Getting a grip

I had a bad week. Or in my mind I had a bad week. The week after we had that little bbq with the friends, I gained 0.3 Kg despite having gone to the gym and working hard there. Now...I would like to tell myself that it's finally muscle kicking in after having gone to the gym the last couple of months, and I suppose it could be...but my self-esteem did take a big blow.

So, whilst the week before last I clocked in at 77.4, this week I registered a 77.7. Dennis also hasn't been well this week and the weather has followed suit, and I went to my friend's place on the Wednesday...pretty much any excuse to not have gone to the gym, I can make. But I have tried to make up for that by walking...I think I should walk today too, but I dunno, sometimes it's just hard to get motivated. The rain just makes me kinda down and walking alone is no fun too! But having weighed myself I'm at least lower than the 77.4 from the week before, so we have at least lost weight this week and not gained it.

I have developed this obsession with checking my weight every time I go into the bathroom, I believe it's becoming unhealthy. So, I've moved the scale into the bedroom so I can't see it all the time! I read somewhere that if you are trying to lose weight you should really only check it once a month, and weekly if you are working at maintaining. But if I want to keep a tight reign on how I'm doing, I try to do it as often as I can...but then I feel like I'm becoming too fixated on numbers and it may be negatively impacting my eating habits. Like I won't drink so much water because I know when I weigh myself again it will be higher if I'm filled with water. That's a bad way to think. Drinking water helps you lose weight. So, I'm having to constantly make a mental note to drink more.

I've been trying to motivate myself somewhat by leaving reminders for me on the fridge. I found a website where you can upload a picture of yourself and for free, they will take that picture and alter it to what you want to be as your ideal weight. They will do it only if your BMI is over a certain level and you must be a member of facebook to view your picture. I uploaded a picture on to WeightView and the picture of the thinner me, whilst you could tell it was altered, probably does give a fairly close representation of what I would look like. I printed a "before and after" page with a place for a post-it note indicating how many weeks till my Hong Kong/Philippines trip I have left...the time I want to reach my second goal size. I also put a reminder on my fridge to drink more water...

Entertaining...the good and the bad

So, yesterday the Mr. and I invaded his mother's house whilst they were away to abuse their BBQ, washing machine and sauna. We invited a couple of his friends over for dinner. I was absolutely thrilled about this as it gave me the excuse to cook up a storm. (Okay, by Filipino standards it was probably a heavy rainfall, but for Sweden, it was more food than the average evening.)

The day before I prepped the food. With the various dishes, I tried to add ingredients that would make them a bit healthier. For example, I baked whole wheat bread and added wheat germ, sunflower and pumpkin seeds in it. I made potato salad with low fat creme fraiche rather than mayonaise. I put spelt flour in my berry cobbler. In our burgers I put Fibrex in it to help increase the fibre and added sunflower seeds. Unfortunately some things weren't so healthy, like the carmalized onion and turkey tartlets made with ready-made butter pastry casings... The picture is of my partner's burger...he decided that it would be a good idea to have the chicken and the hamburger together...I wish I could do that...he can eat everything and not gain any weight!

There were only four of us, but there was quite a bit of food...and that's the thing, when you entertain, you get carried away with how much food that you need to make to ensure that everyoen is satisfied that you forget that you need to watch your portions. I tried to rectify that by cutting my burger in half and saving it for lunch today and by only eating part of a chicken breast (which tasted so good, I wish that I had more...). I also only ate a fraction of the cobbler. Luckily for me, the three men that were there could eat enough so none of the food went to waste. I was so afraid of weighing myself today, but it looked like I managed to keep the weight at bay. I didn't gain anything from what I could see.

Today Dennis and I walked for about an hour in total having taken three separate walks. My goal now that it's summer, is to walk at least 30 minutes a day with him in addition to possibly catching the bus in the centre of town in the morning (a 20-22 min walk) and going to the gym 2-3 times a week. I get the Biggest Loser newsletters by e-mail and read that you should aim to built to 200-300 minutes of cardio a week (This exercise can take many forms, from swimming to trampoline jumping, from cycling to wrestling, etc. Other online cardio programs are available, including Tempo Training and Interval Training, both of which allow you to choose the level that is appropriate for your fitness level.) I think if I keep to my 30 minute a day goal this should be easily attainable.