Weight Watchers - Week 6

It kills me to admit this.  I gained 2 lbs this week.  Do I know why?  Yes, of course I do.  Do I know how to change these bad habits?  In theory yes but putting it into practice is proving to be a struggle for me.

Weekly Goals
1. Drink more water
2. Track daily
3. Move everyday

Starting weight - ???
Weekly Weight Loss - + 2 lb
Total Weight lost - 8 lbs
Weeks since starting - 6

So, I went shopping last night with a good friend at Addition Elle.  She graciously let me use her 10% off coupon and I picked up 2 pairs of pants and a shirt on sale.  Regular price for everything would have been $160.  I paid just under $48 before taxes!  And I'll get a $25 gift card because her rewards money reached $500.  And since she no longer fits into even the smallest size in this store, she's giving it to me.  Yay!

Even though I got a great deal on the clothes and I really needed the pants I wasn't happy to have to buy clothes that fit me now.  I don't want to be this size.  That should be motivation enough to work harder at losing weight but I fight with myself everyday.

Thanks for following along with me :)

All opinions on this blog are my own.  I am not being compensated in any way for this post.  

I have paid for my own membership to Weight Watchers.

Home Depot Kids Workshops

I discovered that Home Depot offers a FREE kids workshop every month, when a friend of mine held her son's birthday party there.  It was great!  The kids get a free apron that they bring back to every workshop.  They of course get to take home their completed project.  And they also get a pin each time to put on their apron and a certificate of completion with their name on it.  The first time I took all 3 kids and they each made a picture frame (with a little help for the hammering)!

2 proud boys!

Last weekend hubby was off work (rare in retail), so he took the 2 boys for some father-son bonding and they made race cars!  Each workshop runs for 2 hours.  There's no pre-registration required but I have been told it's better to get there early in case they run out of that month's project.  Otherwise you may get the previous month's kit.  That would likely cause a meltdown for my boy with Aspergers.

Wordless Wednesday - Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

The joy of blue freezies!

Minimize Monday - Week 4, Expired Meds

Whenever I get a cold my sinuses become affected and within a few days I'm suffering from full blown allergy symptoms.  It sucks!  I woke up last Tues morning knowing it was going to be one of those days so I reached for the basket of various pills to find my allergy drugs.  When things started falling out I knew I needed to pull everything out, reorganize it and check expiry dates.  I try to do this every few months but haven't done it since we moved into the house last September.  I found a few things that were past their expiry so they've been brought back to the pharmacy for safe disposal.

Expired & unused meds - out of my house

Did you know you should never throw any medication (prescription or over the counter) into the garbage or flush it down the toilet?  My city has a take it back program at most, if not all, pharmacies.  You should check if yours does too!

The Camilia (lifesaver for parents of teething babies) was still good so I passed it on to someone who could use it.  Happy to help others out when I can!

I got started on this challenge by reading about Minimize Monday over at Mommy Moment.  Last week I got rid of some kids bedding.  Come join us too!

This Made My Day!

I've posted before about how I love to save money and do so in various ways.  Coupons, clearance shopping, freecycle, etc...In the winter it's harder for me to get out with a little one in the stroller, on the bus, with lots of snow & ice.  Yes, that was whiny!  Anyway one of my favourite places to look for clearance items is Staples.  I've found lots of school supplies, craft kits, video games and more.  One of friends happened to mention a few weeks ago that she was in there and found gourmet chocolate bars for under 50 cents.  I was jealous because I taught her my secret about how Staples often has their clearance items marked down for an additional 50% off the lowest price.  Of course when I next made it to the store they were all gone.  Ah well probably for the better anyway or I wouldn't have lost 10 pounds!

I popped into Staples today and found this lonely Roots backpack out in front on the clearance table.  Regular price was $19.98 but it didn't have any other price tags on it.  Back in October I had picked up a few kids backpacks (with lunch bags) on clearance for what I thought was an amazing price.  Marked down to $5 so half that for $2.50!  As I headed to the cash to check the price I was hoping it would be the same.  It's not like either of my boys needed a new backpack right at this moment but I know they will in the future.  Roots is a well known brand and generally has good quality stuff.  I think my jaw nearly dropped when the cashier told me I owed her 54 cents.  Yes, the price had been lowered to $0.97 because it was the last backpack they had left in the store from their summer back to school sales.  And then she took 50% off, so with taxes this backpack regularly priced at $20 cost me only $0.54!  I told the cashier she made my day.

Oh and do you remember how I posted last week about my $0.37 each Kinder Eggs?  I also stopped at Loblaws today and noticed they had removed the sale sign on these.  I scanned one to see and they were back up to the regular price of $2.99 for a 2 pack.  Oops, someone obviously made a mistake with that one.  I'm happy I got in on that deal!

Weight Watchers - Week 5

Doctors and nutritionists say that 2 pounds of weight loss a week is the safe & healthy rate.  I'm at week 5 and I'm happy to say I'm down 10 pounds!

There are so many fad diets out there now and they scare me.  Not only because they haven't all been thoroughly tested and you never know what side effects you may have from popping pills or drinking diet liquids.  They scare me because, for me if it's a quick, low effort fix, then it's probably not going to work for me in the long run.  Sure I might lose 20 pounds in a week but what did it teach me?  The reason I choose Weight Watchers is they teach you how to eat healthy, properly portioned meals without totally giving up all the bad stuff.  We are only human and we will be tempted and want to eat that chocolate bar or big mac once in awhile.  Everything in moderation!  But hey if the cottage cheese or cabbage soup diet works for you and gives you a quick start to keep on the path to a healthier lifestyle then go for it.

Starting weight - ???
Weekly Weight Loss - 2 lb
Total Weight lost - 10 lbs
Weeks since starting - 5

Not only did I lose on target this week but I also walked to my Weight Watcher's meeting which took me 28 minutes.  Even though it was cloudy, windy and started to rain almost exactly as I arrived at my destination.  The main reason I walked was because I didn't have any bus tickets and would have to walk 15 minutes to the nearest store to buy them, in the opposite direction of my meeting.  I figured if I was going to be walking anyway I might as well walk all the way there.  After the meeting I struggled with the idea of walking straight home or to do some shopping.  Shopping won out because it was once again starting to rain.  But I did get in at least another 30 minutes of walking to the mall and then back to the bus station (not counting the time walking around in the various stores).  And I found this steal of a deal!

Thanks for following along with me :)

All opinions on this blog are my own.  I am not being compensated in any way for this post.  

I have paid for my own membership to Weight Watchers.

Wordless Wednesday - Tea Party!

She set up her first ever tea party on her own!  With a little rubber frog & stuffed bunny :D