continue? I know that we have all that we do not because either of us are so smart or hardworking - that we did it all by ourselves - we are smart and hardworking because God gave us those qualities and we make the choice to use them in the best way we know how and to honor Him. I am all about being content with what I have and thankful for all that I have been given. So if you are thinking of it, please pray for us as we make changes in our lives. Please pray for our motivation, determination, contentment, and resistance to temptation that will only keep us in the hole we have dug.

Here goes nothing....

xoxo