HRM found and WeightLossWars!!

Over the weekend, I went on a search through my house to find my old heart rate monitor.  I found the watch in one room and the strap in the basement lol!  I think I bought it in 2006, so it's old, but not that old.  It doesn't automatically link to my computer though - well, it would if I had a PC instead of a Mac.  I may have to set up my old PC just to get the data to transfer.

Anyway, I will be able to get accurate HR readings as I'm exercising - and that's the important part.

Next up... have you ever heard of "Weight Loss Wars"?  Well, it's a weight loss competition website.  You can compete in private or public challenges.  This is how I lost around 20 lbs last year - the accountability of a challenge.  You can chose to lose or even maintain weight.  Of course, after the competition was over, I gained all the weight back and then some, but it was certainly challenging.  They encourage a healthy weekly weight loss in these challenges and will kick you off if they think you're cheating, but most folks are in it for the right reasons.

I've been invited several times over the last few weeks and now I finally (after over a year hiatus) joined a new challenge.  But here's my dilemma... when I was there before, I actually won one of the competitions I was in.  And now, here I am, going back - having gained more weight than I lost.  I know I'm not the only one this has ever happened to, but it still really bites none the less.  That's ok though - I can do this!

I like WeightLossWars because it's an online community of people who are trying to get healthy.  As an added bonus, if you are successful - you could win some cash!!  How cool is that?  Lose weight - win money!!  That's a win-win for sure.  But in case you're wondering, it's also discreet.  For the most part, if you don't want your pics displayed for all the world to see, you can typically send them via email to the competition author and they hold on to them instead of posting.  The fees are relatively low - usually around $20 per competition.  The website also sometimes charges for participation - usually $10 if I remember correctly; often times there are prepaid seats - which means no website fee.

I also like how WLW doesn't focus on a "biggest loser" in every competition.  Like the one I joined - it's a "set your own goal" type thing where you say I plan to lose/maintain "x" amount of weight each week and you win $ for doing so.  Pretty cool, huh?

So, on to my stats for this week:

GOALS MET:  
Water intake? Yes!  Over 100 ounces at least.
2500 FP? Yes!  It's around 9:30pm and I have over 3000!
Resistance training started? YES!!!  WooHoooo!!

As a side note, I think I need to rework the plan on this one.  If I stay on the current training plan, I only work each muscle group every 7 days.  That's like starting over each week, so at the end of my upper body routine, I threw in part of the lower body plan as well.  I'll do some research and see what I a "normal" plan looks like.  In the past, I've used the "Body for Life" program, but it takes up time switching out the weights.  If you've ever tried it you know what I mean - it's effective but really time consuming.

GOALS NEEDING SOME WORK:
Food - I forgot what I was cooking tonight was a slow cooker meal, so we're having that tomorrow.  And instead of switching today's dinner for tomorrow's (my teen complained when she heard what it was - and I didn't feel like arguing - plus it was an excuse to... yeah, you guessed it... eat out.  =(
Not too bad, but bad enough - I had steak tips, some kind of rice that tasted really good (so that must mean fattening, right?) and a salad.  Oh and two dinner rolls... with cinnamon butter.  I did, however, forego dessert, so there's that...