week5 #WWW

this week's questions:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals?
2. January is coming to an end! How do you think you did in the month of January? Review time!
3. Do you feel like your motivation is tapering off now that a month has passed, or are you just as motivated as the beginning of the challenge?
4. Who/what inspires you to keep going?
5. Fun Question of the Week:  What is the first thing you think of/do in the morning?

question 1: green beans and organic pasta sauce saved my veggie eating tushie. this week is going to be a bit rougher. i didn't buy any produce (trying to stick to the budget) last week so i have to do it today. because of the budget, i only picked up chicken last week. i attempted to make chicken noodle soup sans recipe in order to use up the egg noodles i bought ages ago. it was a psuedo success. i essentially boiled the chicken in chicken broth, added shallots and cooked noodles. unfortunately, the broth separated so it wasn't very thick. no worries though. i whipped up another batch of the chicken and quinoa using the last of the celery, onion and chicken broth. i dumped the broth from the soup into the quinoa instead. the chicken and noodles were still delicious :) too delicious in fact. i ate most of them up over the weekend, even though they were supposed to be my dinner for the week. oops. i have leftover cooked noodles so i'll probably eat those instead. my problem was that i didn't divide it up. i didn't think i had enough small containers so i lumped the chicken/noodles and noodles in bigger ones. won't be doing that again... workouts? i shoveled on thursday so i could go to the office. it took me 30 minutes, and i worked up a sweat. counts :) unfortunately, because of that snow i had to shovel, i have no clue what my weight is this week. the snowstorm hit wed night so meetings were canceled, and i totally spaced on weighing at home. let's just assume, i'm the same

question 2: WAY better than i thought i would. having only missed one workout and one weigh in is not too shabby. of course, i gained the week after the one week i missed my workout, but i'm over that. i managed to stick to an eating plan that left enough wiggle room for me to go out for drinks/dinner multiple times. i got back in to my favorite routine of morning workouts on wed. i'm feeling more comfortable in my own skin even though my body hasn't changed much in the last few weeks. overall, health/bodywise? i think i'm doing great :)

question 3: i am absolutely determined to reach lifetime by the end of this challenge. my motivation is up and down (more down this week thanks to my uterus gearing up for its hostile takeover :p), but i'm not letting that overshadow my resolve. this week i'm stepping up my workout (now twice per week) and veggie/fruit goals (three per day) to keep moving forward. it's still on

question 4: my mom. if it weren't for her, i don't know where i would be. i most definitely wouldn't have joined and stuck with weight watchers without her constant support. even before i was ready to change myself, she was nudging me. she could tell i was not a happy michelle, but i hadn't faced it yet. a mother always knows, whether we know it (admit it) or not. going to meetings with her definitely made things easier. she struggles, but she's there every week, cheering and reflecting. i'm also inspired by my meeting groups and other bloggers. hearing everyone's stories, positive and negative, reinforces my desire to keep going. there's the cliche "it takes a village to raise a child", but i think it takes a village to do anything. we all need support externally for when our internal support starts to waiver. when we start to have doubts, there is someone to put things in perspective. without you all, i would not have been this successful at this point in my life. thank you

question 5: "don't wanna" i hate getting up in the morning. i usually check email and twitter on my phone before i even get up to pee :p

{see that?! for the first time in about six months, i am NOT eating out this week. happy belly and happy wallet :)}

my progress plus all the weekly questions on skinny (goals 1-4) and desultory (goals 5-10)