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My thoughts are so very much with the City of Boston, the runners of the Boston Marathon, and the families of those injured and lost.

Yesterday was a hard day as a runner.

To see the finish line, a place that should be filled with such joy and pride, turned in to a place of devastation and fear.

My first thoughts when I heard of the explosions was of all the people I knew personally who were running. Thankfully they are all safe and sound.

My second thought was absolute shock at the images I was seeing.  Blood stained sidewalks, the finish line torn apart.

I just can’t imagine.

The Boston marathon isn’t just a day!  The Boston Marathon is the culmination of months and years of training.

I just can’t imagine what it must be like for those who have dreamed for years of being there, and then having this happen.

It kills me that this was ‘aimed’ at spectators.

Spectators make the race. Having loved ones at the finish line to call your name as you complete the event has more meaning than most people know.

To target these innocent people, it kills me.

An entire family was torn apart. An 8 year old boy died, his sister lost limbs, and his mother is in serious condition, all because they wanted to support his dad and see him cross the finish line.

Yes. This is a lot of random thoughts spouting out of me right now. My brain has been filled with randomness since it all happened.

I want to also acknowledge the thousands of runners that started the race, but never got to the finish line. They were stopped with less than a mile to go.  They dreamed of this day, of crossing the Boston Marathon finish line for years, and someone took that away from them.

Last night I ran. The calendar had a rest day scheduled, but I couldn’t not run. I needed to run.  This attack hit home. I needed to run!

My thoughts are with everyone impacted by this event, but I can tell you one thing for certain, this will not stop me from running, this will not stop me from racing. If anything this fuels my fire and makes me want to run & race harder and stronger.

I apologize for the lack of updates lately, but I’ve injured a hand, and typing too much causes it to start throbbing.

I have to save all my typing time for work.

I have many updates & topics planned for when I return.

Thanks for your patience.

K.

2012 in Review:

So, now that 2012 is behind us, I can sit down and reflect on what I accomplished.  And since I really am a numbers geek, this is just going to be a pile of statistics.

In early 2012, I made it my goal to get a marathon time that started with a 3.  I wanted that elusive sub 4 hour marathon.  I’m happy to say that in May, I achieved that goal.  I also managed to pull of a 10K OB of 49:02 just a week before the marathon.  Unfortunately, the rest of the year didn’t go as well.

On the bright side, my training was much more consistent in 2012.   I can officially say that I ran 453km further in 2012 than I ran in 2011. And, in December of 2012 I ran a total 85km! That’s 85km further than the big ZERO I logged in December 2011! Or, time wise, that’s a total of 9644 minutes in 2012, vs. 7118 minutes in 2011!

I ran 163 times in 2012, vs 103 times in 2011. I raced 7 times this year, vs 9 times in 2011 and 12 times in 2010!!! If you’re a numbers geek like me, you can click the image to the left and check out more of my stats on DailyMile!  Over there you will see that I burned the equivalent of 617 doughnuts worth of calories!

I think the biggest thing for me is that I ENJOYED running this year, even with the fact that I am now more focused on results than ever before. I think hiring a coach, and changing the focus from running every run as distance for speed, to running with a long term goal, has brought back the pleasure. Now instead of going out run 5K as fast as I can a couple times a week, I’m going out and running a variety of runs for different lengths of time, with different purposes.

I’ve set some big goals for 2013, including setting a PB in every distance I race, with my first race just 5 days away! This years big race is going to be a marathon near the end of the year, and there will only be one marathon this year. Instead of a full in May, I will be focusing on the half, in preparation for my best marathon ever at the end of the year!

I can’t wait to see what the end of year stats look like for 2013!

6 years ago today, on January 2nd 2007, I walked in to a Weight Watchers  meeting for the (second) first time!

I remember the day clearly, I was home sick from work, but determined that was the day I was going to join. It took me ALL DAY to shower, and work up the energy to drive across town to the meeting room to join.

When I walked in the room, I was greeted with a cheerful “KIRSTY! Welcome back!”. You see, the women working that night were the same women who worked at the meeting I had attended, and lost 25lbs at, 2 years earlier.

Here I was, walking in the room wearing my ‘fat jeans’ again, embarrassed to be back, ashamed to have put all the weight back on, and hoping no one recognized me! And here they were, greeting me like a long lost friend. They didn’t care that I had put the weight back on, or that I hadn’t been to a meeting in 2 years, they just cared that I was back again, ready to give it another try!

I wasn’t sure if I could “do it” this time. I mean, I knew I could lose weight, but I wasn’t sure that I could get it ALL off and keep it off!

But after I went back the next week, and the week after, and the week after that, it became a routine, it became just what I did!

Here I am now, 6 years later, at my goal weight for four and a half years, living a life I never expected.

I recently recorded a video, and uploaded it to the WeightWathers “I’m only human and I did it” Project! If you click the link, and then click “user uploaded”, you can watch my video, as well as other videos of real people who have real lives, and still achieved real weight loss on the program!

It’s that time of year when people are starting to make resolutions to lose weight, get in shape, eat better, quit a bad habit, and so on.  My decision to join WeightWatchers wasn’t a resolution, my decision to join “after Christmas” was based on not wanting to be watching what I ate over the holidays.  If you are thinking about losing weight, or becoming healthier at this time of year, I highly encourage to to take that first step, be it in to a WeightWatchers meeting room, a gym, or just out your front door to go for a walk.

Do whatever you need to do, just do something. Don’t sit around waiting for someone else to do it for you!

“Watching the Weight.”

That was the whole point, wasn’t it? I mean, as someone generally unfamiliar with Weight Watchers, I could at least know what to expect given the name of the game. I knew what my ‘why’ and ‘what’ was, and I was ready to learn the ‘how’.

September 28^th was the first time I entered the meeting room. It was a brisk Saturday morning, which meant pealing off the layers I had bundled myself up with, trying not to tip the scale against my favour. Slowly, I unveiled what was underneath, which to tell you the truth I hadn’t been very proud of as of late.

I was nervous – I’ll be the first to admit. All I could think about was the number that represented who I was that day. I had an idea of how much I weighed at the time, but I knew that the late serving of waffles I had consumed in the wee hours of that morning would be haunting me.

I ripped off the band-aid, gasped a little, and waited for the attendant to give me back my card, clearly labelled with my current weight. I bundled myself up, swallowed my pity and sat down in the crowd. I was wide-eyed and ready to get my head back in the game. The number was higher than I expected – not by much – but still enough that I realized quite abruptly that I needed to smarten up and take control again.

It really helped to have my roommate (let’s call her ‘A’) along with me. As I previously mentioned in a former post, ‘A’ had participated in Weight Watchers before and was really great about teaching me tips and tricks that would inevitably help me to succeed. I was grateful for that. That, along with a strong support network, a positive leader, and an optimistic outlook, was exactly what I needed.

That was September 28^th. Today is December 16^th and I am happy to share that today, 9lbs are gone. It was those 9lbs that had gotten me down before, and my outlook is better than ever. I will continue to press forward and I feel like I have a strong footing to get me closer to my next goals and milestones.

It hasn’t been easy, but it has been a fun, challenging experience. I’ve held myself accountable in so many ways and learned how I can succeed without depriving myself of those things that I really enjoy. I’m building new routines and habits – some old that needed some dusting off, and others are completely new to me. I think that’s what the meetings are best for. When you get the opportunity to hear from other members who have their own little secrets to success, you gain so many different perspectives. I love those moments when you say “Yeah… that is such a great idea!” and you can turn around and try implementing that strategy in your very own day-to-day.

This also makes me love the new focus on Weight Watchers 360 – teaching more about the ‘how to live’ versus ‘what to eat’. It’s like that saying about how we should teach man to fish, instead of giving him a single fish. It’s those routines and lessons that we learn that will give us long-term success.

Well said, Confucius.

Next time I’ll take more about my routines and how I’ve found success as a Weight Watchers member.

Recently, with the impending launch of WeightWatchers 360°, I thought it would be fun to look at the Program through the eyes of a member.  I thought it would be interesting to see how they work the program, and how the transition to 360° impacts them.

I asked 2 members to help me, 2 members of different generations, 2 members with different life experiences and points of view.  I’d like to introduce you to Karen.  I love her perspective on the program.  She originally got her Lifetime Membership 2 years before I as born, so she has seen many incarnations of WeightWatchers.  Karen is here to represent the 50+ crowd.

I hope you enjoy this look at the program from different perspective.

________________________________________________

I was asked to write my thoughts about the new Weight Watchers 360 program.  My last meeting was the introduction to the program.

Let me start with why I joined Weight Watchers.  I have been a lifetime member since 1974  (I was 19 years old and newly married) and it took me only one card (16 weeks) to lose my original weight goal.  I think it was around 45lbs.  Now the program way back then was very restrictive.  You had to eat at least 3 fish meals a week and were supposed to eat liver. (though I told my leader she’d never see that on my diary. )  You had to turn your diary in every week and the leader went over it and returned it the next week.  I’m not at goal right now and have been back on the program since late summer of 2010 I came back because over the years since 1974 I’ve been at goal or just above it and then I stopped paying attention and my weight creeped up and up till I had a substantial amount of weight to lose.  This time it’s not about vanity.  I’m not 19 anymore I’m 58 and it’s all about my health.  I want to go into my 60’s fit and healthy.  I want to be able to ride on a cycling vacation next year and I don’t want to worry about heart problems or diabetes.  So no matter how long it takes me this time around I will be my normal seat on Saturday mornings listening to Kirsty teach us about whichever program is the current one.

This is my third program since I’ve been back and I’m hesitant to make changes to a program that has worked for me but I’m willing to give it a try.  I’m not sure how the new program will work so thank heavens they didn’t change the points part of it. I’m inching my way to “onederland” and my goal and decided when I returned to Weight Watchers that I would eat as I would “normally” because that is the only way I would be able to stay at goal this time around.  I would control portions and fats but wouldn’t deprive myself of my favourite foods.  Looking at the etools on line I see that there are lots of new ideas to keep me focused and help me get there and stay there this time.

I’ve found that I have to definitely add an exercise program to my food program and will make it one of my routines.

I’ll keep reading the new program materials, track and exercise and we’ll see what the next few weeks bring.   With all it challenges my goal is to maintain over the holidays.  Have a couple of my Mom’s buttertarts and track them and start the New Year not having to re-lose any of my “hard lost” weight.

I’ll let you know my experiences with the new program in a few weeks.  Have a great holiday season.

There is one day a year that everyone gets to be selfish.  A day where they get to put themselves first. It’s even okay for them to expect the people who care about them to put them first as well.

Once a year, everyone gets a ME day, everyone gets a birthday.

The lucky people out there get someone who cares about them so much that they will go out of their way and make special plans. The lucky people have someone who will do their very best to bring together everything that matters to them, to one place and time, to show them they are loved.

Then there are people like me.

I spent the days leading up to my birthday in tears. I cried every day, knowing that no one would do for me what I recently did for someone important to me.  I cried every day, knowing that no one wanted to spend time with me on my birthday. I cried every day, knowing that the only reason I was seeing people on my birthday was because I had invited myself to tag along on their plans.  I cried every day, knowing that I had flat out asked people to spend time with me on my birthday, for my birthday and they had said no.

In the days leading up to my birthday, I tried to come to terms with the fact that my birthday would be just like any other day. I tried to accept the fact that the one day of the year that I was allowed to be selfish would pass totally unnoticed. But every time I thought about it, I cried.

I confided in people about how I felt. I told them that I felt alone and ignored. I told them that I felt unwanted.  I guess I was hoping that by telling them how I felt, it would inspire them to help me not feel that way.

Then Saturday, November 17th arrived, and I knew that at the very least, I had my WeightWatchers meeting that morning, and my members knew it was my birthday, so they would acknowledge it.  I knew they would care.

When I got to work that morning, my coworkers were standing outside. The doors were locked and no one was inside.   We stood outside for 45 minutes  waiting for someone to show up and let us in, but no one arrived, so I sent 45 people home.   As I was sending them home, I casually mentioned that this wasn’t the way I had expected to start my birthday.  And to my disappointment, people were shocked that I mentioned it was my birthday.

I have to admit that I had thought about how the meeting would go. I had it in my head that they would remember. I had it in my head that I’ve connected with them to a degree that they would acknowledge it, and there would be cards and presents.

After I sent everyone home, a couple members did invite me across the street for breakfast, so I joined them and had a few laughs. But it  was their breakfast plans, and I was tagging along.

Is it wrong to be disappointed that they didn’t remember?

The next part of my day pretty much went as planned.  I met some friends up at Bear Mountain, after they ran the Bear Mountain 10K & Half Marathon.   I don’t know how to explain this part of my day, without sounding ungrateful, but I’m going to do my best.

I honestly feel that if I hadn’t invited myself up to the race to have lunch with them after the race, I wouldn’t have been there.

I really do want to make it clear that they did buy me a dessert, and they did sing happy birthday to me, and I do appreciate that, but it didn’t erase the feeling that I forced myself on their post race celebration, and I didn’t really belong there. I was just tagging along on their plans.

Saturday afternoon wasn’t about me, it was about my friend Jenny. It was her 30th birthday, and she was visiting from Calgary, so I made my way to her parent’s house to visit with her.    It was very sweet of her mom to go out and get us a cake, with candles and everything, but I was just tagging along on her celebration. It was nice to sit around with people and chat all after noon, but if I’m being honest, it hurt a little that someone who shares my birthday didn’t even remember to get me a card.  And yes, before you ask, I did get her a card.

My evening was a combination of frustration, and pleasure.   It was sweet of the people who tried to be there for me.  It was honestly sweet that they tried.  But I felt like an after thought, I was just tagging along on other people’s plans.

It was supposed to be my day. The one day of the year that people are supposed to care about me, and make a big deal about me, but it ended up being the loneliest day.

I spent the day after my birthday mostly alone.  And as I sat in my apartment, looking around, there wasn’t a single indication that my birthday had passed. Not a card or a flower, no wrapping paper or bows.  There was nothing.

The only thing I had to show for my birthday was 2 bottles of fruit wine, brought to me as gift from a friend I ran with the night before my birthday. And that gift is so greatly appreciated, you have no idea.   One person listened to me, she paid attention to the conversation we had about my recent discovery that I’m able to drink fruit wine. She listened to me and brought me a gift of something that she knew was of interest to me.  That one simple act was the most meaningful thing anyone has done for me in a long time.

I can’t begin to tell you how hurt I feel.

And I don’t want your sympathy. No one can make it up to me now.   The day has passed. It’s too late.

You only get your birthday once a year, and this one is in the books as one of the worst of my life.

I guess I just needed to get it out in hopes that writing it down would stop the tears falling.

as you would have them do unto you.

I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.

I’ve been thinking about how I treat the people in my life, and how they treat me in return.

I’m a very trusting person and I care deeply about the people in my life.

I try to treat others as I would like to be treated.

I think that if you lie, mistreat, or take advantage of the people in your life, you deserve what comes to you.

I believe in Karma. I believe that you get what you give.

I will continue to give my best to the people in my life.

I will not let those who have betrayed, mistreated, or lied to me change me. I will not stoop to their level, as tempting as it is.

I will continue to treat others in the manner in which I wish to be treated, whether they deserve it or not.

Every now & again I check out my website’s stats, and I take a look at what search terms are bringing you here.

This one comes up at lot: Should I use my weekly PointsPlus allowance?

Well, first of all, let me make it clear that this is my own personal opinion, based on how I live the Plan, and it does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Weight Watchers.

Let me tell you how I personally use my PointsPlus Values.

First of all, we have three PointsPlus “banks”.  We have our Daily PointsPlus Allowance (DPA), our Weekly PointsPlus allowance(WPA), and our Activity PointsPlus (APP) earned.

Let’s talk about them all individually first.

My Daily PointsPlus Allowance is what I use to meet my basic needs food & drink needs.  Think of this as your chequing account. This is where your pay cheque goes, and this is what you have to live off of.

My Weekly PointsPlus Allowance is my “credit card”,.  I use this, when there is something I can’t quite afford with what I have in the bank.

And finally, My Activity PointsPlus are my ‘second job’, my ‘fun money’.

Most days, I can survive just fine on my DPA. Here is an average day, as an example:

Breakfast: 7pts+ (Oatmeal, bran, flax, protein powder)

Mocha (homemade): 4pts+ (espresso, WW Chocolate smoothie, vanilla creamer)

Lunch: 5pts+ (Chicken Breast, Steamed Veggies, Oil)

Dinner: 8pts+ (Steak, roasted veggies w/ potato, oil)

Snacks: 2pts+ (WW bar, bananas, strawberries)

That is exactly 26pts+ , and I can fill myself up as much as I want on 0pts+ fruits & veggies.

But, not every day is the same, and I don’t cook for myself everyday. So let’s look at a day where I use the ‘credit card’.

Breakfast: 7pts+

Starbucks skim milk mocha: 6pts+

Deli Sandwich: 10pts+ (whole wheat bread, roast beef, real mayonnaise, veggies)

Snack:  beef Jerky 2pts+, Banana 0pts+, pineapple 0pts+)

Dinner: 13pts+ (1/2 McCain California Chicken Pizza)

On this day, I’ve used 36 PointsPlus Values, so that means I’ve ‘charged’ 10 to my credit card.  But hey, I had a friend over for pizza and a movie, and I had a blast.

Now, for me personally, I don’t like ‘charging’ things to my WPA. I like to get to the end of my week with all 49 PointsPlus Values still available to me. So, what can I do about that? How can I pay down my credit card?   Well, for me it’s easy, because I lead a pretty active lifestyle and usually I have a few APP in the ‘bank’ waiting to be used, but if I don’t, I know I can always go out and earn some.  I like to feel like any time I go over my DPA, I have EARNED what I am eating.  But that’s my way of doing things.

So let’s talk about the question at hand. SHOULD you use your Weekly PointsPlus Allowance?

There is really only one answer to this, and this is a resounding YES!  (Again, this is my opinion)

You want your weight loss to be a LIFESTYLE CHANGE not a quick diet.   Any of us are capable of restricting our caloric intake for short periods of time to create weight loss, but that is not a healthy, or long-term approach.  What you want to do is make small adjustments to your habits that are going to be sustainable.  You want to start making smarter choices, while still enjoying life.

Your Weekly PointsPlus Allowance is there to allow flexibility. It is there so you can enjoy life. It is there so you never have to say “Sorry, I don’t have the points for that”.

Now, you have to remember that every person is different, so what works for one person might not work for you.  There are some people out there who can use their entire WPA and still see great successes at the scale, and there are others that know they can only use half of them if they want to continue to lose weight.

The key here is that it is your choice, and you just have to know that sometimes, if you make the decision to use more of your WPA thank you usually would, you might not see as much of a loss at your weigh-in that week. But again, that is perfectly Okay. You just take what you learned from that, and move forward.

Personally, when I was on the downward journey, I learned that if I wanted to see great results at the scale, then I needed to use a few of my WPA as possible. Overtime, I learned that the best way for me to use as few of my WPA as possible was to try to make sure I always had APP available to me to use.

So, if you came here wondering if you should use your Weekly PointsPlus Allowance, I hope this answers your questions.  If not, feel free to ask away in the comments section below and I will do my best to answer!

K.

For the most part, yesterday was a nondescript day.

It was supposed to be a rest day, but because I missed Tuesday’s 30′ easy due to an upset tummy, I knew I had to get out and run.

I avoided & procrastinated like a master.  I just didn’t want to get out there.  My running experiences over the last 2 months have left me with a bad taste in my mouth.  It has been so long since I’ve been able to just go out and run, and enjoy it, that I haven’t been feeling motivated to get out there and run.

But yesterday, I knew I NEEDED a run.

My emotions have been all messed up lately thanks to our lovely Royal Canadian Navy throwing a wrench in my plans for a surprise 40th birthday party for N.   Somehow, I managed to plan a surprise, and he didn’t even know it. I had friends he hadn’t seen in a year or more coming, I had his son coming up from Washington State, I had a custom cake.  But the Navy had other plans, and they postponed his return for a week and detoured his return from Halifax through Alaska.  Yesterday should have been his return date, but that didn’t happen. So, needless to say  I was in a bit of a funk.  I’ve actually been in a funk since I found out he would be delayed.

So, yesterday, I knew I NEEDED to run.

Even knowing I needed it, I avoided it and procrastinated it.

Finally, somewhere around 8pm, I ‘spandexed up’ and headed out the door.

I fully expected this run to suck.  I fully expected the calf troubles to show up. I fully expected to feel like a slug.

But none of that happened. I just got out there and ran ‘easy’.  I actually ran easy.  And I ran for 30 minutes. 30 consecutive minutes, without stopping to stretch my calf, or catch my breath, or complain about how much it sucks. I just ran.  I haven’t done that since over a month before the marathon. It has been almost 2 months since I truly enjoyed a run!

Do you have any idea how much I needed that?

When I came back, I was on Skype with N, and I realized I was having an ‘elusive’ runner’s high!

The conversation went a little like this:

K: “woooo, I feel great, look at me, woooo” (flailing my arms in the air)

N: “what the hell is wrong with you?”

K: “wooooooo, I love the elusive runner’s  high!” (still flailing arms)

N: “What IS a runner’s high? I’ve never had one”

K: “To tell you the truth…(pause to do some math in my head)…it took my 5 years to get to the point that I feel it regularly”

N: “okay?”

K: “FIVE YEARS! I’ve been a runner for FIVE YEARS” (hands to face, hiding tears)

The conversation went on for a while, but the point here is, I have been a runner for 5 years.

Do you have any idea how big of a deal this is to me?

For me, it’s bigger than being on WeightWatchers for 6 years. It’s bigger than giving away 60lbs.  it’s bigger than having had my job for over a decade.

I have been a runner for 5 years.

That is CRAZY!

When I first laced up my shoes on October 15, 2007, I had no idea where this would take me. I had no idea what was in store for me.  When I walked in to the Running Room that night, I was terrified. And when I left that night, after my first run with my “Learn to Run”  group, I thought I’d lost my mind, and running was going to kill me!

In 2007 a 5K was out of the question.  In 2009, I ran a marathon.

Now it’s 2012 & I’ve run over 40 races, including 5 marathons and 15 half marathons.  I have set goals, crushed them, and reset them.  I have done things I never thought I would do. And you know what, I am freaking proud of myself.

It just goes to show you that you truly CAN do anything you set your mind to, as long as you believe in yourself!

So today, I want you to try something new. I want you to set a goal that scares you a little, a goal that pushes your limits, and then I want you to make a plan to achieve that goal.  Set yourself some smaller, stepping stone, goals, and work your way towards the bigger goal.

I know you can do it, I believe in you.  Do you?