Week #3 in Review

eww... it isn't pretty...here come the bullets...

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Sunday and Monday I started including a few strength exercises into my workout. They are simple ones that use free weights and a bench. I got them out of a Biggest Loser book that my Aunt gave me. I never knew this before, but apparently i prefer free weights to machines. I guess i have given too much of my life to machines before with no progress. Sure, it was probably all my fault but i just like simple, okay?
• Water intake has been great!
Some days I have actually drank more than 8 cups!
I blame these ------------------------>
I got them at Target (of course!) The silver one gets a little too cold when you first put water in it but it isn't too bad. They both have a top that pops up with a simple button and great mouth pieces that make it very easy and quick to drink out of. I haven't taken them to the gym yet, but I plan on it this week.
• No fast food again! Woo!
• Lost 1 pound. My goal is 2 a week but 1 is better than none!
• Since I gave up on doing better with mornings I did much better this week. Less snooze buttons and woke up around 8 all weekend! Who knew?

FAILURES
• I only met my calorie goal 3 days this week. Technically I get a free meal but that still means I missed my goal 3 days!! That is horrible! I could give excuses like, it was my birthday, it was james's birthday, etc but I should have planned ahead and made that my free meal of the week. There are NO EXCUSES.
• I only exercised 3 days this week. This I can allow excuses a little more than the calories because there was an outside factor that was out of my control: SNOW! Here is a breakdown:
-Sun-Tues: worked out
-Wednesday: This is my normal day to miss and it was James' birthday
-Thursday: an unexpected project came up at work and I was there until 8:30 so i ended up missing Yoga. I was really upset about this because Thursday is my most stressful day at work and I like going to Yoga to de-stress. Also Thursday is the end of my work week so it is a good way to end the week.
-Friday: I got up to take a shower before going to Zumba and the water heater was broken! It ended up being just a tripped safety but it took me a while to figure that out since I am new at this home maintenance thing. Then I was just going to go run and James came home from work and wanted to run a few errands and then go to the gym together afterward, i was fine with this because at this point i was starving so i wanted lunch! Before we even got home from our errands the snow storm started! So we did not attempt to get back out.
-Saturday: snowed in! Got about 5 inches of snow and all roads were ice! I actually did get a little exercise... I played tug-of-war with Argos (120lb dog) for 30 mins and some other general running around in the snow, building a snowman, etc.
So really, unlike the calories, most of these were out of my hands BUT a failure is still a failure and must be listed accordingly! I could have looked up some at-home workouts or something.
• I ate a piece of Pecan Pie that I think was 456 calories! This brings me to...

LEARNED
• Check calorie info BEFORE I eat something!! In week #1 i learned that i needed to pay attention to serving size before I ate after i accidently ate 2.5 servings of pasta. Well now the whole picture has come to surface. Check SERVING SIZE + CALORIE INFO = SMART CHOICES. duh! I don't know why i didn't think of the whole picture before now. n00b.
• This is another "duh" moment - i do best when i plan out my meals. During week 2 i planned out all my meals and did great but during week 3, I didn't plan one, just looked in the cabinet and fixed whatever looked best. I have to say I have done a good job about having healthy items in the house but too much of even healthy things can be bad.
• My Aunt gave me some Biggest Loser books that have actually been decently useful. I got some great exercises out of there and some yummy looking recipes. However the chart in there says i should be aiming for only 1200 calories! I can barely meet 1300 and it wants me to do 1200! /faint! I am going to still aim for 1300 calories until i drop 4 more pounds and then I will drop to 1200.

GOALS
• Get a few weights for home use or home videos so if i get snowed in again i have a plan B.
• Watch calories better!!
• Start consistently including strength training into my workout.
• Check out a Biggest Lower cookbook.

SUMMARY
Other than the fact that i failed miserably at my calorie and exercise goals, why do I think this week went so bad? It's simple, I just wasn't as motivated. Let me explain:

Week 2 was extra busy due to mine and my husband's birthdays being in the same week. We had both families to eat with and friends to celebrate with. Between all the extra social activities, meal planning, and workouts I didn't have an extra second to breathe! The weekend passed me by in a blink and before I knew it, it was monday and i was grumpy and tired. I worked out 6 days last week and for 4 of those i got home at 8 or later. As soon as I walked in the door I have to start cooking and then eat. (This is way too late to eat anyways but i havent found a good solution to that yet). Then I log my daily calories and activities and it is time for bed. I have no time to just relax or do something fun. Wednesday, the day i usually have free was spent with his side of the family celebrating. Friday was the night was spent 45 minutes making a dinner choice and didn't sit down to eat until 8:30. Lastly, Saturday was spent with my side of the family and friends celebrating. I honestly didn't feel like I had a weekend. I was driven to my max and i was burnt out. The important thing here is that I was NOT burnt out on exercise or on my food choices. Just too much stuff going on.

I'm glad it happened though. It made me re-evaluate my weekly routine to hopefully accommodate busy schedules in the future. I have a plan!...
-Sunday: I dont have to be at work until 12:30 so instead of working out after, i will work out before.
-Monday: Optional workout day - if the weekend looks light i can go ahead and workout here which will give me 6 exercise days. (my goal is 5-6 days a week)
-Tuesday: 6:30 Yoga class...not much i can do here. Maybe James cook?
-Wednesday: Normal off day. Relax
-Thursday: 7:00 Yoga class... I have time to eat before this one. James fend for self
-Friday and Saturday: Morning workouts!
This leaves me with only getting home late 2 days a week and on Thursday I will have already ate so the only day I will be eating late is Tuesday!! I hope to spend Sundays meal planning and blogging so i can start the week of strong!

Ya know, I'm finding out more and more that taking 5 minutes to review a situation can prove to be beneficial and those 5 minutes can be the difference between success and failure. I think this holds true for life in general.