Weight Watchers online.

Two nights ago, I decided to sign up for the online version of Weight Watchers. It was about $54 for three months.

A few years ago, I did Weight Watchers in my office. The accountability is great when you go to the meetings, but I just don't have time for that now. Plus, I tried going to a random meeting a couple years ago, and it's completely different when you don't know anyone.

I know how to eat healthy. Yet, I still make poor decisions (more than I should).

I've tried MyFitnessPal and Livestrong, but just keeping up with my calories didn't work.

When I did Weight Watchers a few years ago, I actually didn't agree with the program because I thought it taught people how to eat a bunch of processed junk while staying within the right amount of points.

The new system is SO much better. In fact, most fruits and veggies are zero points. And guess what? You don't even use the calories to figure points.

It uses fat, carbs, fiber and protein to calculate the number of points. The best about the online version is the mobile app. The app itself is free, but if you have an online account, you can do everything from your phone. I'm VERY impressed with the technology. Now, if I can just impress myself with the results.

You get an additional weekly PointsPlus Allowance to use for treats and extras. As you can see, I've already used a few of mine (my week started yesterday ...). I had a Junior League meeting at Noodles last night, so let's blame it on the mushroom chicken ravioli. Oh, I should probably go to the grocery store so I can do better with this.

You can also swap activity PointsPlus values you’ve earned for food. This will happen automatically after you use all of your weekly PointsPlus allowance.

So far, I'm loving the system.

Wedding weight loss.

Guess what? My dress is in!

While tasty, Bubblicious isn't helping the situation. Goodbye, sugar!

After four months of waiting for it to arrive, I’m terrified to go try it on. Let’s just say I was between sizes and opted to go with the smaller one, positive I would lose a few LBS over the course of the past few months. Well, that didn’t happen. Shocker, I know.

But, I’m going to put on my big girl hat and call the dress shop this afternoon to set up a time to go try it on. I won’t start fittings until the end of August, so there’s still time (I know you’re rolling your eyes now).

If you’re married, did you lose weight before the wedding? If you’re not, do you think you will?

As usual, I’m in a weight loss competition at work, which is another motivation. I won last time! OK, so it was only five pounds and everyone else pretty much quit, but oh well.

Today's lunch was berry good. I had to.

So was our Fourth of July ice cream cake.

The past week has been crazy because I’ve had guests at my house and the boy was home. Everything is back to the usual level of craziness, which means I have no excuse to eat out every.single.night. It was fun while it lasted.

Colleen and Rachel, both bridesmaids. Rachel was in town all last week, and we had too much fun!

Happy hump day!

You are what you eat.

I'm sure you've heard that phrase before. Wouldn't it be crazy if it were true? But the statement does make me think twice about what I eat.

When the boy is out of town, I tend to eat less healthy. I cook less. But I workout more. This results in me feeling terrible a lot of the time because working out while eating things that are bad for you is not a good combination.

Since he left last Wednesday, I've been trying to think more about what I eat. I love healthy food, but it will always take effort to choose it over convenience. And there are so many things we eat (and drink) that we think are healthy, but the reality is we are wrong.

I substitue Splenda in my Tropical Smoothie smoothies. I should just make a smoothie at home most of the time.

I order sushi (great idea) but I get the tempura roll (bad idea).

I go to Sonic to order a smoothie, but it's not on the menu anymore. So I order a strawberry cream slush instead. Bad idea but so tasty.

Crazy cup!

Here are some of my other food choices since Mr. A has been gone:

Watermelon for dinner.
And this is the "real" me that the general public NEVER gets to see.

Fruit salad from Chick-fil-a!

I heart almond butter.

If I could eat one thing forever, it would be chips and homemade salsa!

I'm alive! And a crazy ab workout.

I think I'm still recovering from an exhausting weekend with friends. And I've been ridiculously busy this week. The amount of things I have to get done between this very second and tomorrow is insane. Truly.

Once I upload the fun photos from my camera, I will post about the great weekend I had. And tomorrow is the start of another great weekend because Mr. A is here!

For your viewing pleasure, here are a couple photos from my phone that I took last weekend.

First, we had to go to Target to pick up some necessary items. Seriously, necessary though. Not just an excuse. Someone forgot her undergarmets. So, we all decided to pick up some.

Nikki and Katie are both bridesmaids in the wedding.

Ready for a night on the town! My friend Katie (the blonde above) let me borrow her cute dress.

AB WORKOUT

We have this amazing trainer who comes to my office twice a week. She works at the gym where I'm a member, and she's fantastic. Sometimes, I think she tries to punish us, though.

Tuesday's ab workout was a perfect example. Try it at your own risk!

• High knees: 2 minutes
• Sit up and twist (use dumb bell): 10x each side
• Reverse crunches (hold dumb bell between feet): 20x
• Hip raises (feet to ceiling): 20x SLOW
• Upper body circles (with dumb bell): 15x each side
• Lower body circles: 15x each side
• Bicycle crunches: 30x each side
• Squat and raise dumb bells over head: 25x
• Alternate straight legs over dumb bell (set dumb bell upright on ground): 10x each side
• Oblique double crunches (on your side): 15x each side
• Throw downs with partner: 20x
• Reach up to toes: 30x
• Mini double crunches: 30x
• Seated “in and out” crunches (knees to right then to left =1): 20x
• Pushups with leg raise: 20x (10 each side)
• One leg bicycle crunch: 10x each side
• Cross over crunches: 20x each side
• Alternating hip raises: 20x each leg
• Stability ball crunches: 40x
• Scissor kicks (on back with hands under hips): 20x (right over left then left over right=1)
• Regular crunches: 40x
• Mountain climbers: 30x each leg

Midday workouts.

I definitely prefer working out in the morning or at lunch. I find it hard to push yourself after you've worked all day.

Lately, I've been doing RPM (spin) classes on Tuesdays at lunch. Today, our instructor was out of town, so I went back to the cardio/strength training class I used to do.

I forgot how HARD it is.

Here is the first part of the workout. Ouch.

We run outside before heading inside to finish up the workout. I make it a point to really push myself, which means I run as fast as I can.

I plan to run a 10k at the end of April. Today's .62 mile run (I'm bringing the Garmin back out) taught me that I need to seriously pick it up if I plan to survive.

When do you prefer to work out???

Cherry pie and Nilla wafers.

Breaking up with Diet Coke is hard to do. I’ve found that I’ve been drinking a little too much sugar (in the form of juice) since giving up sodas for Lent.

I need to control myself.

Even though you know a lot of the things you drink aren’t good for you, this list of the worst drinks in America (sent to me by my love co-worker, Kelsey) shocked me.

For example, one bottle of a Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino is the equivalent of 32 Nilla Wafers. I think on the satisfaction level, I would much rather eat 32 wafers (if that’s even possible—that’s a lot of cookie-eating, folks).

One bottle of SoBe Green Tea is the equivalent of 4 slices of Sara Lee Cherry Pie. CHERRY PIE! The SoBe people managed to cram 61 grams of sugar into one bottle of tea. Woah. And just so you know, the recommended amount of sugar per day for non-diabetic people is 40 grams.

I need to think about these things before I buy the canned apple juice from the vending machine.

Happy Monday!

I have lots of wedding to-dos this week because Mr. A is home this week!

Photo of the day: Celebrating St. Patrick's Day (last Thursday) with good friends and green beer. Yes, I realize the photo is blurry.

Blue nails? And 4.51%.

To say that I like the Essie 2011 spring collection would be an understatement. I love it. Especially all the pinks and the “French Affair” theme.

Last night, I got this cute little box with four colors from the collection. I’m obsessed with Ulta. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my wallet), Mr. A was with me, so I couldn’t spend tons of time looking around.

I LOVE three of the colors in the box. And the fourth is gorgeous (blue), but I’m not sure about putting it on my nails. Painting my nails is a new thing for me. For the longest time, I didn’t do anything to my nails. Then, for about a year I had a French manicure. I got tired of that. All winter, my nails were some shade of gray. Seriously. Since August, they’ve been gray.

Last time, I went pink.

My Private Cabana.

I can’t decide which of the four to use today.

Here are the options:

French Affair:

via

Nice is Nice:

via

Coat Azure:



via

 Topless & Barefoot:

via

My first thought was Topless & Barefoot. Then I changed my mind and thought French Affair. But after seeing Nice is Nice on nails, it’s gorgeous. But the blue is different and I actually like it. I’m going to the horse races this weekend, and the outfit I have picked out to wear Saturday has blue in it.

via

What do you think???

P.S. Today’s weigh in was great! I’m at a 4.51% loss! The competition has six more weeks to go, and my goal is 10%. That’s what it takes to win any money!

My private cabana.

I’ve finally dug myself out of the two feet of snow and am ready to face the world again! It’s in the 60s here this week. Crazy? Yes.

I feel bulleted updates are the best way to share what’s been going on.

•  My bruised nail (from an August vacation incident) finally grew out enough for me to get my nails painted something besides You Don’t Know Jacque or Chinchilly. Don’t get me wrong—I love gray. But hello, My Private Cabana! You’re a sight for sore eyes. If you’re looking for a great spring color, I highly recommend any of the Essie pinks. I heart them. 

Essie: My Private Cabana and a V-Day gift from my fantastic parents! It's a beautiful pink ring.

• I got some lovely Valentine’s gifts from my parents and the boy. I heart them, too.

They were supposed to be hot pink. Maybe next time.

• Friday night, I got to spend some time with two fabulous ladies that I don’t see enough! I promptly got a spray tan Saturday after taking photos this night.

Katie, Scarlet, Allison.

• We went to see Mamma Mia Saturday night. So good.

I totally cut off the bottom because it was bad.
I made Mr. A take a picture like this, too. I will spare him this time.

• I’m still doing the weight loss challenge at work. The two weeks of BAD weather was … um …. a slight set back. I weighed today (the last time I weighed in was Jan. 26), and I only lost .2 pounds. So my total percentage is 3.56.
• I'm going to back to blogging every day. I promise.

Happy Wednesday!

It's OK to feel full. (and giveaway winner)

We have a giveaway winner! (You know when I said I would post last night that really meant today.)

Congratulations to Mrs. Bear from Think Happy Thoughts. Send me your addresss (allisonrwalker@yahoo.com), and you should get your prize pack soon!

I used random.org to pick a winner. I enter all the names (some of you got four entries) into the list randomizer, and then I use the random number generator to pick a winner. I should have another giveaway soon!

It's OK to feel full
Throughout high school (and college, to some degree), I struggled with an eating disorder. Disordered eating can be a scary thing. But I also think we all deal with a lot of the same "fears" when it comes to eating (and exercise). I'm not ashamed to admit that I've struggled with how to eat healthy and be happy with my diet. Sometimes, I still think I can get obsessive about knowing exactly how many calories are in my dinner, but life's one big balancing act, right?

I think the most important thing I've learned over the past few years is that it's OK to feel full. For me, this used to be something I was afraid of. It seems many of us are conditioned to believe being hungry = losing weight.

So not true.

Being hungry for me = a grumpy, terrible person you don't want to be around!

For example, I had a great dinner last night. Turkey burger, sweet potato fries and steamed broccoli. But for a few minutes after I finished eating, I felt EXTREMELY guilty because I was full. Then, I remembered all the nutrients I ate that my body NEEDS. I remembered how the largest portion on my plate was the broccoli (no butter). I remembered that you can't beat yourself for giving your body the FUEL it needs.

Sure, it's not healthy to feel as full as you do on Thanksgiving EVERY DAY. But it is OK to tell yourself it's fine if you have just a couple more sweet potato fries.

P.S. I used Paula Deen's baked sweet potato fries recipe, and it was delicious. And no, there was no butter. :)

The Food Network photo was a little prettier that my baked fries.

Thinspiration. And weekends.

Don't forget to enter my fabulous Fiber One Fitness Fun giveaway here!

Do you use other people as inspiration? I think we all do. Whether it’s someone whose work ethic you admire, or someone who you think is just a good person.

Then there are people who we just want to steal their bodies. Sure, we might admire them for other reasons (but probably not). Not literally, but you know what I mean. Someone you see and think, I want abs just like that. Yes, I know we should all be happy with what we’ve got, but that can be hard.

For me, it’s not one particular person. But I do find myself tearing out pages of Women’s Health in hopes that these fit, healthy women will be an inspiration to me.

How can you not love Ashley Greene?

Do you watch Jersey Shore? I don’t really, but the ladies have been all over the gossip mags lately for their weight loss. I think J-Woww look s pretty awesome. The 5’7” Jersey girl has lost about 20 lbs. (I saw this picture on Skinny Runner's blog.)

She recently said she's completely stopped drinking. I'm not so sure about that.

Moving on.

My weekend was fabulous because I beat the boy in one game of bowling. Sure, he beat me in the other two games, but that one game is all that matters. I’m somewhat competitive. It was also fabulous because I got a pair of Justin Timberlake's William Rast jeans (from Target), and I'm in love. Go buy some now if there's a Target near you.

I'm third on the screen. He's fourth. :)

I can never do this right.

I promise I didn't crop out the Miller Lite in my hand.

Other weekend activities included dinner at one of my favorite places: Herman’s. We celebrated Steven’s birthday. Steven is the husband of Ragan, one of my BFFs from junior high/high school. I’m so glad she lives in NWA with me.

Mr. A's dinner. A hamburger patty with "The Gear."

My garlic chicken! The best sauce. Ever. I didn't eat the toast.

Happy birthday, Steven!

Ragan made delicious German chocolate cupcakes, but I ate it so quickly I didn’t get a picture.

Happy Monday!

I actually like Mondays because it’s always nice to get back on the healthy track after a few weekend mishaps.

Giveaway! Fiber One Fitness Fun.

*edited with correct dates :)

Are you a yogurt fan? Honestly, I eat a lot of yogurt. Lately, it’s been mostly Greek yogurt. Before that, I always ate Yoplait Light. Peach is my favorite flavor. Blueberry is a close second.

I recently got to try Yoplait Fiber One blueberry nonfat yogurt (I received a coupon for a free 4-pack of yogurt, a prize pack, and lots of great info from Yoplait and Fiber One through MyBlogSpark).

Important facts about my experience with the yogurt:

• I was honestly a little leery because it only has 50 calories.
• But it has 5 grams of fiber.
• Most of the Greek yogurt I eat has zero grams of fiber and more than 100 calories.
• The Fiber One yogurts are smaller, but left me feeling full. I usually eat some fruit with my yogurt.
• I still like the creamy, thick consistency of Greek yogurt, but I am definitely a new fan of the Fiber One yogurt.
• I’ll mix it up for breakfast, but I definitely think the Fiber One yogurt is a better snack choice than other yogurts because of the calories.

Another thing I MUST point out is that yogurt usually has a lot of sugar (unless you buy plain). The blueberry Greek yogurt I had for breakfast has 16 grams. I know I could buy the plain and add blueberries … and I do that sometimes … but prepackaged is always easier … Peach Fiber One Yogurt only has 4 grams. That speaks for itself. However, Greek yogurt has a lot more protein.

If you do Weight Watchers, I’m pretty sure these are 0 points for one and 1 point for two. But this might be different with the new points system.

One trick about yogurt that I learned from Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers is to buy plain nonfat yogurt (she uses Greek, but you could use regular) and add sugar-free Jell-O mix. It’s so good. I ate it a lot last year, as you can see here. My favorite is adding chocolate and fresh strawberries AND blueberries.

OK, enough with the nutritional info. You can win your own prize pack!

In addition to the delicious 4-pack of yogurt, you can win lots of other fun stuff.

This includes: 

An awesome water bottle (it’s a large, durable bottle—not one of those lame, flimsy bottles)

Perfect to keep in the car. You know in case you get thirsty at a stoplight on the way to work.

One last drink in the parking lot before I cram in the gym bag and head into work.

I get thirsty at my desk, too.

A gym/sport towel

Straight from my gym bag. It's perfect for spin.

No, it doesn't smell ...

A food and fitness journal (I LOVE IT), pen, and a blueberry stress ball

How can you win? Leave a comment with your favorite yogurt flavor, brand, etc. Or tell me what would be a good flavor to create. If you don’t like yogurt, what is your favorite breakfast food?

• One entry for your comment (and an extra entry if you’re a follower).
• Two extra entries if you blog about it.
• One extra entry if you Tweet about the contest.

In your comment, send me a link to your post or Tweet, or you can send me an e-mail with the link.

The giveaway ends Wednesday, Feb. 2. I will announce the winner Thursday, Feb. 3

If you want to go ahead and buy some yogurt, you can download a printable coupon for $1 off the purchase of a 4-pack of Fiber One Blueberry yogurt here!