Mid-Week Update

So I've already missed the mark with most, if not all of my goals for this week.   It's been crazy!  But the good thing is, just because I've had a bad day or 2, I'm not giving up for the whole week.  Each day I am trying my best to stick to the program.  I'll be so glad when the next couple of weeks are over.  I've been stress-eating big time.  Fortunately, I've been moving more too so the scale is still moving in a downward direction.  I'll give a scale report this weekend.

One Week Down - 26 To Go

My first week of getting back on plan was a success!  I ended up losing 1.2 pounds, only .1 off the mark.  It could have been more had I not gone off the rails Friday night at dinner, but I'll take it.  I ended up going over my weekly points, but I had activity points to cover them.  All in all, I think it was a very successful week.

So my goals for last week was to follow the plan exactly as it was written.  I almost made it.  There were a few days where I didn't get in all of my good-health guidelines.  That is going back on this list for this week, but I'm afraid I've already failed because I'm pretty sure I didn't get them in Saturday or Sunday.  Another goal was to not eat any of my activity points.  Again, I failed on that one as well, so it's going back on the list.  My third goal was to get 30 minutes of activity in each day.  I did get this one...if you take the minutes I worked out and divide by 7.  Some days was an hour, and other days I had nothing at all.  I'm still considering this a success because I earned activity more days than not.

So here are my goals for this current week:

1. Follow the plan exactly as written, including getting in all of my good-health guidlines
2. Do not eat any activity points
3. Get an average of 30 minutes per day of activity
4. Do not eat more than my daily points, plus any remaining weekly points on Friday

Starting weight: 193.6
Current weight: 192.2
Goal weight: 161.5

Back On Track - I Mean It This Time!

I've started this blog a million times this summer, but I could never really get behind it mentally.  I've been a slacker.  I've gained back 3 and a half pounds over the summer.  I just didn't care.  I say I was busy and had a lot of things come up, but the truth is, I was just lazy.  I could have worked out, but I didn't.  I could have tracked my food, but I didn't.  I could have followed the plan, but I didn't.  I purposefully chose not to do those things and it didn't go very well.

Now, I really feel like I'm ready to get back at it.  All of the sudden my motivation has picked up and after 4 and a half days I am still 100% on plan.  The scale and my pants are thanking me.  At meeting on Saturday we talked about committing to following the plan 100% for just 1 week.  I thought, I can do that.  It's just 1 week.  I've done it before.  The extra motivation came when I weighed in on Saturday and I had gained enough weight back that I got an extra point to eat every day.  Not good.  The awesome thing is that since I've been planning my food I've been able to indulge and splurge on a few things while still staying on plan.  This includes such things as a carmel apple cobbler at BD's Mongolian BBQ, and a hot dog and beer at the ballgame tonight. 

My husband has even offered to sweeten the pot so to speak.  We leave for a cruise in 24 and a half weeks.  I really wanted to lose 20 more pounds before we go.  He challeneged me to lose 40.  I thought he was crazy, so after some negotiating, we agreed upon 32 pounds.  That's 1.28 pounds per week.  If I can do that, then he is paying for all of my expenses on the cruise up to $1000.  How awesome is that?  I know I can do it.  At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to have those yummy, "bad" things, but after tracking and planning this week, I know I can, it just takes a little bit of time and effort on my part to fit it in.  No more mindless eating.  No more grabbing the chip bag and taking it to the couch. 

The way I'm going to make it to my big goal is to set smaller, weekly goals.  This week, my goal was to follow the Weight Watchers plan 100% as written.  There have been a couple days where I've only gotten in 4 out of my 5 fruits/veggies, but other days I've gotten more so I'm counting it as even.  Next week my goal will be to, again, follow the plan 100% as written, but make sure I get in ALL of my good health guidlines.  I have also commited to only going out for lunch once a week.  That means a lot of cooking on Sunday for me. 

I need your help with all of this though.  I need you to follow up with me, check in on me, nag me, whatever, so that I'm accountable to someone other than myself for staying on track.  At the beginning of each week I will post my goals here, and then at the end of the week I will post whether or not I met them, what I learned, and how the scale reacted. 

Starting Weight on 9/17/11: 193.6
Goal Weight for March 10, 2012: 161.5

I'm Making A Comeback

It's been almost a month since I've blogged.  My head, and heart for that matter, just haven't been into it.  I've been maintaning, but not losing.  I haven't been working the plan, and I really haven't cared.  I've been busy, and my diligence has been put on the back burner.  I'm almost 8 months into this thing and I still haven't hit my 10%.  Heck, after weigh-in this morning I'm back under 20 pounds lost.  It's not a good feeling.

The topic at the meeting this week was about busting through plateaus.  Most plateaus are caused by lack of diligence.  There was a check-list of things that could be causing a stall, and I went through those, identified the areas in which I'm struggling, and have come up with a plan to get back on track. 

1. Are you tracking everything? - I have to admit, I haven't been.  I've been tracking everything until I'm out of points, but then I keep eating and don't log it.  Starting today, if it goes into my mouth, it's going into my tracker, even if that means I go over my points.  I know that if I'm committed to logging everything, I won't want to go over my points.
2. Do you eyeball portions? - absolutely I do.  I haven't put much of anything on the scale lately.  The biggest culprit is the bag of potato chips.  I would just grab the bag after dinner and eat until I thought I had eaten 2 servings.  In reality, I was probably eating 3 or 4 servings, and then not counting it.  Starting today, everything is going on the scale.
3. Are you filling up on fruit? - fruit is healthy right?  Yes, but it still has calories and in mass quantity can pack on the pounds.  I'm pretty sure I haven't been eating too much fruit, but since it's zero points, I haven't been tracking it.  Starting today, I will measure and track all of my fruit intake, just to make sure that I'm not going over board.  I will also have to remind myself that serving is a half cup, or one small piece.
4. Do you attend meetings every week? - Yes, religiously!  Since I started on January 8th, I've only missed 3 meetings, and all 3 were because I was out of town.  The power of the meeting is having the accountability.  If you weigh on your own scale at home, but don't share it with anyone, then you're not accountable to anyone for how you are doing.  You could also be tempted to not get on the scale since you don't have to.  Knowing where you stand is the only way to stay on track. It's also a great place to get support, tips, and advice. 
5. Could you be overstimating your activity? - I can honestly say that I don't do this.  I am very careful to only record what I legitimately do, and a lot of times I will underestimate since I know I will probably end up eating those points later.
6. Do you follow the good health guidlines daily? - for my non-Weight Watcher folks, the good health guidlines include things such as liquid intake, fruit and veggie servings, dairy servings, activity, healthy oils, multivitamin, and activity.  The goal is supposed to be to check these off each day, with different minimums for each.  I have been very bad about meeting my GHG's over the last few months.  Starting today, I will make every effort to get in my minimum GHG's every day.  The one that will be the hardest will be getting in my 2 servings of dairy.  I'm a bit lactose intolerant, and I generally don't put cheese on much because of the points.  I think I'm going to make one of my daily snacks a piece of mozzarella string cheese wrapped in some lunch meat or dunked in some marinara or pizza sauce.

This week, I'm starting over.  I'm going back to the basics, and hopefully I can have a big loss on the scale. 

Starting Weight: 210.4
Current Weight: 191.4
Goal Weight: 130.0

The Power of Positive Thinking

I am officially stating that my plateau is busted.  I saw a number on my home scal this morning that I haven't seen in a looooong time.  I'm now only 12.6 pounds away from matching my driver's license weight.  I think that weight was entered in 2002 when I moved back to Ohio.  I guess all of the extra gym time is paying off.

Last week at Weight Watchers, I finally hit 20 pounds.  I'm at 20.2 to be exact.  This is the most weight I've ever lost on Weight Watchers.  In past attempts, I would get really close, get frustrated, and then quit.  Quitting is not an option this time.  I missed my 10% by 0.8, which kind of bummed me out, but I'm pretty sure I'll get it this week. 

On the Weight Watchers website, I'm part of a challenge to lose 50 pounds by the end of this year.  There is a great group of girls on there who have become part of my support network.  Every week we have a topic or question to discuss.  This week's topic was to state how much weight we'd lost and then talk about something we've gained through this journey.  We were not allowed to get down on ourselves, or wish that we had lost more by now.  I found it a little difficult to come up with an answer at first.  Yeah, I'm proud I've lost 20 pounds, but I do wish I would have lost more by now.  But once I actually sat and thought about it, I have learned a lot about myself.

I've learned patience and perseverence for sure.  It's taken me almost 8 months to lose 20 pounds.  That takes perseverence.  I've learned that I'm a lot stronger than I give myself credit for.  Even on the days I've hurt or didn't want to go, or had stuff to do at home, I've made it to the gym as scheduled.  I've learned how to stand up for myself.  It amazes me the people who have either intentionally or unintentionally tried to sabotage or derail me.  People at the meeting talk all the time about how they get upset when people tell them that they don't need to lose more weight, or they don't need to lose as much as they'd like to lose.  I have learned to take that to mean that I don't look as fat as I think I look and say thank you.  I've also learned how to say no when someone asks me for a spur of the moment lunch or treat.  I no longer feel awkward telling them that I can't because I didn't budget the points or I want a good weigh-in on the weekend. 

My goal for August is to think positive thoughts, and not beat myself up for anything that I may do poorly.  It's amazing how positive thinking can turn things around.  August is a month of happy thoughts! :)

The Gym Is My Friend?? When Did That Happen??

I vowed at the beginning of July that I would get in a minimum of 2 work outs each week.  This week is week 4 and I think it's finally becoming a habit.  We've been walking 6 miles on Sunday mornings and I've been going to water aerobics on Wednesday nights.  But I've been adding in 1-2 sessions of riding the bike at the gym on top of that.  Last night I decided to skip the gym, and at about 8:00 I found myself thinking, "I kind of want to go to the gym."  For anyone who knows me, they would think hell had frozen over if those words came out of my mouth.  My biggest problem with the gym is that I hate getting sweaty.  Now I've decided that it's a side effect I can live with.  I just think of it as the fat pouring out of my body. 

My eating has been way better this week too.  I went a little off track over the weekend, but not near as bad as I used to.  I would expect myself to be hungrier than I have been with all of the gym time, but I think the heat is working to supress my appetite, which is good.  I'm determined to at least hit 20 pounds this weekend.  I want more, but I'm not hoping for more than that.  I'm setting my expectations low so I can be pleasently surprised :)

Time for food finds!

I love Chinese food.  A free Chinese dinner is the only reason I agreed to go out with my husband on our first date (I'm glad he offered Chinese food!).  I tend to have a weakness for orange chicken from Panda Express, but 1 serving eats up most, if not all, of my daily points.  It's just not worth it to me.  Tonight, I found mandarin orange chicken at Trader Joe's for 5 points per serving, and it's a decent size serving.  Not quite as sweet as Panda Express, but every bit as good.  You cook it in the oven, but it turns out crispy just like restaurant orange chicken.  Definitely going to keep a bag of that in the freezer.

We also tried a new burger recipe last week; Asian Beef Sliders.  These things were delicious, and even though one slider doesn't sound like enough, they are pretty filling.  We ate ours with corn on the cob, but you could pair just about anything with it.  5 points for my WW peeps, and 239 calories with 8 grams of fat for my non-WW peeps.  Not to mention they only take 30 minutes to make.

Asian Beef Slidres with Pickled Cucumbers - serves 8

2 Kirby cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (we used vidalia)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/4 pounds ground lean beef (7% fat or less) - could also use turkey?
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 teaspoons chili-garlic sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons wasabi powder
1 1/2 teaspoons water
1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise (we used low-fat Miracle Whip)
8 (3 inch) mini sandwich buns (1 1/2 ounces each), split

1. Spray grill rack with non-stick spray.  Preheat grill to medium-high heat, or prepare medium-high fire.
2. Toss together cucumbers, onion, vinegar, ginger, mint, and pepper flakes in medium bowl; let stand 10 minutes.
3. Combine beef, scallions, chili-garlic sauce, and salt in large bowl and mix well.  With damp hands, form mixture into 8 patties.  Place patties on grill rack and grill until instant-read thermometer inserted into side of each burger registers 160degees for medium, 4-5 minutes on each side. (I think we cooked them 4-5 minutes total).
4. Meanwhile, to make dressing, stir together wasabi powder and water in small bowl until smooth; whisk in mayonnaise.  Spread cut sides of buns with dressing.  Place burgers in buns and top evenly with cucumber mixutre.

The Art of The Cheat

I finally have a handle on my food this week!  Granted, I've eaten all of the activity points I've earned, but I've only eaten 1 more point than that, and I'll make it up tonight.  I think my body is getting used to all of the extra activity as well because I'm shedding pounds like crazy.  For the last 3 mornings I've been under 190 on the scale at home which hasn't happened since probably 1999.  I'm positive I'll hit 20 pounds this week, and I'm hoping I'll finally hit my 10%.  It's so much easier to stay motivated when the scale is moving down.  The only downside to all of the gym time is that I feel like I'm not getting anything accomplished at home.  I think I need to find a little better balance, but with the pounds falling off I'm not about to adjust the workouts. 

As a little extra motivation, me and my neighbor joined a weight-loss challenge that starts on Monday.  It's something they are doing here in Kansas City.  We have 6 people on our team and the contest runs for 10 weeks.  Whichever teams has the highest average of percentage lost wins a trip to Arizona, including airfare, accomodations, spending money, and spa treatments.  It would be pretty awesome if we won, but at the very least at least we'll come out of it skinnier!

Through all of this I've had to rethink my "cheat" days.  I weigh in on Saturday morning.  I would then use Saturday and Sunday as days to kind of pig out and eat all of those bad things I wanted but wouldn't let myself have throughout the week.  Cheat day didn't mean just 1 splurge, it meant multiple splurges over a 2 day time period.  I would then spend the entire week playing catch up on the scale.  This week, I let myself have some indulgences on the weekend, but I made sure not to eat more than my daily and activity points.  I don't feel deprived at all, which was shocking to me.  I've also been a little better about planning some small splurges throughout the week.  I'm hooked on potato chips right now.  Probably because we found some zesty ranch kettle chips.  I make sure that I have enough points after dinner to have a serving of chips. 

I'm finding that losing weight is more mental than anything else.  I had made somewhat of a mind-shift when I started Weight Watchers in January.  I found through my plateau (if you can call it that because I definitely wasn't working the program the way I knew I should), that the path is constantly changing.  For a while, I could get away with having 2 full cheat days a week.  That came to a screeching hault and I wasn't ready for the next mind-shift.  Now, I feel as though I've made that next transition and can continue on my way.  I had to realize that while I could still have 1 or 2 splurges throughout the week, I couldn't have 10. 

It's all about prioritizing and figuring out what you truely want.  I want to be thinner.  I want to be healthy.  But I also want greasy, cheesy pizza, chinese food, french fries, and beer.  It finally clicked with me that to have the pizza I need to give up something else, whether that be high point meals for the rest of the week, or time at home because I'm at the gym.  Let's face it, deprivation diets don't work.  No one can eat like that forever, especially me.  But I've also realized that I don't need the bad food all the time in order to feel satisfied. 

Last weekend my splurge was sushi.  My dad and I went to the sushi train for lunch on Saturday.  They put 2-3 pieces of sushi on small plates, and a train pulls them around the counter.  You just pick off what you want and they count up the plates at the end to get your total for the bill.  After 4 plates, I was feeling full.  I ended up eating a 5th plate because it looked good, but all in all I ate 12 pieces of sushi and 3 potstickers.  Not necessarily an unhealthy choice, but those points add up.  That was my splurge for the week and I'm completely ok with that.  Next week I think my splurge will be Chinese food.  I haven't had any since our vacation in June and I'm craving it. 

I will update after weigh-in on Saturday.  Can't wait!!

Lack Of Planning On My Part...

Last week was not a good week.  I was crazy busy at work, plus the added gym time means I didn't have much time at home.  Breakfast and/or lunch consisted of whatever I could grab on my way out the door.  One morning that consisted of a can of tomato juice and a Ritz Whole Grain Crackerful.  I ate lunch out 3 out of the 5 days.  I went out to eat last night.  All of that added to the stress of my week.  I'm determined to not let that happen again this week, even if that means a somewhat busy weekend of prepping food. 

The stress didn't help me complete my goals last week.  The only goal I did successfully accomplish is earning back the extra points I ate last Saturday.  I was bad about tracking and measuring, so those are going on the list again for this week.  I'm also making a goal of working out at least twice this week. 

I was down a pound this week, which is good.  But I've got another 0.4 to lose to get back to my lowest weight this year.  This week is off to a much better start than last week.  So far I'm within my points for the day and shouldn't go over at all, even with eating breakfast out and going to the sushi train with my dad for lunch. 

Be on the look out for some new recipe posts this week.  I'm trying some new stuff, including Asian Beef Sliders and Spicy Thai Crab Rolls. 

Hawaiian Curried Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

This was so fantastic I had to post it.

• 3 sprays cooking spray
• 2 tsp peanut oil (we used olive oil)
• 2 tsp ginger root, finely minced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt (we used kosher)
• 1/8 tsp sugar
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 cup light coconut milk
• 2 1/2 cups pineapple, diced (we used fresh)
• 1/4 cup shallots, minced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, fresh, minced
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut meat, toasted (we used shredded in bag and toasted in oven)

1. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray; set over medium heat.  Add oil; heat until oil starts to shimmer.  Add ginger and onions; saute until onions turn translucent and start to caramelize, about 5-7 minutes.  Add curry powder, salt and sugar; cook, stirring, until curry becomes fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Push vegetables to side of skillet and saute chicken until lightly browned, about 1-2 minutes.  Add coconut milk and reduce heat to low; simmer, partially covered, sitrring occasionally, until chicken  is done, about 2-30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, to make salsa, combine pineapple, shallots, and cilatnro; toss well to coat.
4. To serve, top chicken with salsa and sprinkle with cocounut.  Yields about 1/2 cup chicken, 1/2 cup salsa, and 2 teaspoons of coconut per serving.

Unfortunately I don't have the nutritional info on this, but for my WW friends, it's 5 points.  At first, I was a little out of my comfort zone in wanting to try this, but it was so worth the plunge!  We had it with some Uncle Ben's rice pilaf and it made a great meal.  I saw one suggestion to use the salsa on a hot dog.  May have to try that one.  Enjoy!

Time to Make a Fresh Start

As you all know, the scale hasn't exactly been my friend for the last few months.  I've been stuck.  I wouldn't necessarily call it a plateau, because I haven't been doing what I know I need to do to succeed.  I've been eating too much and moving too little, simple as that.  Last week I moved a lot more, but I still ate too much which resulted in a 1.2 pound gain at weigh-in on Saturday.  This led to a bad mood and a huge pitty party, which led to even more bad eating, and now I'm going to have to play catch up this week if I don't want another gain on Saturday. 

At Weight Watcher's we talked about making it work with the tools we have available, instead of wishing for things that we know we can't have.  This struck a cord with me.  One of the things we talked about was wishing for a personal trainer.  I've blogged about this before!  In fact, I think it was either my last post or the one before it where I said, "I wish I could plunk down $400 and hire my personal trainer back."  I really think that this has been a mental roadblock for me.  I still have all of my work-out sheets from last summer that he wrote up for me.  What's stopping me from going to the gym and doing it myself?  Absolutely nothing but my mental state (and the fact that I don't feel comfortable at the gym, again relates to mental state).

Something else that hit me like a 2x4 was the quote that is on the magnet our leader gives out when a certain milestone is reached.  It goes something like, "Some people only dream of success, while others wake up every day and work hard to achieve it."  Have I really been working hard to achieve my weight-loss goals?  Have I been making a concious effort every day to do what needs to be done to get this weight off?  Have I been making a concious effort every day to make this my lifestyle instead of just a diet?  Lately, I have not been doing this.  I've just been coasting along on autopilot, and not really working the program. 

In an attempt to get back on track and make a fresh start, here are my goals for this week:

1. Earn enough activity points to make up for the extra points I ate on Saturday/Sunday.
2. Measure/weigh EVERYTHING.
3. Track EVERYTHING.

No Soda - Day 5

So my last day of drinking soda was last Thursday, June 30.  I can honestly say, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be.  Friday was rough because I started to get that caffeine headache around 2:30.  Saturday was really bad because I was craving soda.  I was not in a good mood.  But ever since then, it hasn't been a big deal at all!  I'm also happy to report that the only high-fructose corn syrup I've consumed was in a small amount of ketchup while out to eat Saturday and Monday morning.  This July diet may not be so bad after all.

Weigh-in was Saturday.  I was up 0.2 pounds.  I was expecting it though, I totally sabotaged myself on Friday.  I just couldn't get enough to eat on Friday night, and I think most of it was due to the caffeine headache.  The scale isn't being really friendly so far this week either, but I've been doing a lot of activity, and walked 6 miles yesterday.  I am super sore.  I know once I drop that water-weight everything will be ok.  I'm forcing down the water today, and I think I might go for a walk after work to try to work some of the soreness out.  I really need to walk the dog too.  I put her on the scale this weekend and she's at 36 pounds!  Yikes!  She should weigh about 28 pounds.  Looks like she's going on a diet as well!

I've been kind of stuck on the scale the last few months.  I know the reason.  I need to quit eating all of my weekly bonus points, and I need to start exercising.  I just haven't been ready to do either.  I'm really thinking about starting water aerobics again on Wednesdays.  I think part of the reason I quit going was because I felt like once a week wasn't enough, so why bother.  Stupid reasoning, I know.  Now I know that anything is better than nothing, and at this point, I'll take what I can get.  I've been doing this for 6 months and I've only lost 19 pounds.  Not exactly stellar.  We have a cruise coming up in about 8 months, and I would really like to drop some significant weight between now and then. 

I wish I could plunk down the $400 to re-hire my personal trainer.  I dreaded the training sessions because he made me throw up every single time, but they worked.  I lost a ton of inches last summer.  The only downfall was I didn't have control of my diet.  Had I been on Weight Watcher's then, I know I could have lost all kinds of weight.

Non-Scale Victory for the day: The guy at Planet Sub totally flirted with me today at lunch! :)

Talk About A Challenge!

So, my husband came to me this morning and asked what I thought of giving up, processed foods for 1 month.  At first, I thought he was crazy!  I always said that I could never be a clean eater.  I like my "convenience" foods to much.  After talking more about it, we've decided to try to avoid as much high-fructose corn syrup as possible, as well as artificial sweeteners, like aspertame. 

That seemed a little more do-able, especially after taking a look at ingredients for the dinners I'm planning on making for the next couple of weeks.  We are going live with this experiment on July 1st.  I think it's going to be easier for Kevin than it will be for me.  He's not going to have to give up a lot of stuff.  I'm going to have to give up diet soda, Diet Snapple, Clamato, and ketchup.  This will be no easy task for me. 

I think my biggest isssue will be the beverages.  I really can't exist on just water.  I hate drinking water.  I detest it.  And now, all of my alternative no-calorie drinks are off the menu.  Even Crystal Light powder.  I may have to resort to drinking sweet iced tea made with Splenda.  For those who know me pretty well would have thought that the ketchup would be the bigger issue.  Ironically, I actually like ketchup made with real sugar.  If it's good enough to eat in Jamaica, it's good enough to eat at home!  I am excited for the meal possibilities that are going to come out of this.  I told my husband that he's going to be doing a lot of grilling for dinner.  I'm really glad that I bought some skewers this spring. 

I'm hoping this will be good for the scale.  I lost 2.2 pounds after coming back from vacation, which was awesome, but this week hasn't been so hot.  I've been hungry, and for all the wrong things.  I also haven't been tracking like I should.  I get that tracking is the basic premise of Weight Watchers, but I've fallen off the bandwagon.  I did great last week, but I knew I had some ground to make up.  I don't know why I can't get my head into the game.  I really want to hit 20 pounds, and my 10%, which I'm very close to, but I just can't get the motivation to faithfully do what I know I need to do.  Maybe the new way of eating will give me the jumpstart I need.

A Successful Vacation

I am proud to report that vacation wasn't a complete disaster!  When I weighed myself after we got home, I had only gained 3.6 pounds.  I consider that a successful vacation.  When we went to Jamaica last year I gained 6 pounds!  I was kind of expecting that this year.

I was bad on vacation.  Well, let me define bad.  By bad, I mean that I didn't track anything that I ate.  I was somewhat concious of what I put into my mouth, but I wasn't overly concerned with it.  On the 2 day drive to DC, we ate a lot of snacks in the car...chips, Combo's, and beef jerkey were the staples.  I did have some tomatoes and light ranch too.  We also hit up White Castle on the way out because we can't get it here in KC.  It was good, but I decided that it's much better when you're drunk.  :) 

The night we got into DC we went to a seafood restaurant.  I figured that would be somewhat healthy.  I mean, seafood is low in points.  Well, when they brought the bread basket to the table it had your standard dinner rolls, but also a chopped up cinnamon roll.  Huh?  It was kind of cold so fortunately I was able to leave that alone.  We ordered the crab dip for 2 as an appetizer.  It was basically huge chunks of crab in a bath of cream cheese and parmesean, served with an entire french loaf.  We ran out of bread before we ran out of dip so I finished it off with a spoon.  It was a little self indulgent, yes, but very good.  For dinner, we split 2 entrees.  My husband got a shrimp po-boy sandwich.  It was really good and had spinach on it so I got a vegetable.  I ordered the crab casserole, which was crab in a cream and white wine sauce with cheese on top.  Very delicious.  The portion was small, especially since we split it, so that wasn't too bad.  For desert I had an italian ice that was under 100 calories. 

On Sunday and Monday we did a lot of walking.  I estimated that we did about 12 miles on Sunday alone.  I calculated that between the 2 days I earned 42 activity points.  Surely that took care of the junk that I ate in the car the 2 days prior.  We indulged in some chinese food, but made it last 2 nights, and had pretty sensible lunches.

Then we got to North Carolina.  The food was reasonable until Friday.  My sister-in-law is from Columbia, and her mom and aunt had come into town for my neice's graduation.  As soon as they got there they started cooking.  Everything was sooooo good, but I feel like all I did on Friday was eat...oh, and drink.  My brother-in-law found the caribbean beer that I like, so of course I had to indulge.  It was worth every bit of the points it cost me to drink it.  Oh, and there was a lot of regular Mountain Dew drinking.  Normally I drink diet.

Saturday and Sunday we were in the car again.  The snacks weren't quite as bad.  On Saturday we only ate breakfast and dinner, which wasn't too bad.  Sunday of course involved one last stop at White Castle.  This time we went in to order and I noticed that they had loaded fries.  That would be crinkle cut fries with bacon, cheese, and ranch dressing on top.  They were fantastic!

Considering all of this, 3.6 pounds isn't bad at all.  As of this morning I've lost all of that, plus another .4 pounds.  I will gladly take that.  I've been sticking to just my daily points this week in an attempt to actually have a loss at weigh-in on Saturday.  I'm also craving healthier foods, which helps.  Had I been diligent about tracking, I probably could have lost weight on vacation with all of the walking that we did.  Maybe I'll give that shot when we take our cruise next March. 

A Quick Vacation Update

So we have 3 days left on our vacation, and so far I don't think I've done too badly.  I haven't been able to get on a scale, but none of my shorts are fitting any tighter, so that's a good thing.  The first few days of vacation I ate like a pig, but at the same time I earned 42 activity points during our first 2 days in DC.  I think that negated most if not all of the extra food I've eaten.  I haven't been tracking my food because it's been a bit difficult, but I've been trying to only eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm full, and chose healthier foods. 

The worst part has been the driving.  When I'm in the car, all I want to do is snack because I'm bored.  I think for the 2 day drive home I'll keep the snacks out of reach and pull out my book, or maybe just sleep!  I'm really curious to get on the scale when we get home to see where I'm at.  I don't think I've lost, but I'm almost positive that I haven't gained either, which is a good thing!

Unexpected Results

I got a bit of good news this week that we think is linked to my weight loss.  I had to go to the dentist Thursday morning.  I usually dread going to the dentist.  I seem to build up tarter really quickly so there is always a lot of scraping involved.  Well, when I sat down and opened my mouth yesterday morning, my hygienist was very suprised to see that I didn't have near as much build up as I normally do.  I haven't been taking care of my teeth any differently.  I told her that back in January I had joined Weight Watcher's and that my diet had changed.  Now I'm eating a lot more fruits and vegetables.  She said she's seen this happen before, and attributed my lack of tarter to my healthier diet. 

I was ecstatic! My entire appointment only took about half an hour, which I think is a new record for me in the dentist chair.  I really needed that non-scale victory, since this week has been mediocre at best.  I've been busy, and tired, and have just had a general lack of motivation. I haven't been tracking near as diligently as I should be, and that's reflecting on the scale.  What's done is done, and I'll have to face my fate on the scale tomorrow.  I'm determined to make next week a better week.  I need to have a better week next week so I have a good jump start heading into vacation.

It Is What It Is...And It's Just Kind Of "Eh"

Ok, so I know it's been a while.  It's not that I've forgotten, or haven't wanted to write, I just haven't had any good subject material.  I'm still stuck in that place where this journey is not exciting any more.  It just is.  It's part of my every day, and that seems so boring to write about.  I haven't tried any new fantastic recipes.  I haven't done any great feats at the gym.  I haven't heard any inspirational quotes.  The scale has not been my friend lately, and I'm sick of stressing out about it and over-thinking it to death.  I just really haven't had any new material to share. 

Are any of my other Weight Watcher friends feeling like this?  I wouldn't say I'm bored by the experience, but I'm definitely not as enthusiastic as I used to be.  I guess that's a sign that it really is becoming a lifestyle.  I don't even have to log my food to know how many points I've packed in my lunch anymore.  I can just grab things off the shelf or out of the fridge and know that I'm staying within my points.  I do still track it by the way, because not tracking can lead to trouble. 

I haven't had any great news on the scale to share either.  In the last 4 weeks I've only lost a pound and a half.  I'm really hoping that I'll be down 2 tomorrow, but sometimes things don't like to cooperate come Saturday morning.  I really feel like I need to hit a big milestone this week to get me excited and get my head back in the game.  I'm so close to hitting 20 pounds as well as my 20%.  I can almost taste them.  But it's frustrating at the same time, because I thought I would have hit them by now.  My goal going into all of this was to average 1 pound a week.  That would have put me at 20 pounds this week, and my 10% next weekend.  Well, I'm sitting at 17.2 as of last Saturday.  I'm not down about the fact that I've lost 17.2 pounds.  That's awesome!  That's a little more than half the weight of my dog!  That's over a sack and a half of potatoes!  (Yeah, grab 2 10 pound bags of potatoes the next time you're at the grocery store and try to lug them around.  You'll see how good it feels to take that weight off.)  But right now I need a 5 pound sticker at meeting, or some other kind of recognition to perk me up a bit.

I really want to have a strong loss this week and next, because I'm going on vacation in June and will miss 2 weigh-ins.  Knowing how poorly I did when I went to Michigan for 2 days has me terrified of this 10 day vacation.  My husband and I are taking a road trip.  We are driving to Washington DC for 2 and a half days, then down to Jacksonville, NC for 3 and a half days, then back home.  We're going to spend approximately 40+ hours in the car during these 10 days.  I've been scouring the internet for ideas of how to "work-out" in the car.  I'm not having a lot of luck. (If you have any ideas - I don't care how crazy they sound - send them my way.)  We are also going to be eating a lot of meals out.  One good thing is we are staying at my husband's brother's house while we're in NC, but I still have no control over the cooking or what's being served.  We're also going to be doing a lot of walking while we're in DC.  I am really hoping that makes up for any of the crap that I know I'm going to eat.  I think I'm going to have to ban chips, chocolate, and regular soda from the car.  As much as I would love to come back from vacation with a loss, I will definitely settle for no gain. 

Hopefully something will inspire me at the meeting tomorrow, and hopefully the scale smiles down upon me.

Ugh!

Well, I was down this weekend.  It was only 0.6, but down is down, right?  That makes my weight-loss to date 17.2 pounds.  I just looked at my stats, and in the last 4 weeks I've only lost a total of a pound and a half.  Obviously this does not make me happy.  On Friday I went back and did some research.  I took a look at the last week I lost 2 pounds which was the beginning of April.  I had eaten the same amount of points during that 2 pound week as I had this past week.  During the 2 pound week I only earned half of the activity points that I earned last week.  This made me go, "huh?"  Then I looked at what I ate.  During the 2 pound week, I ate a lot of fatty foods.  It must have been a week when we had a lot of ballgames, because probably half of my diet was ballpark food.  This last week, even though I had eaten the same amount of points, just about everything was very healthy.  That made me decide to eat a meatball sub and some buffalo ranch fries at the stadium.  I'm not entirely sure if it was brilliant, or stupid, but I lost weight between Friday morning and Saturday morning. 

This week is off to a good start.  Granted, I've used most of my weeklies already, but I've also earned 17 activity points so far.  I'm going to up my fat intake a bit this week, as well as eat at least half of my activity points if I earn at least 30.  That has always worked for me in the past.

I'm 19 weeks into this journey, so it's possible I could be hitting my first plateau.  If this week isn't a big weight-loss week, I think I'm going to start doing strength training again.  Since I seem to be stuck anyways, why not build up some lean muscle?  That will at least up my metabolism, and I know eveneutally the scale will start moving again.

Starting Weight: 210.4
Current Weight: 193.2
Weight Lost: 17.2
Next Goal: 193 (Pre-Jamaica weight)

It's Official, I Can't Eat As Much

So, I'm thinking that the fact that I was up last week was no fluke.  It really does look like I'm going to need to cut back on eating all of my weekly points.  This makes me sad, mostly because it means I'm going to have to find a way to trim points off of my favorite Saturday morning breakfast.  I'm not quite sure what to expect on the scale tomorrow morning.  I've been down, and then back up this week.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Since it looks like this week is not going to be a scale victory, I'm going to focus on the non-scale victories that I've had.  All of the sudden I'm finding that a lot of my clothes are way too big.  I pulled out all of my summer clothese from last year and had to get rid of a bunch of them because they just hang on me.  And stuff that was tight last year fits great this year.  I've found a whole new wardrobe.  Hopefully I can make these clothes last through this entire summer, because I can't afford to buy a new summer and winter wardrobe. 

I also earned 39 activity points this week.  I did a lot of walking over last weekend, and I've been doing a bunch of stuff around my house this week.  Last night I spent 2 hours organizing clothes and putting them away, plus hauling things up and down the stairs.  I joined a challenge on the  Weight Watchers website called Spring Cleaning.  The whole premise of the challenge is the fact that often we get sick of exercising because we don't see immediate results.  Well, if we focus on getting our activity in by doing projects around the house, we still earn our activity points, but also get the immediate gratification of seeing a change.  My master bedroom looks much better this morning than it did when I got home from work last night. 

I'll update you on how weigh-in goes tomorrow morning.  Maybe something miraculous will happen over night?  I can dream, right?

Playing Catch Up

Sorry for the lack of posting in recent days.  I've been terribly busy.  Here's one I started on Sunday but didn't get a chance to finish and post.

"So I was up at this week's weigh-in.  It was only 0.4 pounds, but I still didn't like to see it.  I think most of it was due to stress.  I ate the same way that I usually do.  I even earned a few more activity points than normal.  I was retaining water like crazy as well.  I think a lot of that had to do with the high temps we had at the beginning of the week.

I went back and forth as to wether or not I wanted to start reducing the amount of weeklies that I eat and see if that makes a difference on the scale next week.  I have decided that I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing to see if this week was a fluke or if I'm trending. 

Today I proved to myself that I can eat brunch out without blowing my points.  Today was my dad's birthday, and he wanted to go to brunch at M&S Grill as his birthday meal.  We've been for brunch before, and it's really good.  I was a bit worried going into it this morning, but I went in with a plan.  They always have really good fresh fruit, as well as peel and eat shrimp.  We were seated right next to that table, so I decided I would start there.  I loaded up my first plate with a bunch of fruit, some shrimp, as well as a salad.  I used just a smidge of their caesar dressing.  The entire plate was 3 points.  I knew that if I ate this stuff first I wouldn't eat as much of the hot stuff.  As for hot food, I had about an ounce and a half of ham, 2 slices of bacon, 1 poached egg, about a 1/4 cup of potatoes, and 3 ounces of tilapia for 8 points.  So far I'm at an 11 point brunch.  For one meal on a special occasion, that's not bad at all.  What killed me was the 4 point bloody mary and the 8 point red velvet cupcake.  But I thouroughly enjoyed both of them."

This week is off to a much better start.  I've been extra hungry this week, which happens sometimes.  It's been a struggle to stick to my points, but the scale is moving down.  I hit a new low on my scale at home this morning which made me really happy.  I'm hoping that all of the activity points I earned over the weekend by walking will pay off.  We leave for vacation in 3 and a half weeks and I really want to hit my 10% before we go.  I'm going to miss 2 weigh-ins while we're gone and my goal is to just maintain.  I'll be super happy if I actually lose over vacation.  Since we're spending some time in Washington, D.C., I know I'll get a lot of walking in, which should help.  But, in the 9 days that we're gone, 4 and a half of those will be spent in the car, which can be really dangerous.  Any ideas for car friendly, point friendly snacks would be much appreciated.

Pizza Pizza

This is my new favorite dinner!  We decided to make home-made pizzas tonight for dinner.  Some of the girls at Weight Watchers were talkin about how they used Flatouts to make pizzas.  What's a Flatout you ask?  It's kind of a mix between a pita and a tortilla.  Well, really it's just a thicker tortilla.  But they are really good.  I found some Italian Herb ones at Walmart and figured they would make awesome pizzas.  Here's what I put on mine.

1 Italian Flatout (2 points)
1/2 package of Boboli pizza sauce (1 point) - if you're going to make more than 1 pizza at a time buy the big packs and use half on each pizza
56g Canadian Bacon (2 points)
1/2 cup Fat Free Mozzarella Cheese (2 points)
Onions
Tomatoes

If you read carefully you would noticed that this entire thing is only 7 points.  Load it up with as many veggies as you want for free!  Now if only I could find some 1 point complimenting breadsticks I'd be in heaven!