Unbelievable

I'm not sure whether to believe it or not, but I supposedly LOST .4 pounds this week...while on vacation for 5 days. I'm doubting the accuracy because according to my scale, I gained .4 pounds. But I'm not going to argue with WW and will go with it. So I've now lost 54.0 pounds.

Our vacation was a lot of fun. On Sunday we toured Wrigley Field, Home of the Cubs, which was really cool. We were able to go inside the press boxes, locker room, dugout, and sit in several different sections, including the bleacher seats in the outfield.

Monday was a beautiful day (81 degrees) so we walked down to Millenium Park and to Grant Park. Then we walked back up along Michigan Avenue to eat lunch at Pizzeria Due which was AWESOME and so not-point-friendly it wasn't even funny! But gosh was it delicious! Mmmmm..... That night we walked to Navy Pier and watched the fireworks show. There was a cover band playing outside that was doing old school rap songs like "It Takes Two" and "Hip-Hop Hooray." It was pretty funny...lots of people were dancing (yours truly just watched) and we felt like we were back in high school! According to my pedometer, we walked over 18,000 steps that day! And the awesome thing was that my feet didn't hurt a bit, nor did my legs!

Tuesday was our architectural river tour and wouldn't you know it, it was an overcast day and only 48 degrees with about a 30 mph wind....in an uncovered boat. Brrrrrr! It also sprinkled on us just a bit but nothing to worry about. I drank 3 cups of coffee, mainly to keep my hands warm! We were on the river for 90 minutes but it didn't really seem that long because it was really quite interesting. After that we went to the Java Bar at our hotel and I had an English coffee which consisted of coffee, kahlua, creme de cacao dark, coffee liquer, and whippped cream. Again, NOT point-friendly but very delicious! That night we went back to Navy Pier and ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company which was really, really good. I had a grilled shrimp entree and a side of steamed broccoli so I think I redeemed myself. ; )

Wednesday we went to the art museum for a couple of hours before we had to head to the airport. It's the type of place that requires most of the day to go through so we didn't do it justice at all.

I wrote down everything I ate, but didn't even begin to try to calculate how many points stuff was worth. I ate fruit every morning for breakfast and I tried to balance a not-so-healthy meal with a somewhat-healthy meal the best I could. And I drank lots of water and put over 50,000 steps on my pedometer while gone so that should have offset some of the calories.

All in all I'm proud of how I handled myself during the week. I found that I'm conscious of what I'm eating even when I've given myself "permission" to be "bad" and still try to find something unfried to eat.

Below are a few pictures from our trip. Also, an updated progress picture is on the right side of my blog.

Chicago, Here I Come!

We're leaving for Chicago in the morning and I'm proud to say that I am 53.6 pounds thinner than last year when we went! That airplane seat is going to be much more comfortable! =) And Bill's will be, too, as he is down about 43 pounds now!

I told my leader that I am going to treat myself to a piece of authentic Chicago-style pizza while we're there and she said I deserve it...my mouth is watering already! I am going to write down everything I eat but I don't think I will worry about sticking to my 22 points until we get back. I'll start back up on Thursday. My goal this week is to enjoy the time with my husband and to have fun. I even bought a new swimsuit today so we can take a dip in the pool! If I'm up a pound or two (or more!) next Saturday, I will be fine with it. (Okay, I might have to reread this post to remind myself that I said that!)

I'll take lots of pictures while we're there and post some next week. I hope all of you enjoy the long weekend! Talk to you later...

I Didn't Take Beginning Measurements, BUT...

I was going through our spare dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans that fit me when I joined WW six months ago. They were a size 20 from Avenue, a plus-size store. I held them up to my husband and you should have seen the look on his face! It was priceless. Then I went and grabbed a new pair of capris I bought last weekend, a size 14 from Kohl's, and laid them on top of the jeans. The rest is self-explanatory.

The Ring Problem is RESOLVED!

It took 4 weeks and 3 days, but we finally have resolved the issue with my husband's wedding band. After it came back from the repair shop for the 3rd time, the manager agreed that it still didn't look right and agreed to order him a new ring in his size. She said it would be a "one-time exchange," which rubbed me wrong a bit since it wasn't our fault we were having to exchange it...it was THEIR mess up! But I let it go and uttered "whatever" to myself instead. We went and did the exchange this evening and there's a huge difference between his original "repaired" ring and the new ring. I'm glad I whipped out my PMS card and stood my ground until they corrected their mistake!

I Love My New Charm!

Yes, I got it! It's a copper color, the same as my 10% keychain. I had a 1.0 loss from my last "official" weigh-in, which was 2 weeks ago, for a total loss of 50.6 pounds! I guess I over-reacted to my burger and beer binge earlier in the week because it didn't show on the scale like I was afraid it would.

I took a collage to my meeting today that had pictures on it of me and my husband from when we met in March 2005 till now. It showed us both gradually gaining weight till we were both at our highest weights; me at 220 and him at 285. She was astounded at the difference and asked if I minded if she passed it around at the end of the meeting. I told her that would be okay. So as she was announcing my award, she held up the collage and pointed out the picture that started it all (the same one as my "before" picture on this blog). I said that it was shortly after that when I went to put on my winter coat and it wouldn't fit since my butt had gotten so big. She then passed around the piece of paper for everyone to see. I had a lot of compliments afterwards and I felt so incredibly proud. =) I am also proud of my husband as he is doing super, too. Together we've lost 90 pounds! WOW!

My leader encouraged me to enter the new success story contest that just started. I figure why the heck not? I have nothing to lose and who knows, maybe I'll be lucky enough to win one of the six grand prizes, which is a trip to New York City and a $500 shopping spree! I'd settle for being one of the 34 finalists and receiving a $300 gift card to Macy's! So I'll be working on an essay in the next week or two.

Thanks for encouraging me after my little episode last week. I hope you all have a great week!

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Food, Glorious Food...and life in general! So here goes:

Four Jobs I've Held
1. Biscuit Bitch at KFC (okay, okay...real title was "food prep" but I like the other one better)
2. County Court Records Clerk
3. Administrative Secretary for a non-profit organization
4. Administrative Assistant for Court Services

Four Movies I Could Watch Over And Over Again
1. While You Were Sleeping
2. Sweet Home Alabama
3. Save the Last Dance
4. Remember the Titans

Four Shows I Like To Waste My Time On
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Biggest Loser
4. House Hunters

Four Of My Favorite Foods
1. Popcorn w/EVOO and garlic salt
2. Anything made with chicken
3. Peaches
4. Blueberry pie (I know, I know....not point-friendly!)

Four Places I'd Like To Be
1. Hawaii
2. Australia
3. Caribbean
4. Chicago (antsy for vacation!)

I now 'tag' Yep, Another Weight Loss Blog and Taking Chances. Have fun!

Still No Ring & Weight Update

The manager from the jewelry store called yesterday afternoon to tell me that the ring was back but said, "I don't think it looks much better and I'm pretty sure you won't be happy with it." She called and talked to the manager of the repair shop and apparently the manager didn't understand what the problem was. So she (jewelry manager) said she is going to send it to a completely different repair shop along with the new ring for them to compare it to. I asked her AGAIN at what point do we give up trying to correct his and just exchange it for the new one?? This is now the 3rd time it's been sent back after the original sizing! Since the new one is a size 11 and we need a 10, she's going to ask it to be sized to a 10 while ours is in for correction and is going to talk to her district manager to see if she can do the exchange if ours is still not right when it comes back next week.

I told her that we expect to have a ring for him to wear by next Saturday (when we leave for our trip), whether it's the original one corrected or the new one.

As for my weight update....it's bad! Before we went of out of town last Friday, I weighed myself at home and was 168.4 (naked) which is about what I was the week before. No big deal. I stayed on plan really good all weekend until we got back to Lincoln. I had a horrible episode Sunday night at Granite City involving a cheeseburger, lots of beer and a huge frosted sugar cookie. Total binge! I weighed myself both yesterday and today and I'm at 170.2! Eee-gads! I'm up 1.8 pounds! In order to get my 50-pound charm before our trip, I have to lose 2.2 pounds by next Saturday, May 24.

I am so mad at myself. What was I thinking?? I know, I know....it was one day and these things will happen. But it doesn't make me feel any better. I just really want to make this goal!

I have good news about my husband though....he hit the 40-pound mark over the weekend! He is looking so good! lol..... He's almost back to the size he was when we met 3 years ago. I seemed to fatten him up! But we are on our way to being one hot couple! ; )

No Weigh-In News This Week

I'm heading out of town after lunch today and since there isn't a WW in my hometown, I won't be able to weigh-in tomorrow. =( I could've went this morning before work just to weigh-in, but well....I didn't want to. How about that? lol.... My TOM started last night so that's partly why. It's also not on my way to the office, so I'll use gas prices as another excuse. ; )

Good luck to all of you with upcoming weigh-ins. I'll check in on Monday when we get back. Have a great weekend!

p.s. Hopefully I'll have good news on the wedding ring, too. Otherwise you'll be in for another vent! Cross your fingers (and toes), please?

Vent....Very Long.

Since losing weight, my husband and I both had to have our wedding rings resized since they were too big. We took them to the jeweler that we bought them from for sizing. They were sent in on April 21st. They came back on the 29th. Mine was fine. Bill's was not. His was orignally a satin-brushed white gold band with a thin strip of polished yellow gold in the middle that went all the way around. When it came back it wasn't brushed at all...the whole thing was polished. I could see my reflection in it it was so shiny. I explained to them the problem and found another ring in the case to show what it used to look like. They didn't have his exact ring in stock, unfortunately. They sent it back in with a description to satin brush it since that's what they said it probably was after I showed them a similar one. They called yesterday saying it was in. We went last night and it's still not right. Somewhat worse, actually. It's brushed, but looks like sh*t. Still not even close. Plus, it looks like the white gold portions are breaking away from the yellow gold section. There's a little gap between in some areas. We know that it wasn't like that before.

I was not a happy camper, to say the least. I'm PMS-ing, too, which didn't help matters. Since they don't have his ring in-stock to see what it's supposed to look like, they looked on the computer and found one in another store in South Dakota. The lady said they could ship it here and it would arrive on the 13th and then they would send it in with our ring so the repair people can see what it's supposed to look like. We'd have it back around the 20th. I told her that was unacceptable, that they've now had the ring since April 21st as it was.

I asked if we could just exchange ours for the new one since we have the extended warranty, and was told that it's only good for repairs. That's when I lost it. The problem is with the repairs done by their own repair company! I explained that other than being too big when we brought it in, there was NOTHING wrong with it. Apparently the warranty means "we won't charge you for the repairs done" but don't expect us to make things right if we mess it up.

She then had the manager come over and I explained the whole thing again. She could tell I was mad so she said she would call the other store this morning and see if they will send the new ring directly to the repair shop and she would send in our ring for them to compare and fix it and we'd possibly have it back by Monday the 12th. She even agreed that it didn't look nice at all. Then she went on to say "I'll tell them how upset you are" and put a rush on it. Ummmm, I think I have a right to be upset. Your 'repair' company screwed up my husband's $700 wedding band!! Arrrgggghhhhh...... She's supposed to call me this morning after she talks to the other store. My luck is that the computer inventory was wrong and they don't really have one. What's worse, is that they've discontinued the style so it's not available for direct ordering from the company.

After we left there, I said "I need a beer!" I'm discovering that I'm not an emotional eater....but I AM an emotional drinker. We headed to Granite City and I had a 25 oz mug (the biggest they have) of their bock. Mmmmm...... it calmed me down but I'm still mad. But wouldn't you be?? Or am I just being a bitch? (excuse my language, please)

Back on Track

After maintaining last week, I had a 2.4 loss this week! Since I haven't been weighing myself at home in between WW weigh-ins, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was out of town 3 days, but I guess this is proof that I have truly made a lifestyle change because even though I wasn't as in control of the food, I still made good choices. (Well, except for that tostada, enchilada, rice, and beans on the way back home Monday....lol....it was soooo worth it though!) This eases my worries a bit about our upcoming vacation.

I'm only .4 away from getting my 50-pound charm! We leave for Chicago 3 weeks from tomorrow, so I'm pretty confident I'll have it by the time we leave. ; )

I won't be able to go to my regular meeting next weekend (my 6-month anniversary with WW) since we'll be out of town again, so I won't have an "official" weigh-in until May 17.

Check out an updated picture of my husband and I....it's with the other pics on the right side of my blog. We both received a lot of nice compliments on our weight loss from our family earlier this week. As of this morning, he's lost 39 pounds! His "beer belly" is almost gone! lol...

An updated progress chart is below.