My Active Link Week 1 Results & Weekly Menu

Happy Sunday all!  I wanted to start off saying Thanks to all of you for being my Cheer Leaders earlier this week when I mentioned that I was having a Love/Hate relationship with AL.  One of the biggest changes I have had to make on my journey is to let go of trying to be “perfect”.  I honestly kept walking down the same gain/loss road (most of my life) until I realized that consistency mattered more than perfection. 

I guess it was only natural that I would’ve thought I NEEDED to be perfect and meet 100% of my target every day.  What can I say ~ old habits die hard and I am living proof that it is something I will always work on. I am so glad I listened to all of you though because it really helped me realize, I AM doing good and I AM succeeding, but, more importantly, this is only the first week and I do have 12 weeks to get to 100% all the time.

Ironic that “Habits” were today’s topic LOL…..

Before I start to ramble on about today, I wanted to share with you all the screens I have been looking at all week long with AL (Active Link).

One thing I absolutely love about AL is that it only takes about 5 minutes to charge each time you plug it in and the first screen you see after AL syncs is this….

AL is definitely motivating me in the right direction to ramp up my daily activity ~ I cleaned house tonight just so I could reach my 100%

If you pop out the right, you can see your challenge and your daily target.

Pop it out to the left and you have a quick summary by day for the week you are in.

The other part that makes AL worth it to me is that it automatically syncs with my Weight Watchers online tracker to show my activity points earned throughout the day and it keeps track of your activity all week long. 

You can also see the totals on the mobile app, but, not the details.  I think AL needs his own app

If you click on the “view progress” tab above, you can get a breakdown by hour of your daily activity.

Light green represents light to moderate activity like walking, while dark green represents high intensity activity like running.

AL also breaks down your light to moderate intensity and high intensity by minutes as well.

You can drill down even further by clicking any hour line or at the top clicking on hour/minute to see the details of how your activity breaks down by minute. 

This was for my Friday run…..You can highlight the boxes and specify what activity you did and it will help AL get smarter since he learns from your daily routine. So cool! 

For the record, I ran for 22 minutes straight, no walking breaks on Friday with a 5 minute warm up and cool down.

When I was reviewing my results for Week 1 of my Active LInk Challenge, I had a big realization.  It isn’t always all about how many activity points you earn.  I have been consistently focusing on working out every other day so I know on my off days, I may not achieve 100%.

That being said, my overall average for the week showed me meeting my goal 98% of the time.  I’d definitely call that a SUCCESS in my book!

I earned 26 Activity Points which factors in all the times I am moving more, not just when I work out.

AL knows I love to check off boxes so he did it for me.  3 moderate and 3 high intensity days.

If numbers are your thing, then, you can choose to view your summary by numbers.  I think it is so fun that you can exceed 100% of your daily target….just another motivator to move more!

Overall, I am happy with my Week 1 results.  98% is an A+ and definitely in the right direction on my 12 week Active Link Challenge Graph. 

I am already thinking of ways I can move more this week including walking to my training class versus driving and maybe adding in one more day of activity that isn’t running.

Another added benefit I think from AL this week ~ My weight loss results jumped.  I lost another 1.6 lbs ~ so excited!!!

This morning I was up early just so I could make this Simply Filling Cheesy, Ham & Potato Breakfast Casserole for my Weight Watcher’s meeting.  I cut it into 1 points+ pieces so everyone could have a piece.  I’ll be posting the recipe this week.

Served up with some gigantic grapes and sugar plums.

After the meeting, we headed up to the Sacramento Antique Faire and spent the next 4 hours walking around.  The Husband was my camel and carried my snacks/water in his back pack.

Snack #1 a banana…..

Snack #2 a crunch, sweet, green pluot.

We decided to get ahead of traffic on the way home so we waited to have lunch until almost 3 pm.  I was "too hungry” when we walked into Red Robin, but, I am proud that I didn’t order any of the cheeseburgers or bottomless fries.  All the pictures on the menu kill me…..

I did have one of The Husband’s Buffalo Wings and all his celery to balance it out

(SF + 3 WPA) – 3 points+

I ordered their new Western BBQ Chicken Salad without the fried onions and the dressing on the side.  It looked so much prettier in the picture.

I ended up using the BBQ sauce for the dressing and it was just enough.  Using the Red Robin Nutrition Customizer, this salad is 16 points+ (without the fried onions & dressing).

Majority of the ingredients are Simply Filling so I am counting the cheese, avocado and BBQ sauce towards my WPA – SF + 5 WPA.

I did a little prep for success this week when we got home by cutting up a watermelon, making another breakfast casserole at The Husband’s request and preparing a big batch of Two Pea Split Pea Soup from my new Weight Watchers I Love Leftovers Cookbook.

I have pretty much decided that I need to add fresh peas to my split pea soup whenever I make it.  If anyone wants to recipe, just let me know.  It is very similar to the Crockpot Split Pea Soup I make.

It’s 100% Simply Filling & 100% Simply Delicious. (5 points+)

STATS (12 am – 9:00 pm)

• 2,539 calories burned
• 7,920 steps taken
• 8 WPA used, 41 WPA remaining (26 daily points+)
• Active Link Goal: 100% + 4 WPA = success!

HERE IS WHAT IS ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

• Fresh Tomato, Basil Flat Out Pizza, caprese salad
• Ginger Lime Chicken, brown rice, greens
• Cheeseburgers with Homemade Sweet Potato Tater Tots (so excited for these)!
• The Best Ever Cheesesteak Sandwiches, Salad
• Grilled Thai Turkey Salad

I am working on a post to explain how I am working the Simply Filling Technique that I hope to post this week.

Night all!