Tweaking Tuesday – Passover eating.. ugh March 30, 2010

oh boy, oh boy…

Ever been watching what you eat, been super careful and then there’s a special occasion/holiday. No matter how well-behaved, how motivated you’ve been, people will be chanting ‘did you try this?,’ ‘have another dear’ and my ultimate favorite ‘oh it’s a special occasion, it just once it won’t matter’. Well, the truth is there are umpteen special occasions a year.. if I cheated at each I would never get out of my rut would I? Think about this – how many birthday dinners, anniversaries, birthday parties, holiday dinners, date nights do you have per year? Think about the caloric content of each of those occasions.. ouch.

This week is Passover and we follow it in my home – insert groan here – and we give up everything on the naughty list for the full 8 days. It is brutal. The first two days the matzah tastes crisp, delicious, and you can make yummy little treats you haven’t consumed in a year (reread prior paragraph). After the first two days the honeymoon period has worn off and it tastes like sawdust, cardboard and like bland saltine crackers at best. Your body starts shutting down and you feel miserable and mitchy (this is my friends word – mean & ___ in one cutesy word).

I’m thinking this year, after the two huge, delicious feasts which kick of the week of Passover, I will take this opportunity to go a little lower in my carb consumption. Perhaps break my addiction? I’m not going to fake regular foods by using matzah & matzah meal – I will just eat meat, veggies and the occasional potato.

I can’t wait for next Tuesday – it will be a celebration. I can’t wait to put sugar-free french vanilla creamers in my coffee (yes that is what I am missing!)

Tara xox

Tweaking Tuesday – Lucky #3 January 26, 2010

Last week was a success! I’m really proud of the work I did last week and how I met most of my goals.

My physiotherapy visit last Thursday was a let down. I was hoping my new physiotherapy  (my regular therapist is currently on preventative leave) would be exciting, but it felt as though she was a little lost. I’m hoping this week she’ll be a little more with it. My whole session she was running around with other patients and I was there in the end for almost 2 hours. Usually I enjoy being out of the house and taking some time to myself, however this visit seemed endless.

Stretching is going well, I’ve been able to run through all of them at least twice a day. This sunday I have another massage lined up (last session worked miracles), so I’m hoping early next week to add some light yoga to my routine. I found a yoga dvd for people with back pain, it was even on sale at Chapters.ca – I just can’t bring myself to spend over $8 in shipping on the item. I’m looking around to see if I can find one cheaper. I know, I know, as someone who sells online I should understand the cost of shipping. It just bothers me knowing that they can send it to me at a cost lower than $3. Any suggestions of where to look?

This week’s goals are a little more lofty – after a weekend filled with yummy food, wine and desserts I want to start tackling my food intake now that I’ve change some other habits. I’m  starting to journal my food intake and follow my weight watchers plan again. For those of you who don’t know about Weight Watchers it is a weight loss/maintenance system which takes into account healthy lifestyle and eating habits, journalling and support to aid members in weight loss, there is also this point system calculated with your calories, fat and fiber and a points target based on weight, age & activity. I did the program years ago and dropped 60 lbs and kept it off for a year, becoming a lifetime member, so I know the system works for me. I began  participating on the weight watchers online boards again yesterday. I think if I don’t start this ‘tweak’ now that I’ll continue to eat my troubles away. Yesterday was my first day journalling and I did a fabulous job, I stayed with my points target and drank tons of water. Now if I could just get my husband to stop asking me to make him chocolate chip cookies at night I’ll be ok.

fact: while pregnant with my daughter I ran out in the middle of the night to buy my husband cookies for his craving, not the other way around.

so this is what I’m working on this week:

stretching, physiotherapy & massage
drink 1 pitcher of water per day
journal
stick to WW plan (keep within points target – work on other rules next week)

I’ll let you know how it goes

Weight Watchers Hungry Orange Monster by Giraffecraft on Etsy

What are you doing to for yourself this week?

Tweaking Tuesday – part deux January 19, 2010

Hey all! hahaha.. I always wanted to say that!

Here we are at week two of my tweak. Lets just say that old habits are hard to break, and pain is even harder to shake.

Exercise: BAH! I did it only once last week. I couldn’t get into doing it.. my sciatic pain was too harsh last week. I have a feeling my physiotherapy caused a massive flare-up that brought me back to where I began. (I even have bruising on my back?!). I think the pilates might wait until next week realistically. We’ll check on my condition from week to week.

What I was really good at doing this past week was stretching. After my flare-up I continued doing my stretches and core flexes and ice. If this gets me moving again comfortably I’ll be a happy cookie.

Water – well I wasn’t drinking 8 glasses a day by far, but I was drinking more and conscious of my caffeine intake. We entertained a few times over the weekend and a glass of wine (or two)  clouded my judgement and allowed me to neglect my H2O intake! I’m going to work on drinking a pitcher per day this week. (Wish me luck)

I bought a note-book today.. the idea is to journal my food/exercise intake. I think this week I’ll keep tabs of my water & exercises (stretches).

Wish me luck in ‘tweaking’ this week! Good luck to you also!!

Tweaking Tuesday January 12, 2010

Today I’m going to give you a little insight into my life. It feels like since I was a teenager I’ve struggled with my weight/body image. When my husband and I started dating years ago I was at my highest weight ever, a year later I joined Weight Watchers and lost close to 60 lbs. It was the most success I had ever had with a weight loss program, and the only one out there I feel helps change your habits for life. Granted I’m not at my goal weight anymore, but after two kids I’m not at my highest weight.

This year’s resolution isn’t to lose weight. Nah- that’s too typical and really the number on my scale display bothers me, but it no longer keeps me up at night. I want to feel good. I want  to run with my kids. I want to not cringe when putting on a dress or at the idea of going out. Essentially I want to start taking care of myself. Over the past few months I’ve developed a lot of back pain, my sciatic nerve is pinched, and a lot of that is because of my weight and my lack of core muscles. However, I’m in a vicious cycle.. the more I do the more it hurts, the less I do.. the less chance of recovery I have.  Mix that up with picking up my two little ones and I’m struggling daily.

This brings me to Tweaking Tuesday.. this is the day of the week where I’ll let you know how I’m going to make a small change for myself this week. This week I’m starting to do some stretching, some minor core exercises and pilates. I’m not going to lie and tell you I’ll do this everyday (stretching I will because it’s part of my physiotherapy). If I get down on the ground and successfully workout 3 times this week I’ll be shouting ‘woot – woot’ from the rooftop.

To get into better shape I have to work on both exercise & food.  Realistically, I’m only going to make small changes every week and create new healthy habits. This week, week 1, I’ll do the stretching and make a minor change to my eating habits: drink more water. ICK. For every 2 glasses of water I drink I’ll reward myself with a caffeinated beverage (coffee or diet pepsi). However, I’ll start the day in a deficit because nothing enters my body before my morning coffee.

Good luck to me!

How about you? Are you making any changes for a healthier 2010? What are your reasons?

Cheers,

T