Activity as a Lifestyle

It gets pretty cliche, but the thing about WW is that it's a lifestyle change, not just a diet.  That means that for me to be successful, I have to not just look at what happens when I sit down for a meal, but the rest of my life too.

Before I started WW, I lived a pretty sedentary lifestyle.  It wasn't always like that.  I was pretty active growing up - my family hiked, biked, canoed, camped, and skied all the time.  Growing up in Alaska, it just felt natural.  I was on the cross-country running and cross-country ski team in high school.  I was never skinny, but I was in good shape.

Then I went to college, and those habits just kind of died.  Going to the gym wasn't a priority.  I didn't find time to run or bike.  I didn't have a car, so going hiking became a big deal - I had to either find a group that was going (and thus get out of bed before noon on a Saturday) or find a friend with a car.  Because I wasn't making activity a priority, I wasn't going out of my way to make friends with people that made it a priority too.

So over the last 10 years, I went from someone who was outside for several hours at least 4 times a week to someone that could spend all day inside, in front of a TV, without really noticing.  Because I kept eating like a high school athlete, it's no wonder I got to where I am.

One of the things I've had to admit to myself since starting WW again is that I'll never be a gym rat.  I just don't enjoy it.  I can do an hour on the treadmill or the elliptical, but I get so BORED!  And when I get bored, I lose motivation.

What I've found, though, is that if I work activity into my lifestyle, I get it done.  That might mean an active date with Matt - instead of just spending the day hanging out, we'll ride our bikes to the park and have a picnic or go for a hike.  I've been riding my bike to work, which takes about an hour each way.  I could never make myself spend two hours at the gym, but taking the time to bike to work feels like a treat.

And that brings me to today.  I've wanted to start volunteering now that we've gotten settled.  So when I heard about the Great American River Clean Up, I decided it was the perfect way to spend the morning.  Matt and I could hike up and down the river, and the American River Parkway would get cleaned up in the process.

A year ago, I would have heard about the clean up on the radio, and thought "Good for those people, the type of people that can get up early and actually have the energy to do something."  Now I am one of those people, and it feels great!

We're Back!

It's been a hectic few months.

Since we last posted, we've had a few changes - the biggest one is that we're no longer in Northern Virginia, we've moved to California!

After a 5 1/2 day drive, we pulled into Sacramento, for a nice stay in a residential hotel.  Although we had a small kitchenette, we weren't able to do a lot of cooking that lended itself to blogging (unless you like pictures of salads and canned beans, then do I have some recipes for you)!

We've since found an apartment with a full kitchen, and have been slowly unpacking and getting everything in order.  We've also been finding the grocery stores and farmers' markets.

Our Farmers' Market Haul

We've also been getting other parts of our life in order - namely our finances and our diets.  I've come to realize that the two things are closely related.  Saving money and paying off debt is very similar to losing weight.  Both involve making a budget - if I eat more than my alloted points for the week (i.e. eat more calories than I burn), I gain weight. If I stick to my points "budget", I lose.  If I spend more than I make in a week, I go into debt, but if I spend less, I save money.  To stay within either  budget, I have to make choices.  If I want a latte, I can't buy a cookie later.

I don't really want to go into the details of our financial situation, but I will say that we're making an effort to save.  And since food is the biggest part of our budget that we can control right now, what we eat is going to play a role in that.  So we've decided that we're going to start including that in the blog.

But here's the thing.  I love food.  I really love eating good food.  And any plan, either for losing weight or saving money, that makes me give that up is bound to fail.  That needs to be another focus of the blog.

Hence, the new goal in the header - we want to lose weight, save money, and eat ethically, but we want to do that without sacrificing flavor.

Quiet Week

I know I haven't really been posting a lot on the weight loss front.  That's because there hasn't been a lot to post about.  I had a slight gain when we got back from Sioux Falls, but it was an expected gain.  I didn't track at all, was eating meals prepared by others or in restaurants for 6 days, attending frequent, wedding related celebrations with the associated food and drinks, and sitting in a car for 4 of those 6 days.  So not really conducive to weight loss.  I probably could have tracked, or focused more on activity, but honestly, kind of needed a break.

But now it's back to the grind.  I've had my fun, I need to get back on track.  Matt and I have about a month before we move cross country to California.  I know that's going to be a major disruption in my life.  I don't want to know how long we'll have to go without access to a full kitchen or our kitchen equipment.  Even if all goes according to plan, July is going to be a stress-filled month.  And based on some of the interactions I've had with the people handling my move, assuming that all will go according to plan is quite optimistic.

So my goal for June is to really ingrain some of the healthy habits that will carry me through times of stress.  Those include:

1. Having healthy snacks on hand for when I get hungry
2. Watching my portions - even if I can't control what's put in front of me, I can control how much of it I eat
3. Finding healthier outlets for my stress than junk food
4. Keeping activity a part of my daily routine.  Even if I can't get to the gym or take 60 minutes to do Wii Fit, I can at least go for a 20 minute walk on my lunch break, or take the stairs instead of the elevator

I know these aren't concrete goals, they can't be measured.  The TA that taught my "Fitness for Life" lab in college would be disappointed.  But if I focus on them, and really ingrain them in my lifestyle this month, when I'm more or less in control, when I feel things spiraling out of control next month, I will have them to fall back on.

Here's an example of how I put goals 2 and 4 into practice on Friday.  Matt, a friend, and I met up at Truckeroo, a Food Truck festival near my office.  Matt and I both got sandwiches from El Floridano.  If you're in DC and haven't tried them, find out when they'll be near you.  For $7 a sandwich, you won't regret it!  They have great vegan options as well as normal pulled pork sandwiches.  If you get the tempeh, it's not a bad meal, points wise.  I picked El Floridano because, unlike some of the other options, I felt like they had reasonable portion sizes.  After sandwiches, I had a green tea popcicle from Pleasant Pops.  Matt had the Strawberry Rhubarb.  Overall, it was a high points dinner, but I had planned for it, and I definitely don't feel like I went overboard.

After dinner, we all walked down to the new Yards park in Navy Yards for some live music.

Matt and I at the Yards

 The Electric Slide

The Anacostia Waterfront at night

The Yards Park

An evening of free music, just enough good food to feel good about it, and walking.  I felt in control, I had fun, and I wasn't obsessing about my weight loss journey.  It felt great!

Camping Food

Matt and I spent Saturday night on Assateague Island off the Maryland coast.  If you grew up reading the Misty of Chincoteague series, you'll know Assateague as home to a herd of wild ponies, as well as many different sea birds. 

Traditional camping food tends to be pretty pointy and pretty meaty.  So it's a challenge to find plan food for a camping trip.  Breakfast is easy - we usually just have instant oatmeal and coffee.

We cooked dinner over the fire.  Getting a fire started was the hardest part.  I have distinct memories of my dad teaching me how to start fires, unfortunately, I don't actually remember what he said.  It also didn't help that the wood we bought from the park was damp.  After a few false starts and a drive into town to buy some fire starter, we finally got it going.

Dinner was Tofu Pups and Hobo Pies.  To make the Hobo Pies, we chopped up two potatoes and onions, and added enough oil to coat, and salt and pepper.  We wrapped them in heavy duty foil.  Normally we'd put it in the coals, but by the time we got the fire started, I was pretty hungry, so we set up a grill over the fire itself.  Once everything was cooked, we added ketchup, mustard, and sauerkraut.

Still a little pointy, but hiking on a beach will earn enough activity points to make up for it, along with the beer.  Beer and hot dogs - I love that I can have food I love and not feel guilty about it!

Back in a Flash

We haven't posted in the last couple of days, mostly because we've been on a whirlwind trip to the West Coast for a wedding in Puget Sound, Washington.  We somehow managed to cram a ferry ride, hanging out with high school friends, the wedding, sightseeing, and seeing some college friends all into about 72 hours.

We'll be back up and running with recipes later this week, but in the mean time, enjoy some pictures from the beautiful Pacific Northwest.