Saturday morning green monster attack! :)

As promised, here is a pic of my wonderful post-gym Skinny Green Monster smoothie. Of course, I always have it in my ultra-klassy circa 1983 WWF "Big John Studd" glass- it's the only glass in the house big enough to contain the awesomeness that is the skinny green monster smoothie. (I used to have the Andre the Giant cup from that same WWF set, but poor Andre met an unfortunate end.) Today's smoothie contained: 1 1/2 cups unsweetened Almond milk, 1/2 c fat free French vanilla Greek yogurt, 3 cups of raw spinach and a packet of Weight Watchers French vanilla smoothie mix for a total of 5 WW points. Wonderful, and you can't beat the multiple milk and fruit & veg servings in one meal. Today at the gym I did my regular BodyAttack class, that's my favorite class ever- it's very satisfying to go all out for an hour and feel a sweat drenched exhaustion at the end. I'd planned to also take a BodyVive class today, but I just couldn't quite drag myself out of bed in time for that one- maybe next week! :)

Closing in on goal!

Wow...I just typed a whole blog entry here, and made the mistake of clicking on one of the pictures to try to realign the text and the whole thing WENT AWAY. Stinkin' computer! Oh well, here's another try.
My Weight Watchers weigh in went well, I was down 1.4 pounds for a total loss of 98.8 pounds. My ultimate goal weight is just 1.2 pounds away. It's possible that I *might* make goal next week, but I'll just chip away at it this week and (if a kickstart is needed) I have a 5K race a week from this Sunday so maybe that will be the final kick that I need to reach my goal weight.
This week I've discovered two new Weight Watcher friendly foods, thanks to other weight loss bloggers. First is the peanut butter-y fruit dip of my dreams, thanks to Spunky Suzi. To make the fruit dip, mix 2 tbsp of PB2 with 1/4 cup of nonfat French Vanilla Greek yogurt. This picture shows a half cup, but I found that the best ratio for maximum peanut butter goodness is 2 tbsp PB2 to 1/4 c yogurt, so a half cup serving is best with 4 tbsp so as not to diminish the peanut butter goodness. Strawberries are ok with the dip, but bananas are *awesome*. I may have even forgone the fruit entirely and simply eaten a half cup of this stuff, it's just that good. I'm going to try a quarter cup of it on top of a warmed chocolate Vitamuffin, I'd bet it's an amazing 5 point snack. The other things that I discovered this week was thanks to Jennifer at
Living A Changed Life. She posted a picture of the Archer Farms Indulgent Granola Bites, a wee tiny 2 point snack that really packs a chocolate punch. I stormed through Target with that photo on my phone, a shining beacon of snacking goodness. There are 4 different flavors, but my favorite by far is the one shown here (sorry for the sideways pic, after losing my first attempt at typing this I'm not going to try to rotate the pic), the Sea Salt Caramel & Almond. There are 15 wee snacks in each box, for under $3- they are very similar to the Weight Watchers 2 point bars for half the cost. I left a half dozen in my desk drawer at work for snacking emergencies and brought the rest home. Yum, I love having them around, they are practically like eating a little chocolate bar but without the guilt. Thanks to all the bloggers who post these food finds, having options like these make it easier to reach my goal when cravings strike.
Tomorrow I may snap a pic of the flourescent green Skinny Green Monster smoothie that I'll make as my reward (and breakfast) after doing two classes at the gym, see you all then.

This is What a Librarian Looks Like

There is a blog called "This is What a Librarian Looks Like", the purpose of which is to "challenge the librarian stereotype, one post at a time". I'm not exactly the opposite of the public image of a librarian...I mean, I'm not a tattooed hell raiser (though some librarians are...you would not believe just how gonzo some of my fellow school librarians can get!:)) but I like to think that I can help break the stereotype in some small way. Anyway, a picture of me and some info (noting my weight loss, since it appears that's all I can think about right now) was featured on the blog last night and I wanted to share it with you here. Here's the link: This is What a Librarian Looks Like

Steady progress, no matter how small, is closer to goal!

Source: healthyisalwaysbetter.tumblr.com via Sherrie on Pinterest

My weigh in at Weight Watchers on Thursday night showed a 1 pound loss, for a total loss of 97.4 pounds. I'm now 2.6 pounds away from my official WW goal weight of 143. I'm really going back and forth in my mind, trying to decide if I want to keep that as my goal weight or go a little lower. When I first started WW 2 1/2 years ago, I *never* imagined that I'd get to that weight, I really just wanted to get under 200 pounds. Now that I'm so close to my goal, it almost seems like 143 isn't a low enough weight...that alternates between sounding crazy to me and sounding perfectly reasonable. I guess I'll see how long it takes to get that last 2.6 off and see how I feel about my goal weight.
Had a huge non-scale victory yesterday- we went shopping for clothes for my son's mission trip that he's taking in 3 weeks, and while he was trying things on I browsed the clearance racks. I found three pairs of pants for work that I really liked for only $9 each- the problem was that they are all size 8. I took them into the fitting room with no expectation that I would even be able to put them on at all and all three pairs fit beautifully! I guess that I still see that size 22/24 body that I had before WW, which makes it kind of hard to shop for clothes! :) So, I bought all three pairs of pants and I'll be wearing one of them to work on Monday!
Reading a lot of weight loss blogs has been really helpful in my recent WW efforts, I am really enjoying keeping up with many other weight loss bloggers- keep up the good fight, we'll all get there eventually!

New PR (personal record) in more than one way!

Source: Uploaded by user via Sherrie on Pinterest

I did a 5K race (my sixth, I think) yesterday, the Belleair Sunset 5K and Fun Run. I was a bit concerned because I did my regular Saturday AM classes at the gym and I was worried I might have "emptied my tank" before the race even started, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I ran a personal record, finishing in 35:08, which was 17 seconds faster than my previous PR. The race was in a beautiful part of town, along golf courses and luxury homes. Plus (between the race & my AM gym group fitness classes) I racked up 19 WW activity points today- almost half of my activity goal for the week! After the race they had all you can eat beer, chicken wings, cookies, funnel cakes, fruit and hot dogs for the runners! I got a bit of everything for my cheering section (husband and son) but I stuck to a banana and water post-race, to avoid undoing any good weight loss mojo I earned at the race. :) My son took some pictures, but since I'm typing this on my work iPad I don't know how to add it here- will add some soon.
It was a good weigh in at Weight Watchers on Thursday, I was down 2.4 pounds (total loss= 96.4) and I finally set an official goal weight. I'm 3.6 pounds away from that goal, once I get there that will be an even 100 pounds lost. My current weight is another sort of personal record for me- I weigh a pound less than what I weighed at high school graduation (in 1987!) and this is my lowest weight ever as an adult! I am more than a little excited about this, lol. Now, there is just the matter of these last 3.6 pounds...might take a while but I'll get there.
I found a new food this week that is surprisingly good- a green monster smoothie. It's a cup of raw spinach, a frozen banana, 1 1/4 cups of unsweetened almond milk and a WW creme brûlée smoothie packet all run thru a blender for about 30 seconds. The end result is a nearly fluorescent green drink that is only 3 points and includes 3 fruit & veg servings, 2 milk servings and keeps me full until lunch! I know it sounds gross but it is seriously good....just think "Shamrock Shake" instead of "blended spinach" while enjoying it, lol.

Trust the process, but reserve the right to grumble about it :)

Thursday PM weigh in report: I was UP 2/10th of a pound at my WW weigh in last night. While I was hoping to make some progress on erasing that 5.8 pounds I need to lose to reach my ultimate WW goal, instead now I am sitting at 6 pounds to goal. I did everything as I should, I suspect it's just a reflection of my reduced gym time last week (which will be corrected this week). I usually get 45 to 50 or more WW activity points per week, this past week we were out of town all weekend and John had family visiting on Wednesday so I missed 4 of my regular gym classes and only got 30 APs. I'm gonna call it a "blip" in the progress, one of those weeks where the line does a little dance step instead of it's steady downward flow. So, I remind myself of the this Bob Harper quote and begin a new week. I'm really enjoying checking out everyone's blogs, especially the ones with pictures of the WW friendly meals- going to have to try out some new foods this week!

Weigh in report, and question for big losers

Source: traceysthoughts.tumblr.com via Sherrie on Pinterest

Today was my weigh in day at Weight Watchers, I managed to stay on track this week and I had high hopes. I stayed within my points every day, only used 9 of my weekly points and earned 46 activity points. I was rewarded with a loss of 1.8 pounds, which is huge for me because I very often lose a half pound or less per week even on great, on-program weeks. That puts my total weight loss at 94.2 pounds with 5.8 pounds to go until I hit my goal weight.
An odd thing has happened today, I'm hoping to get some feedback from those of you on this same journey about it. Today at work, and again twice tonight when I went to dinner with some alumnus from my high school, people have (with a very sincere, concerned tone in their voice) said "you've lost TOO much weight- you need to stop!" One of my classmates (who easily weighs 10 to 15 pounds less than me) said, "really, you are too skinny and it's not good". I don't get it- by NO means am I anywhere near skinny- for that matter, I'm still 2.8 pounds from the HIGH end of my healthy weight range on both Weight Watchers and the BMI charts. Honestly, I am a hobbit-like 5 foot 4 inches tall and (as of tonight) I weigh 148 pounds so I clearly have a good 15 to 20 pounds before any reasonable person could suggest that I weigh too little. Why do people feel compelled to suggest that I've gone to far when I haven't even reached a high end healthy weight? I just don't get people sometimes....
Tomorrow we are leaving for a weekend away at a retreat for the families of children who have heart defects, all meals will be provided so on-plan eating will be a bit of a challenge but there is lots of fresh fruit and a salad bar...between that and the WW smoothie mix and green tea w/ mint that I'm bringing it shouldn't kill my week. There will be lots of walking around and outdoor activities (and dancing, woo!) so with a little bit of care things should be just fine on the weight loss front.