And the journey begins...TAKE II

It's been a while!

2011-11-04T09:31:00.001-05:00

I'm obviously not as committed to this blog this time around as it's been a month since I've updated! Tomorrow is weigh-in at WW and according to my home scale I've lost 1.6 this week, making my total loss to date 18.8 pounds. Not too shabby of a total for 9 weeks.

We leave for the cruise one month from today and my goal when I started was to get my 10% keychain (20 pounds) by the time we left. After tomorrow, I have 3 more weigh-ins, so I should be able to attain it. I'm going to try very hard not to gain a lot of weight while we're gone but I know it will be tough. I am going to take my tracker and materials and try my best to at least write some of the stuff down and make good decisions on what I eat. My goal is to gain no more than 3 pounds....but 5 pounds might be more realistic. Even my leader gained 5 pounds on her most recent cruise and she thought she ate very well! lol...

Speaking of my leader, I am really liking her a lot! She is a former motivational speaker so she's very uplifting. I took in my old "before & after" photos last week and showed them to her. I just felt like I needed her to see what I was aiming for and she was really impressed with the "after" photo and said I could get there again. Right now I have basically 36 pounds to go, but I know I can do it!

Happy late Halloween!

Week 4

2011-10-03T16:03:00.000-05:00

I lost 4.8 pounds over the last 2 weeks! That brings my total to 8.8 pounds. I'm very excited about that! However, I didn't do the best food-wise Saturday night (2 beers, a plate of chips & cheese sauce, a slice of salami, and 2 chocolate chip cookies) or last night (enchilada, chips & guac, 2 mixed drinks) but I'll get back on track.

I have been getting some exercise in, so that's good. On Saturday we took B to the pumpkin patch so we were walking around for 2 hours there. We also jumped on this trampoline like thing for 10 minutes. That afternoon we went on our 1.5 mile walk (30 min). Yesterday I didn't walk at all, but I've walked 35 so far today and I'm sure we'll go on a walk tonight.

Last week I read through all of my blog entries from the time I started and it was quite motivating, I must say. I'm noticing that my losses aren't as large this time around but I have to remember that I'm 4 years older and also a mom now.

This picture was taken at the pumpkin patch over the weeked. Her favorite stuffed animal is a sheep we've named Lammie and she was in love!

Week 3

2011-09-22T11:07:00.000-05:00

I'm going to be out of town this weekend and unable to weigh-in at WW, but this week has gone FABULOUS. My naked weight last Saturday morning was 199.6 lbs. This morning it was 196.8! I plan to take my scale with me and weigh myself on Saturday at 7:00, just as I would if I were in Lincoln, and record that in my booklet.

I wasn't sure I wanted to miss a meeting already, especially given I would receive my 5-pound star this weekend, but I decided I can do it. My daughter and I are heading back to my mom & dad's house so I told her I'm back on WW and just asked that she make somewhat healthy meals and she said she could do that. We'll get there around noon tomorrow and will be there till noon on Sunday. I figure I'll take some of my own food for breakfast but will eat whatever she fixes. I told her grilled chicken and pork chops would be good and some frozen vegetables and a baked potato for dinner, things like that. They eat pretty healthy so it'll be fine.

We're going back for Heritage Days, one of the biggest celebrations in my hometown. I don't think we have anything planned for tomorrow, but there's a parade on Saturday morning and after that we'll likely walk around the park where people will be selling homemade crafts and food items. That evening is a hot air balloon launch which I think Brianna will enjoy.

I think it will be easier to stay on plan with my mom knowing, so it should be fine. I'll probably update this when I get back to town and report what my loss was and how I did out of town.

Till then...take care!

p.s. Is any one out there?

Week 2 Recap

2011-09-22T10:53:00.000-05:00

So, my second week on WW went like this. On the first day of my new week, I had a 22 oz oatmeal stout, a 22 oz bloody mary, and 3 pieces of taco pizza. That was all on Saturday. Tuesday came and I had a 12 oz mexican beer, some chips and salsa, and a tostada with guacamole. Otherwise, I did fine. Weigh-in day came and according to my scale, I had lost .8 pound. Not great, but it was a loss and I was actually happy because I was under 200 at 199.6 lbs (undressed). It was cold that morning so I had to wear pants, a long-sleeve shirt, and socks versus capris and a t-shirt the week before. I went to my meeting, fully aware that I would either show no loss or not much of one since I had on more clothes and my "real" loss wasn't that much to begin with. I was fine with that. But then I stepped on the scale and read my printed label and it said "+.2"!!! It showed I had GAINED weight....in my 2nd week. That's unheard of, or so I thought. I was depressed through the whole meeting and it wasn't till I was driving home that I talked myself up because regardless what the scale read there, I had LOST, I WAS under 200, and losing 4 pounds (according to WWs scale) was still great!

I love the first week...

2011-09-13T11:37:00.000-05:00

The first weigh-in at WW is always a good one...if only they could all be so good! I lost 4.2 lbs which was great. I didn't do so well over the weekend though...on Saturday afternoonm, I indulged in a 22 oz oatmeal stout followed by a 22 oz bloody mary. I also ate 2 slices of beer bread. That evening I ate 30 points plus of taco pizza! So, I used all of my 49 weekly bonus points (and probably more) all in one day. Whoops.

Tonight though is GNO, which means Mexican food. I'll just have a tostada which shouldn't be too terrible and will likely pass on the margarita.

I'm not feeling too hungry and am adjusting to the new points plus system. My goal is to get my 5 lb sticker this weekend.

Well, hello!

2011-09-09T15:31:00.001-05:00

(Sigh) I'm back and needless to say, I've got a longgggg ways to go again! The "I'll lose the weight all on my own" idea didn't work. At all. I rejoined WW in March 2010 and only last about a month before I quit. I had lost 6 pounds (I believe I got down to 181 or so), but I wasn't mentally ready.

Here I am now, back up to 205. Ouch. I weigh exactly what I did when I gave birth to my now 2-year old back on July 4, 2009. My feet are incredibly sore again in the morning and I tire easily, so I'm back at it. I rejoined WW last weekend so I'll have my first weigh-in tomorrow morning. Hopefully the support of the meetings, the tracking of the food, and this blog will work for me as well as it did the first time around.

So far I've only told 3 people (in real life) that I've rejoined....my husband, a friend, and a coworker. I'll tell my parents and inlaws later....I guess I'm just too embarrassed to tell them right now.

My 3 biggest motivators right now are:

My daughter....I want to see her grow up so I need to get my health in check. And I need to be able to keep up with her, too!
Caribbean Cruise. We are taking a 7-day cruise in December and I'd like to lose 15 pounds by then.
20th Class Reunion. No explanation needed!

In case any of my former readers stumble upon my blog again, I thought I'd post a picture of Brianna. This was one of her 2-year pictures. I can't believe how fast the last 2 years have gone!

...starting over

2009-09-30T13:09:00.000-05:00

I'm back after giving birth to my daughter on July 4, 2009! She arrived that morning at 8:44 weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz and 19.5" long. Here's a picture of her at 7 days and one at 12 weeks taken last weekend.

I gained a total of 55 pounds during pregnancy and in the 12 weeks since her birth, I've only lost 25 of them. And so the journey begins to lose the remaining 30. Prior to pregnancy I had lost 70 pounds so I know how to do it and I will get there. It may take me longer to lose weight than it did before because quite honestly, I don't have as much time to be as neurotic about WW points as I was before. I've decided not to rejoin WW; I figure I will give myself two weeks to do it on my own and then re-evaluate the decision. Again, I know how to lose weight and my husband is very supportive (he's trying to lose some baby weight, too) so I think it's doable. If I haven't lost any by then I will probably go back.

I will try to get back to speed with this blog and report my progress on a weekly basis...but I make no promises! lol... Heck, I may not have any followers anyway!

I don't have a very good "before" shot of me but this was taken a few weeks ago and is about what I look like now, so it'll have to suffice. At 150 pounds I was wearing a size 12; at 180 I'm wearing an 18 (in misses; 16 in womens). Shirts I was in mediums and some smalls; I'm now in extra larges again.

Let the journey begin....

And the Journey ENDS

2008-10-29T20:58:00.012-05:00

Yes, you read that right. My weight loss journey has come to an abrupt end. I attended my final Weight Watchers meeting this morning, but I did not weigh-in. I simply went to tell my leader and some of the "regulars" good-bye. It was more emotional than I thought it would be....I actually shed a few tears. At the end I received lots of hugs.

I had my husband take an "after" photo earlier this week; it’s on the right-hand side of my blog. I look pretty good, if I do say so myself! ; )

Why am I quitting, you ask? Well…I found out last weekend that I'm pregnant… my estimated due date is July 1, 2009. I obviously won't be trying to lose weight for the next 8 months but I'm going to put my healthy eating habits to work so I don't use the excuse of "eating for two" and gain way too much weight. I'll eat more since I have to, but will make healthy choices instead of milkshakes, fried this-n-that, and candy bars. (Okay, I'm sure I'll have a craving every now and then...!) I also plan to keep on exercising (as much as my body will allow) and stay in shape for as long as I can.

After the baby is born, I plan to rejoin Weight Watchers to get the baby weight off and get down to my original goal of 145. I was only 5 pounds from reaching that the morning I took the test. I'm proud of how close I came and I know I would have made it had this little thing not happened. ; ) Once I start in again, I will bring "And the journey begins" back to life. But for now, this will be my last post.

Before I go, I want to tell those of you who commented regularly that I always enjoyed reading your comments. I love that I inspired some of you…and believe me, you inspired me, too. Good luck on reaching your goals...I'll more than likely keep visiting your blogs (you know who you are). Thanks again for all of your support over the last year. ((((hugs))))

In case you’re interested, I have started a new blog…this one will focus on my GROWING belly rather than my SHRINKING belly! Lol…. Feel free to visit Two Pink Lines if you’d like.

(Amy H in Lincoln....we aren't telling family and most friends till Christmas. We plan to break the news to you guys Monday at cask night...but in case you read this before then...sshhhhhh...)

Naked Weight

2008-10-28T15:44:00.005-05:00

I've had a few questions about this...the reason I write "naked weight" every now and then is because any time I reference how many pounds I've lost or how many more I have to go, those amounts are WITH my clothes on since I can't strip down for the scale at Weight Watchers. lol.... That would be weird!

I make a note of my naked weight every now and then...like hitting 150.0! At WW that day, I was 151.2 with clothes.

I hope that clears up some confusion.

Quickly

2008-10-25T22:01:00.001-05:00

The daily exercising definitely paid off....I lost 2.6 last week which puts my total at 69 pounds even. My naked weight was 150.0!

Keeping My Word and a Shout-Out

2008-10-22T08:18:00.003-05:00

That's right folks....I've EXERCISED every day since last Friday! AND I even went to the gym last night! =)

I started back walking/climbing stairs here at work during my breaks and lunch. The stairs are kicking my butt...well, technically my calves. They are NOT very happy with me. lol.... I had a "note to self" moment yesterday...."don't look down to adjust the volume on your shuffle" because I wasn't paying attention to where I was and completely missed a set of stairs. Luckily for me there were just 3 of them, but it was still quite a shock! How I didn't complete biff it I don't know because by the time I recovered I was at the bottom of them and still on my feet, surprisingly enough. I'm just glad no one was up there to see it because I know my arms were a-flailing! lol....

I saw a number on the scale that I haven't see in oh, about 5 years, this morning! 151.4 which is .8 less than weigh-in last Saturday. =) Go me! (yes, I'm tooting my own horn here) Let's just hope it keeps going down over the next few days so I have a nice loss at my next weigh-in.

This is off subject, but I wanted to brag about my husband just a bit. Last November when I decided to do something about my expanding waistline and join WW, I never asked him to do it with me or said he needed to lose weight, too. As he puts it now, he just "came along for the ride." He makes better food choices, doesn't eat as much, and is at the gym at 5 a.m. M-F.

He's 6'3" and when he started his "lifestyle change" he weighed 285. Last Saturday morning he weighed 228. That's 57 pounds! I need to take an "after" shot and post it here with a "before" picture so you can see the difference. I'm very proud of him and I contribute my success to him because he's been uber supportive through this whole process.

So there's my 'shout-out' to my hubs. =)

I'll check back in after weigh-in this weekend.

Weigh-In Update

2008-10-18T13:59:00.003-05:00

I only gained .6 pounds from my last "official" weigh-in which was 2 weeks ago. Not bad considering all of the full-fat Lay's sour cream 'n onion chips I binged on over the last week and a half. I confessed to my husband that I had had a lot of them when he wasn't around and his comment was something like "so that's where they went" since the bag didn't last as long as it should have. I told him we need to switch the door knobs around in the house and put the locking knob from the office on the pantry and when he's not around to take the key with him. I'm only half joking.

I walked over my lunch hour yesterday for 30 minutes and we took the dog for a walk, which also takes 30 minutes. And during halftime of the Huskers game we went for 30 minute walk. I just need to keep the activity going.

Our leader had us all set a mini-goal for the Saturday before Thanksgiving, which is November 22. That's 5 weeks from today. I really, really, really want to be at goal by then. To do so, I have to lose 8.8 pounds. I can do it. I just need to recommit and get my butt off the couch!

Get to Know Me!

2008-10-17T10:25:00.009-05:00

I was tagged by Shanna (aka roobabs) to list 6 things about me. This was much harder than I thought it would be. Hopefully you find it somewhat interesting. Lucky for me you can't throw rotten fruit or spoiled eggs at me from cyberspace if you find it boring!

Here goes nothing…

I was born and raised in McCook, NE, a town of about 8,000 in the southwest corner of the state. My parents have been married for 41 years. I have one brother who is 3 years older than me. In 1994 I moved 230 miles from home to Lincoln, NE, the capital city, and have been here ever since. I live amongst approximately 235,000 other people and nearly all of them are horrible drivers!
I’ve been at my current job for 11 years. I’m afraid I could become a “lifer.” My office is in the State Capitol building, sometimes referred to as the “Penis of the Plains.” Seriously. I work in one of the “testicles” on the first floor.
I met my husband “the old-fashioned way” at P.O. Pears, a bar that has since closed….when I was 32. I find that funny because back in my early 20s when I went to the bars to actually scout for men I had no luck. Then on a night when I was just out with friends for the fun of it and not looking at all…I find Mr. Right. Go figure. He proposed to me 9 months to the day later. And we were married 1 year and 4 days after that. Our 2-year anniversary is December 9.

I was a band geek in school. I played two instruments; the clarinet in pep band and marching band and the alto clarinet (it’s bigger and has a lower range) in concert band. I made the All-State Honor Band and the Wesleyan Honor Band my junior year. I didn’t try out my senior year for the honor bands because we had a new band teacher who sucked and I lost interest.

My first car was “Claire,” a white 1982 Buick Skylark that my parents bought me a couple of months before I turned 16. I loved her and we had a lot of good times together. I’ve had 5 cars since her and she’s the only car I’ve ever named. And the only one I refer to as “her” and not just “my car” or “the car.”

I’m a horrible singer. Just ask my husband…he’ll tell you! Or the people who sit in front of us at church. I try not to sing too loud but still. Let’s just say I wasn’t asked to join the choir like my husband.

I will tag the following people to share some tid-bits about themselves with the rest of us: Matt, Heather, and Kari.

Unrelated to this post is a comment that Shanna left for me on my previous post that actually did make me LOL. "Glad to see that you didn't decide to run off to the north pole and make toys for children..." That cracked me up and made me wish I had thought of that because it would've made for a great title or intro. =)

Also, I forgot to tell you that when we went back home for the parade I came across the wool blazer I wore in junior high band that was part of our uniform. I tried it on and guess what? IT FIT PERFECTLY! How amazing is that? I'm back to the size I was when I was 14 or 15 years old! My letter jacket also fit. I really should've took some pictures...maybe when we go back for Thanksgiving I'll do that.

I have my meeting in the morning and as of this morning, I'm the same weight I was last Friday at my last "unofficial" weigh-in. The pound-melting fairy needs to visit before 8 a.m. tomorrow and take a couple of pounds with her so I don't show a gain! hahaha...

Back from a Hiatus

2008-10-15T11:14:00.002-05:00

It's been more than 2 weeks since I updated my blog...mainly because I have no major news to share. At my last "official" weigh-in on October 4th, I showed a .2 gain. But in my defense, I wore a pair of jeans since it's colder these days...instead of my normal cotton capris. The difference in weight between these 2 articles of clothing was .8 pounds. So I actually lost .6 that week.

This past weekend we were out of town so I didn't have an official weigh-in, but I weighed myself last Friday (a day earlier than my "official" weigh-in would have been had I been in town) and I was up 2 pounds. Not surprising since I had some problems staying out of the pantry last week while left alone in the house on a couple of different nights.

I've been struggling lately with my points...I haven't been writing stuff down as religiously as I had been. I'm thinking about switching to the Core program but as I look through the list of Core foods, I'm already eating foods that are considered Core. The only things I eat that aren't are bread, yogurt (not the kind that I'm eating anyway), and the deli turkey I have for lunch. I'm going to talk to my leader this weekend and see what she thinks. They say that some members experience good losses just from switching plans, and since I've been at a stand-still, I'd like to give it a try. I want these last 8 pounds off!

I also haven't been working out. At all. I'm just not motivated one bit. I've been saying "I'll go tomorrow" for the last couple of weeks...and so far tomorrow hasn't come. I'm sure that if I'd just get active again, the weight would start coming off. I just need to do it.

On a lighter note, I am finally almost rid of all of my fat clothes! The sister of one of my friends came over a few weeks ago and took most of the 18s and all of the 20s, along with my 2x's. She asked if I wanted anything in return for them and I told her no. Then a couple of weeks ago, two of my friends came over and took everything else (14s - 18s; XL - 1X), with the exception of a couple pairs of capris and a shirt or two. Again, I didn't expect or ask for anything in return, but they went together and bought me a $50 gift card to Penneys! I was super excited because that's where I've been buying most of my clothes lately. So that was really nice of them.

I've still been checking blogs and have kept up with how all of you are doing (you know who you are). I was hoping that by reading about how much you're exercising and running that the pounds would melt off of me....but sadly, that's not how it works! lol....

Keep up the hard work, ladies....I'll try to get back to my regular posting. (Hopefully you haven't given up on my blog and will read this....I love seeing the comments you leave for me.) Till next time....ariva derche!

Everyone Loves a Parade!

2008-09-29T09:08:00.009-05:00

Well, Saturday was the parade back in my hometown that I'd told you all about. My dad and I practiced a bit on the tandem bike Friday when we got there and I'm glad...we were a bit wobbly at first (okay, I'll take the blame for it...) but after a while I got the hang of it and we were zipping around just fine. =)

The parade was Saturday morning and if I do say so myself, we were quite a hit! The kids were yelling "Santa, Santa!" (one of them said my dad wasn't fat enough to be Santa!) and lots of them wanted to pet our "reindog" as well. lol... She was adorable in her red t-shirt and antlers (which we had to safety pin to the shirt to keep them somewhat in place.) We waved at lots of people and my mom threw nearly 2 big bags worth of tootsie rolls along the 1-mile route.

I look like I still weigh 220 in the costume since it was really big. The tights were almost too small but the pants and coat were huge! Why dad didn't think it would fit some of the other guys in the "toy shop" is beyond me...I'm thinking that none of them wanted to look ridiculous is all! lol... Or, maybe he just wanted me to be in it with him. I don't know, but it was a lot of fun. I'd even do it again next year! Here are a couple of pics, as promised, taken at my parents house. Unfortunately we didn't have any one take pics during the actual parade. There was a lady taking pics of all of the entries by the announcer's booth, we assume from the Chamber of Commerce, so dad was going to call and see if he could get a copy of the one she took.

I weighed in before we left Friday and I was down .4 from the previous Saturday. I did good with my eating on Friday, with the exception of a bag of popcorn from the concession stand at the high school football game that night.

Saturday wasn't too bad until my uncle opened a bag of trail mix. I should never have had that first bite because it's a red light food for me. And I know it. One bite led to two and so forth. It was the kind that had almonds, cashews, peanuts, raisins and M&Ms in it. I'm a sucker for crunchy, salty snacks so I knew better than to even have any....let alone about a pound of it! Arrrggghhhh.... Yesterday wasn't much better....we went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants when we got back to town yesterday. I had too many chips and salsa (another red light combo) and then I had a tostada, a taco, beans & rice, AND a margarita. Oy. I was stuffed AND buzzed.

I got on the scale today which was completely stupid because I knew I would be up from all of the salty nuts, salty chips, low water intake yesterday....and it's also "that time" but man. I wanted to kick myself in the ass when that number popped up. I'm not even going to type it out. Yes, yes...I know this is an accountability device but I don't want to. I'm going to stay off the scale till Saturday morning and hopefully I can at least get back down to what I was before we left town.

I'm going to the gym tonight and Wednesday for sure. Possibly other nights, too. I forgot to tell you that I have started running again. Last week I ran on the treadmill 10 minutes, walked 4, ran 3, then walked 3 more minutes. The outside of my ankle feels fine though it's still a bit swollen, but the inside still hurts every now and then, which is why I stopped. It was pulling a bit and I didn't want to injure it any more. A couple of days later I took Wrigley for a walk and we ran here and there. It normally takes us 30 minutes to complete our route around the neighborhood but we did it in 22 or 23 minutes that day. I was worried about her zig-zagging and tripping me, but she's actually a decent runner! She sort of runs sideways....her butt was to the left of the rest of her body most of the time! lol.... =)

That's all I have for now. Wish me luck in getting these excess pounds off by Saturday!

Yessss!

2008-09-20T13:33:00.009-05:00

I lost this week and check out the number... 2.8! =) Holy cow batman! lol... My total lost is now 67.2 pounds which is 30.5% of my starting weight! It's unreal! My plan was to be at goal by the time my 1-year WW anniversary rolled around and it's going to be close. The November 8 meeting will mark 52 weeks since I walked through the door. So, 7 weeks and 7.8 pounds. Doable? We'll see I guess, right?

My mom and I went shopping this morning after my meeting and I found a super cute winter coat at Kohl's. It should be very warm...it's down and feather filled. The fabric is also water and wind-resistant so it sounds perfect for Nebraska winters! Brr....

We also went to Penney's and I bought a brown t-shirt (to go under a sweater) and a kelly green cable-knit sweater just like the brown one that my MIL bought me. It's a color I normally wouldn't have picked but I decided I have enough browns, reds, and oranges in my wardrobe right now, so I went with something in a completely different color palate. It'll be perfect for St. Patrick's Day, too! lol...

Then I bought a pair of black ankle boots at Sears just like the red ones I bought there a couple of weeks ago. They were marked down from $60 to $39 today. The red ones were on sale for $44 when I bought them.

I plan to start running again this Tuesday night. I haven't ran since I sprained my ankle 3 weeks ago. I know I won't be able to start back in where I left off in the C25K (week 7) so I'm going to have to go back and repeat, but exactly where to I haven't figured out yet. I guess I could just run till I'm out of breath or uncomfortable and see where I'm at and then go from there. My ankle feels fine now, but it is still swollen a bit. I hope that it won't just stay this size and never go down, but it's a possibility. Five years ago I sprained this same ankle and also broke a tiny bone in it. They didn't put a hard cast on it; I just had to wear an air cast for 8 weeks till it was healed. So anyway, given the history of it I'm thinking it might just be this way. Or for a while longer anyway.

I won't have an update next weekend since we're heading back home, but I'll have some interesting pictures to post afterwards because I'm riding a bicycle-built-for-two with my dad in a parade! Just wait, it gets better....he's dressing up as Santa Claus and I'll be dressed as his elf. Yes, his elf. lol..... You see, my dad volunteers for the Toy Box, which is a non-profit group that takes unwanted, donated, in-need-of-repairs bikes and they fix them up (new paint, new tires, new brakes...you name it) and then a few weeks before Christmas they give them to the low income kids (and adults) in the community. He's the head of the volunteers, which is why he's dressing as Santa, get it...but the elf costume he found is too small for any of the other guys that volunteer with him. So that's where I come in! I haven't seen it so hopefully it fits.

After I agreed to do it, I told him "Santa needs a reindeer!" so my husband is going to walk our dog in front of us and we have reindeer antlers and a cute red t-shirt for her to wear. She'll look pretty cute if we can keep the antlers on!!! And my mom is also wearing a pair of antlers and she'll be throwing candy to the kids along the parade route. I'm actually looking forward to it so hopefully the costume fits and we don't wreck on the bike. We're heading back early next Friday so I can practice riding it a bit with my dad.

So anyway, I might not have an update until after we get back next weekend, but it should be worth the wait. ; )

A little this and a little that

2008-09-15T14:42:00.004-05:00

I was up .4 this week at weigh-in which I was fine with...you see, I skipped weigh-in last week but had I gone, I would have been up about 2.4 pounds. So really, I lost 2 pounds this week...but it's registering as a gain in WW world. What sucks is that I will probably gain this week (my trend of late) so my WW log book is going to show 3 gains in a row! Oh well...

I went to the doctor this morning for my annual exam (fun, fun!). This was the first time I'd been to see him since I began WW and he was very impressed with my 64.4 pound weight loss! =) He asked how I was doing it and I told him I joined last November and he said that he recommends it to patients because it's "tried and true" and has "stood the test of time" as far as weight loss programs go.

Given how my body has taken a liking to the 155-157 range, I asked him what a good goal weight for me would be and he said 145, which is what I had already set my WW goal to be. DANG! I was sort of hoping he'd say 155 or that I'm fine where I am, but no. (sigh) But that's okay, I will keep on trudging along in pursuit of these last 10 pounds. This 7-week plateau, if that's what it's called, has to break eventually. Right?? Please tell me it will?! lol....

Oh...the ankle is doing much better. It's still bruised but the swelling has gone way down. Not completely, but it's getting there. I had my doctor look at it today and he's not concerned at all. I really need to get back to my workout routine...not necessarily running...but at least going. Since it happened 2 weeks ago, I've only been to the gym ONCE for 45 minutes. =( Bad, bad...

My parents are coming to town next weekend and my mom and I are going to do some shopping Saturday. I'm not exactly sure what she's looking for, but I'll be trying on new winter coats... the one that started this whole weight loss journey in the first place (size 1x) is now way too big! And the coat that I bought when I discovered the other one was too small is even more gigantic on me (size 2x)! Hopefully I can find something I like before the weather turns cold for good!

Shopping Spree

2008-09-12T13:07:00.007-05:00

My in-laws were in town last evening and I finally took my MIL up on her offer to take me shopping. Even before I started losing weight, she wanted to take me shopping. Given that she's like a size 8 or 10 and I was a 20, I always turned her down with the excuse "I'm not all that into shopping" because I was embarassed to try stuff on in front of her AND for her to know what size I was.

Once I started losing, she began to ask again. This time around I would tell her "when I get to goal we can go" partly because I was still self-conscious, but also because I didn't want to get all these great clothes that would (hopefully) be too big a month or so down the road since I was still loosing. I had some pants and capris to transition into as I got smaller, thanks to a coworker, and I bought some inexpensive shirts along the way.

With the cooler temps this week and a freezing office, however, I found myself in need of pants that actually fit. The ones I had been wearing were about a size too big and were hanging on me. It's been too cool to wear the capris that actually fit well. Plus, after clearing out my closet of sweaters and tops that were too big, I discovered I didn't have many left that were suitable for fall, let alone winter. So I told my husband that I was ready to cash in on that shopping trip, even though I'm still 10 pounds from goal.

His parents were on their way through town last night so we hit the mall and went shopping at Penney's and Dillards. All in all, I ended up with 2 pairs of pants, 3 tops, 2 sweaters, and a jacket (not a coat jacket...a 'fashion' jacket, if you will). I can wear two of the tops by themselves, or under the sweater or under the jacket. Each of the tops goes well with both pair of pants, too. So I can get quite a few looks out of everything, which is nice. I'm going to buy a few more pairs of pants, hopefully this weekend, since I need more than two. She probably would've bought more, but I was feeling greedy as it was. ; ) I also need a winter coat since mine from last year is WAY too big!

I'm wearing one of the outfits today with a pair of ankle boots, so I'm standing about two inches taller than normal (at a whopping 5'6") today...but I feel about 6' tall since I'm walking proudly and feel like a million bucks. =) I've received several compliments from my coworkers, too. It's amazing how great I feel when I'm wearing clothes that FIT! lol...

Speaking of fit...I'm finding that shirts, in particular sweaters, that fit almost feel snug. I think it's because when I was bigger, I bought stuff to cover up and hide my body...so I was probably buying clothes in a size bigger than I really needed. So now that I'm buying the right size, they feel weird. Does that make sense? Have you experienced this?? A couple of the things I bought I pondered whether they were too small....until I tried on the next size up and they would hang on me. My MIL and the saleslady both said how nice they looked...and I agree, they look nice...but they feel a bit weird. But then again, both items are more "fitted" than I'm used to wearing, even the one sweater, so that could be it, too.

I went online and found some of the items to show you. The purplish top (2nd photo) is the one I have on today...only I bought it in a different color combo. Mine has dark brown, tan, black, and cream instead. The paisley printed top is much prettier in person, believe me! It goes under the sweater, which is a burnt orange, and under the brown jacket, too. And the pants I have are in the color shown and a darker brown. (I wish my legs were as long and lean as the model's are!) Not shown is the jacket, a button-down crinkle dress shirt, and a basic brown cable-knit sweater.

Tomorrow is weigh-in and although I think I'll be up slightly from the weight I was 2 weeks ago at my last official weigh-in, I'm down from where I was last weekend, which is a good thing. I'll check in later this weekend with the official results.

Seriously?

2008-09-09T16:09:00.004-05:00

I started counting the weeks and can you believe Christmas is 15 weeks from this Thursday! I can't! I technically want to lose 15 more pounds....so a pound a week....hmmm. That would be an awesome present to myself to hit 140. I used to routinely lose a pound per week, but the last 6 weeks have sucked as far as the scale goes anyway.

My fitness level has never been better (well, up until the stupid ankle injury) so I know I need to say f-you to the digital machine that has occupied a space on my bathroom floor for the past few months, but it's hard. I WANT TO WEIGH 140! Actually, I would settle for 145. Perhaps my body likes being at 155 (or 157 as it is today) and I need to accept that perhaps this is it. At least for now.

My ankle is feeling pretty good now, though it's still ugly and has a knot on the outside of it. I am walking just fine and I can even do a complete circle in the air with my foot! I am going to go to the gym tonight....no running, don't worry. I'm going to do the eliptical since it's non-impact, and possibly the bike, too. If it starts to hurt, I'll stop and go home. Promise.

Skipped Weigh-In, Football, Ankles and Dogs...Oh My!

2008-09-07T20:20:00.013-05:00

Our neighbor stopped by Friday night and asked if we'd like to use two of their season tickets to go to the Husker football game the following morning and we obviously said yes. It's hard to come by tickets, let alone for face value ($52 each)....and these were in the 2nd row of the end zone! The game started at 11:30 a.m. so we headed downtown to park and tailgate with another set of neighbors around 9:00. Okay, okay...technically I could have weighed in at my normal 8:30 weigh in, but I just didn't really feel like completely back-tracking across town to do so. And besides, I was up about 2 pounds. I'm still in the up-down cycle that I've been in since the beginning of August, plus TOM came to visit on Friday.

I wasn't able to work out all week since my ankle is still swollen and too sore. The first 10 steps or so are really painful in the morning or after sitting for more than 30 minutes. Once I get moving and warmed up, I'm able to walk pretty good. I just have to be careful on slopes, stairs, or turning too quickly. It's gotten progressively uglier with each day. The only good thing that came out of this whole ordeal is that it inspired a name for one of our latest brews... Black & Blue Nut Brown Ale. =) We bottled it the day after I sprained it. Pretty fitting, eh?

Below are pics taken today, 7 days after the injury. This shows how discolored it still is. It's also slightly bruised on the inside of my ankle as well.

I've also attached a picture of my two "honey buns," my husband and our dog, Wrigley. We adopted her a year ago last weekend from the humane society in my hometown. She's a poodle/bichon mix and is now about 2 years old. For the most part she is a really good dog, but she has her moments when we ask her things like "did you eat lead-based paint chips as a puppy?" or "how many times were you dropped as a puppy?" because she really is a bit psycho every now and then! We've taught her lots of tricks...she can shake with both hands, sit up and beg, roll over, and say please. She loves to "read" magazines (aka likes to chew them up when we're not watching...particularly Consumer Reports) and she eats Kleenex out of the bathroom trashcan every morning when I'm in the shower. There's never a dull moment around our house because she is constantly on-the-go. She's provided us hours of laughs (and truth be told, some moments of cussing...) but most of all she has completed our family. Who needs a baby when you have a dog that gets up a couple of times during the night to go potty, wakes up ready to play in morning, is full of kisses, sasses you during the day, complains when it's time to go to bed, and snuggles during the wee hours of the night when she can't sleep?? She's our daughter and we can't imagine life without her. And I wonder sometimes, "what did we do with our time before she came along?"

And one last thing, she takes credit for a lot of the pounds we lost because we take her for a walk nearly every day...even last winter we rarely missed a day. As long as it was over 15 degrees, we went. She loves the snow and would run and jump through the snow drifts like they were the best thing ever. I call her my little polar bear (roar, roar, roar)....and she's the best naughty dog ever. =) Oh, and he's a great husband, too. =)

It's All Fun & Games....

2008-09-02T19:59:00.012-05:00

....till somebody gets hurt and in this case, it was me that got hurt. =( About 3/4 of the way through the mud run, I rolled my left ankle while going downhill the path in pasture-like terrain. I had to walk for a couple of minutes till we got to mud pit, which was about 15 feet wide, 25 feet long, and a couple of feet deep. It wasn't sticky mud really...more watery than I expected....but still really slippery and mushy. They had flags across the top of the pit so you had to crawl the whole way, pulling yourself through. Fun! After we got out of the pit, we were to run up a hill to the finish line, but given the pain I was in, we had to walk it. I was pissed because I wanted to run it all. Up until I got hurt, we were going at a pretty good pace and we finished in 13:30. Not bad considering that was with walking for 3-5 minutes and crawling through the pit.

The makeshift showers they spoke of turned out to be 2 firetrucks! One of the fireman was hosing people off (luckily not at high power!) and they had one of the spouts on the other truck opened up and you could stand under it to clean up. The water was quite refreshing! lol...

Once we got back to town, we went to an urgent care center to have my ankle looked at. Since I heard and felt it pop I wanted to be sure I hadn't broke it. After 4 x-rays, the doctor came back and said it was just severely sprained. Today it's still swollen all the way around, but worst on the outside and is turning black & blue...yesterday it was just red and splotchy. I stayed home from work today because I still couldn't put any weight on it this morning. I borrowed a crutch from a co-worker so I'll be going tomorrow. I may not need it though because I'm getting around pretty good tonight.

So all in all it was a lot of fun and we do plan on doing it again. I'll just be sure to tape my ankles next year. My C25K is obviously put on hold for a week or so. I don't want to take too much time off, though I understand it needs time to completely heal. I'll just play it by ear I guess.

On the weight loss front, I lost 2.4 last week, so my total is 64.8 now. HOWEVER, the last three days have been one big food fest and I'm up that and then a few more. =( I'm already expecting a gain come the weekend.

I added a couple of pics from the mud run here, but also check out my web album . Click on slideshow on the left under my name and the pics will be bigger.

Ramblings.....

2008-08-29T09:05:00.004-05:00

I did Day 1, Week 7 of the C25K last night and it went well. I did another 2 miles in 25 minutes. I really want to up the speed in my next run so that's my goal for day 2.

This weekend is going to be another busy one but will be lots of fun. I'll weigh-in in the morning and as of today (I'm a daily weigher...I know, I know...save the lectures), I expect to lose 2 pounds which will put me around 64.4 pounds lost. I love that the scale reflects a good week, but I don't love that, if the trend continues, I can expect a 1.2 or 1.4 gain this coming week for NO APPARENT REASON! Sorry about the yelling, but I'm ready to get off this little roller coaster that I've been on since the beginning of the month. Can you tell TOM is around the corner? lol...

Tomorrow night is the start of Husker football and I can't wait! Hopefully this year goes better than the previous few. We have a new head coach who is full of fire and energy so Husker Nation is pumped to see what he's done with the lackluster team of the past 5 years of the BC era. We're going to a sports bar to watch it since it's on pay-per-view. I haven't been there since last season but I'm pretty sure I know what I'm ordering for dinner....their deep-fried chicken breast sandwich! I think this will be my first fried, battered chicken breast in 9+ months. So yes, I'll be saying good-bye to some weekly points but it'll be worth it! lol...

Sunday is the MUD RUN! I still need to find a cheap pair of shorts that I don't mind getting extremely dirty and possibly ruined. You see, I workout in capri-style yoga pants ....which would collect lots of mud and I don't really want them ruined. I figure shorts would collect the least amount of mud...but then again, that's more mud to clean off of my body in the "make-shift" showers they provide. Hmmm....now I'm not sure which would be best! I found an old sports bra, which actually fits "the girls" again thanks to the extreme shrinkage I've experienced! lol... My husband would back me on that statement. ; ) And I'm wearing a freebie t-shirt that I will just toss afterwards. I also found a very tired pair of Nikes that I will do the same with after the run. I plan to take my camera and will definitely post some pics here next week.

We're both off on Monday for Labor Day, so we're bottling our Nut Brown Ale and will be brewing another batch of our Vanilla Porter since the first one turned out so well. We'll have lots of nice brews for the fall and winter months.

Hey, check out my new avatar in the right-hand menu. Cute, huh? I spent lots of time playing around with it yesterday. You can dress them all sorts of ways with different backgrounds and animation. I'm kind of a dork with things like this! I'll probably change it up every now and then. I got it free here.

I hope you all have a nice long weekend and I'll check back in next week!

Week 6 Complete

2008-08-26T20:51:00.003-05:00

That's right....I finished week 6 tonight which meant a 25-minute non-stop run! In that time, I ran exactly 2 miles. =) I obviously don't run really fast, but hey....I'm running and that's what matters. Speed can come later.

I decided not to listen to the podcast guy tonight since I didn't need him to tell me when to walk and when to run, so I listened to the music on my nano's playlist. I have a lot of rock "hair bands" from the 80s, as well as quite a bit of AC/DC, ZZ Top, Van Halen and Linkin Park to name a few. The songs that played tonight as I ran were all nice and fast and kept me pumped up. I don't plan on listening to the podcasts any more since from here on out, it's strictly running.

Right now I'm having a post-workout snack....a smoothie made with:

1/2 cup skim milk
6 oz lite banana cream yogurt
1/2 small banana
chocolate flavored mix-in packet
ice

I blended it all together and YUMMO! It tastes like a chocolate-dipped banana. =) It reminds me of a banana split...you know how towards the end some of the ice cream is melted and the syrups all blend together? Ya, it tastes like that. Mmmmmm....

Focusing on the Positive

2008-08-23T17:27:00.010-05:00

After weigh-in this morning, I am again focusing on the positive aspects of this journey I've been on for 9+ months now. I won't let yet another gain (1.4) get me down. I'm more active than I've been in at least 5 years (and that health-kick was short lived) and I look better than I have in a lonnnngggg time. Hopefully this down-up-down-up cycle doesn't last long, but if it does...I will handle it!

After my meeting this morning, my husband and I went down to the Haymarket, grabbed some coffee and walked through the Farmer's Market / Craft Fair. We sampled quite a few things and bought some fresh gouda & stout bread for a beer tasting party tonight. I also bought some cute red & black bead earrings to go with the outfit I'm wearing.

Once we were done there, we walked to the Running Company which was nearby. The guy had me walk and determined I'm flat-footed, which I never really realized before. Then he went back to grab me some shoes to try. He came out with 3 different pairs for me to choose from; New Balance, Asics, and Mizuno. I went with the Asics since they had more cushion in the ball of the foot than the others. When I was at the store, I told my husband, "I think these are the same ones Kiki ended up with." I looked at her blog and yep, same ones! Here they are...cute huh? They also match my nano and headphones. ; )

I'm set to do Week 6 Day 2 of the C25K tomorrow so we'll see if the shoes help with the knee discomfort I've experienced at the end of my last two runs. I'm looking forward to trying them out.

As I mentioned earlier, we're off to a beer tasting party tonight. My husband and I are home brewers, as are two of his friends. We'll be sampling home brews and other microbrews. We get together like this every couple of months and there's always lots of good beer and food to try. I'm taking a little 4 oz glass to drink out of so I can still try stuff without having too much. The food is always tempting but I usually do pretty good. Normally I take something that I know the points of, but not tonight. I knew I wouldn't have time today to make something to take (we had to go to a birthday party earlier this afternoon), so that's why we bought the bread this morning. And tomorrow brings another challenge...I have to go to a baby shower which means MORE cake to pass up. lol....

By the way, thanks for all of the great comments to my "I DID IT!" post. You are all the best! Have a great week!

Light the Night Walk

2008-08-21T14:03:00.004-05:00

My husband and I have registered for the Light the Night walk to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on September 11. The leaders of the team we are walking with have a young daughter who was diagnosed with Acute Promylecytic Leukemia in October of 2005. After a month in the hospital, 2 more rounds of chemotherapy and a year of maintenance medications, she is doing very well and is in remission. Her family attributes her positive prognosis to research organizations such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

We will also walk in honor of my husband's mother, who has been in remission from Multiple Myeloma since 2002, after a successful autologous stem cell transplant. She is the only person still alive from her Mayo Clinic study group, so we are very blessed to have her with us.

Participating in this walk will aid the Society in fulfilling its mission as the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services.

If you would like to help me raise funds, please visit my donation page.

I DID IT! I DID IT!

2008-08-19T21:26:00.002-05:00

Yes indeedy, I did it! I completed Week 5 tonight with a 20-minute non-stop run! That's right...NON-STOP! I did all 20 minutes without stopping OR dying! lol... (As you know, I had planned to do the run last Sunday but due to a few Tijuana Speedball martinis, I didn't feel up to the gym. Oops.)

Back to the run...it went really well and I am uber proud of myself. I think you all know that I was having doubts that I could actually make it through it so that's why it feels so great. I had told myself to at least go 8 minutes and I could decide whether I felt like I could go on. After 8 minutes I was fine and shortly after that the podcast guy said I was half done. Then pretty soon I was at 13 minutes then 16 minutes...at which point I said "I can make it 4 more minutes." And before I knew it, he was coming on saying I was done. =) My breathing stayed nice and even, no side aches at all. That's always an accomplishment for me.

My left knee was hurting just a bit at the end though, which could be attributed to the shoes I wear, which are cross-trainers. So, as a reward to myself for sticking with this whole running thing, I'm going to buy myself a pair of actual running shoes from the Lincoln Running Company, probably after work Friday. The owner there watches how you walk and tells you which shoes would be best for you. I've heard great things about the place so I'm looking forward to going.

Thanks for all of the encouragement and positive thinking. I think it definitely helped me tonight. =)

Heading Back Down

2008-08-16T16:31:00.006-05:00

I weighed in this morning and I lost what I gained last week and then some which was nice. I lost 2 pounds bringing my total to 63.8 pounds. I've now lost 29% of my starting weight so I'm almost a third smaller than I was last November when I began this little journey. Who'd have thought?

As for the C25K, I made it through Week 5 Day 2 the other night. It was two 8-minute runs with 5 minutes walking in between. The first run was, dare I say, almost easy! The time went by quickly and felt good. The second run seemed to kind of drag but I made it through. I was pooped by the time I was done and too tired to do the eliptical, so I came home and showered and got ready for bed. Tomorrow is a 20-minute run. It seems like a huge jump and I'm not sure that I'll make it through. I know...I need to have a positive attitude, blah-blah-blah, but seriously....20 minutes of NON-STOP running? sigh. I will definitely try my hardest but I may need to walk just a bit here and there. I'll let you know how it goes.

My husband and I went to a Saltdogs baseball game the other night and we each won 2 free games of bowling, so I think we're going to use them tonight. I suck big time...my ball generally spends quite a bit of time in the gutter! Again, I lack an athletic gene! lol....But, I still like to go every now and then. We've only bowled once together and that was about a year ago at a get-together with my office mates. Our team of 4 people came in dead last (out of 5 or so teams) and we ended up with the "best effort" trophy. If I get over 70 points tonight I'll be happy!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. =)

Awwww, Gee....You Shouldn't Have!

2008-08-14T08:26:00.005-05:00

As I stand here in my sparkly evening gown accepting my first Blog Award, I must first say thank you to my dear blogger friend Kiki who nominated me. (applause for Kiki, please...). I love this new award....isn't it beautiful? =)
This actually means a lot to me because when I first started my blog, I really honestly didn't expect anyone to read it. You can imagine how surprised I was when I had my first comment from a complete stranger! My first thought was, "How the heck did she find me?" But I'm glad she did because soon there were more commenters and now I love checking my blog to see what all of you, my "fans," have to say! =)

Now on to my own nominations! (That's part of the deal when you win an award...you must pass along the love!)

I must start with Karen, since she was my first commenter and could be how some of you 'found' me. Her posts lighten my day and often make me laugh. I love the stories she tells of how different things are in her native homeland. She's my own personal web comedian.

Next, the blogger I relate to most would have to be C. It's like she gets in my head and writes about my own thoughts! Our stories of how we got to where we were and why we decided to do something about our weight are similar. I figure she's about 12 years younger than me, but I think of her as my blog twin. =)

Moving along...next I nominate ptg. Her posts are funny and I like how she puts her "little voice" comments down on 'paper.' She regularly makes me chuckle and I'm proud of her dedication to all aspects of her life. And, the pictures of Pnut aren't bad either. ; )
In line next is roobabs. The more I get into running, the more I like reading her posts since she is striving to be one, too. (And way further ahead of me!)
Last but not least, I have to give props to kk, my half-marathon girl. I admire anyone who willingly runs 13 miles! Her posts are on a variety of subjects and often has links to other great articles and blog posts.

There you have it! I read all of your blogs faithfully and love when you post a comment. It's great encouragement and it means a lot to me that you take time out of your day to read about a little glimpse of my life. I may not comment on every single post of yours, but trust that I read them all!

For those of you nominated, here's what you need to do...put the logo on your blog and link to the person you received your award from. Nominate at least 7 other blogs (no, I didn't follow that rule...), and put links to those blogs on your site. Be sure to leave messages on the blogs you’ve nominated so they know about the award.

(By the way, some of you have already been nominated...so I don't expect you to go through this all again!)

Gonna Get Dirty!

2008-08-13T11:08:00.006-05:00

Yes indeed, this HMB is going to get down and dirty! My husband and I have entered a Mud Run on August 31st (click here for an explanation). We're just doing the 1-mile since I'm not up to running 3 miles just yet, plus we're not sure what the obstacles will be. I've informed him if there are walls to scale or ropes to climb, he will have to help me. He said "that's why we're doing this together, so we can help eachother." Awwww, isn't he sweet?! I'm looking forward to it even though we have NO idea what we're getting ourselves into, other than a lot of sticky mud! =)

The run is at a winery near here and afterwards we get 5 free tastings of wine....so there you go...I'm going to earn activity points to spend on booze! LOL.... Great fun!

By the way, I did Day 1 of Week 5 last night. It was just three 5-minute runs with a 3-minute walk in between. My "I am an olympian" mantra paid off once again! Tomorrow night will be two 8-minute runs with a 5-minute walk in between. I really think it will be fine because last night was great! Sunday's run might be a different story; it's 20 minutes of straight running with no walking. It could be the death of me, so if I don't post again after that day, you'll know why! ; )

As Promised

2008-08-11T09:37:00.006-05:00

Finally, here is the complete look in the dress and with my glasses on. You can't really tell what the glasses look like though since it's not a close up. Also, the frame is just on the top of the lens and not all the way around, which could have to do with it. The earrings don't show up well either. They're red dangles. I'm also in need of a hair cut so I think I look a bit shaggy! If you click on the picture, it will open it full-size, which may help a bit.

Anyway, here it is.

On a side note, I completed Week 4 yesterday and it was my best run yet! I had no pains and kept my breathing in check. At our meeting this week, we talked about how we are like the olympian athletes because we share many of the same traits....determination, perseverance, dedication, goal setting...to name a few. (Granted, I lack the whole athletic aspect but that's okay! lol....) So while running, I was repeating a little mantra to myself. As I breathed in, I said "I am" and while breathing out I said "an olympian." I said that over and over while focusing on a crack in the curb outside in front of me and before I knew it, the run was complete! You need to try it! Yes, it sounds corny, but it worked. =)

I do plan on doing Week 4 again, at least once or twice, before moving on to Week 5. I'll let you know when I venture on.

It Was Bound to Happen

2008-08-09T16:50:00.002-05:00

Well, it finally happened....I logged my first official gain this week of 1.2 pounds. I'm a bit surprised at how fine I am with it, to be honest with you. I know it was partly because of my splurges last weekend (which I'm still not feeling guilty about) and also due to the fact that my monthly visitor announced her arrival a few hours ago. But whatever the reason, it happened and it is what it is. I have nothing to hang my head about. Who cares if I gained 1.2 pounds in the grand scheme of things? I've still lost 61.8! =)

Over the last few weeks, I've been trying to move my focus to the fitness aspect of my journey rather than just the weight loss itself. I'm running now, which is something I never would have thought I'd be doing. And, I'm doing it at the gym which is huge for me. Actually, just the fact that I'm GOING to the gym is a big step! lol...

Tomorrow I will be doing day 3 of week 4 of the C25K. I will probably be repeating week 4 because I don't feel I'm ready to move on to 8 minutes of straight running. Or maybe I'll try week 5 and then I can decide whether I should go back or not. We'll see in the morning I guess.

I plan on uploading new pics on Monday. I would do them tomorrow, but I have issues getting pics to upload on this site from my home computer. Rather than making myself cranky, I'll wait and do it at work. Shhhh.... So check back in a couple of days and promise not to call me "four eyes" when you see me in my glasses! ; ) Just focus your attention to my jazzy handbag instead!

Finally Checking In...Very Long!

2008-08-06T09:07:00.004-05:00

I was pleasantly surprised last Friday morning when I weighed in. I was down 2 pounds so I'm now at 63 pounds total! I realized that I am 14 weeks away from my 1-year anniversary with WW...I'm hopeful that I will be celebrating 75 pounds gone by then! =)

The trip to Iowa went well. My husband's extended family hadn't seen us since our own wedding 20 months ago so they were quite surprised. I think one of his aunts words were "there's so much less of you!" It was great that they noticed and commented. They didn't even see me at my highest weight of 220 since I ballooned up after the wedding. I'm *only* about 30 pounds smaller than the last time they saw me. They would've been really shocked to see my "before WW" photo!

The wedding was nice and at a beautiful house of one of the bride's friends. It was outdoors with a large pond as the backdrop, complete with a spraying fountain, a bridge to an enclosed gazebo and a duck swimming on the water. There was also a separate little koi pond with a waterfall. It was about 88 degrees, no humidity, and just a slight breeze. They couldn't have asked for a better day. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the hotel room so I didn't get ANY pictures. I blame it on the 2 glasses of wine I had before we left! My MIL took a picture of us with her camera, but I didn't see how it turned out. If it's good, she will likely mail us a printed copy of it.

I did have Bill take a pic of me in the hotel room with my dress and glasses on, but I downloaded it today and I don't like how it turned out. I plan on wearing the outfit to church this Sunday, so I will have him take some other shots and hopefully one of them is better. You'll just have to keep waiting. ; )

I wanted to list some of the yummy food I had while on our trip (in no particular order), NONE of which I wrote down or counted! Pasta in a cabernet wine sauce with beef tips, chocolate chocolate cake with raspberry glaze and whipped cream (shared), pork tenderloin, baby potatoes swimming in butter, wedding cake, biscuits & gravy, cheeseburger, 1/2 waffle, wine, beer at a brewpub, 2 rum and cokes, and 1 martini. Mmmmm......

I weighed myself Monday afternoon when we got back, just for fun and I was up 6 whole pounds from Friday! But, I was fully clothed and I had just had lunch an hour before. I knew I hadn't gained 6 pounds of fat so I wasn't really worried. This morning I got on and I'm only up .6 which isn't bad at all. My body fluctuates throughout the week anyway so I'm still not worried about it. It was all delicious and I have no regrets. =)

I started Week 4 of the C25K program last night. It's two intervals of a 3 minute run, 90 second walk, 5 minute run, and a 2.5 minute walk. The first interval was just fine...even my first 5 minute run wasn't horrible! The second interval was tough....towards the end of the 3 minute run I developed a side stitch, which I haven't had since week 1. I was breathing deep, or so I thought, so I'm not sure why it happended. But anyway, I was working on getting my breathing back into a good rhythm during the 90 second "recovery" walk but it hadn't gone away by the time I was to start running. I decided to keep walking for an additional minute and by then it was gone and I was able to run the remaining 4 minutes without any pain at all. It felt good to resolve it and to be able to finish. Afterwards I spent 30 minutes on the eliptical.

I think that's *all* I have!

Monthly Exercise Tally

2008-07-31T12:53:00.002-05:00

I decided to track the exercise I did during the month of July. I went ahead and added everything up since I'm done exercising for the day and here it is:

79 sets of stairs (up to the 3rd floor and down) for a grand total of 6,478 steps...and that's just counting the ones going UP. I didn't do stairs much after the 14th since it's just been too hot in the building to do so without being a sweaty mess afterwards. And given that I do them while at work, well, it's kinda gross to go back to my desk all wet! lol....
103 laps around the inside of the building I work in. That's the equivalent of approximately 25.75 miles. Hmm....I almost walked a marathon!
15 trips to the gym, usually for an hour each time. I will complete week 3 of the C25K tomorrow morning.
26 miles (approximate) of walking the dog. We've been slacking this week walking her...just too hot to do so. It's still in the upper 80s and humid at 9 p.m. and she can't handle the heat well. She flops down a lot in the heat.

I'm weighing in a day early tomorrow morning since we're heading out of town after lunch for the wedding in Iowa. I hopped on the scale this morning and I'm down 1 pound from last Saturday's weigh-in, so hopefully that holds till tomorrow. I doubt that I'll take time to blog before we leave...I have lots to do in the morning after weigh-in. Go to the gym, get my nails done, get my eyebrows waxed, and find a black shirt to go with my new neon red capris (size 12, by the way!). And, I will also need to pack. I think we're planning on heading out after lunch.

Hopefully I'll have pics to post when I get back. Oh, and I ended up returning the brown and orange accessories and getting RED instead. I fell in LOVE with a funky red handbag at JC Penney and couldn't pass it up. Plus, it was on sale! I found an equally funky red necklace and earrings (also on sale!) to match the bag and they look great with the dress. I'm excited for Saturday to get here so I can wear everything.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

A Little This & A Little That

2008-07-26T16:36:00.002-05:00

Lots of stuff to touch on this week!

I finished my second week of the C25K. I still have to really concentrate on breathing deeply so that I don't get side stitches, but it's going well. As long as I'm thinking about that, I don't notice other discomforts as much.
We went to the Neil Diamond concert in Omaha a couple of nights ago. My husband's parents bought us the tickets and we went with them and 4 other family members. I only knew his mainstream songs like Sweet Caroline (bomp bomp bommpp), Forever in Blue Jeans, and America...but it was quite a bit of fun. I was surprised at the varied crowd...we saw people in their 20s and people in their 80s. Elderly people using walkers and drunk people who could've benefited from having a walker themselves! Oh, and we even saw one guy get taken to the ground outside and handcuffed by the police....BEFORE the show even started! Who would've thought...at a Neil Diamond concert??!! lol...
I picked out new eyeglasses yesterday. After wearing contacts for 21 years, I'm going to give them up and go back to glasses full-time (or at least 90% anyway). I'm looking forward to my eyes not being bloodshot and dry all the time.
I had an hour-long hot stone massage this afternoon as my 60-pound reward. It was AWESOME! When I got home I took a 90-minute nap. =) I have just enough left on the gift certificate for another one, so I will save it for when I make goal. I had a facial with it a few months ago, too, so I've gotten some nice pampering out of it. Thanks, honey! =)
And last but not least, I lost 1 pound at weigh-in this morning bringing me to 61 pounds even. Fourteen to go...

Busy Weekend

2008-07-20T21:39:00.002-05:00

This weekend flew by and I feel like I need another day off to rest from the last two days.

Yesterday morning I went to my WW meeting. I lost just enough to reach 60 pounds and get another star for my book. =) Just 15 more for my WW goal...20 for my personal goal. It's hard to believe that I am *this* close to being there.

In the afternoon I went to Omaha in search of a little sweater to wear over my dress, new shoes, and jewelry. I found everything I was looking for so I'm now ready for the wedding. Well, sort of. I decided that my dress does need some altering, so I'll get that done this week. It's a little big through the chest, so you can see through the arm hole and right in at my bra. I hadn't noticed it till my sis-in-law pointed it out yesterday. The necklace and earrings I bought are a chocolate brown and burnt orange combo. Very pretty, though a little reminiscent of The Brady Bunch. lol.... Then I bought a new handbag that is brown and orange. I'm not sure if I'll wear the sweater with it or not. My husband likes it better without it, and I tend to agree. Plus, it's going to be outdoors...in August...in Iowa...so I really won't need it. I just felt like I should cover my flabby arms, but I decided I'm going to wear my wings like a badge of honor and say "screw it" and just go without it. So I'll likely be returning it.

On the workout front, I got up and went to the gym at 7:45 this morning and started Week 2 of the C25K. It was 6 intervals of 90 second runs and 2 minute walks. All went well with only a tad bit of shin pain towards the very end of the last run. After I got done with that, I did the eliptical for 30 minutes. I was pretty pooped by the time I left.

We took Wrigley for an hour-long walk this evening on one of the trails. Bill wore his camelback so we had fresh, cold water for us and for her, too. Towards the end she was really hot so we poured water all over her back and her head and it seemed to pep her up a bit. She's currently laying on arm of the couch sleeping. Hopefully she'll sleep good tonight....she was a complete pain in the you know what last night! Who needs a baby in the house when we have a dog that gets up every few hours?! ; )

Perfect Fit

2008-07-18T08:24:00.002-05:00

The dress I ordered online from Talbots finally came yesterday. The 14P fit perfectly so now all I need to find is a new pair of shoes and maybe some accessories. I'm going to Omaha tomorrow to go shopping with my sister-in-law, so it should be a good time.

I called my mother-in-law to tell her about the dress. You see, Talbots is her favorite store and she's promised me a shopping trip there once I'm at goal. Actually, she's been wanting to take me there for the last few months...it's me who wants to wait for the last 15 to come off. So anyway, I told her that I found a dress to wear to Kristen's wedding and to guess where it came from. "Talbots?" I said yes and then she went on "Oh that's great! I can't wait to see it!" She also told me she would make sure it wasn't my last Talbots purchase. lol....

Here's a picture. I've also added it as my "now" picture on the right.

C25K Week One -- Complete!

2008-07-17T21:23:00.003-05:00

I've made it through the first week! The first day, as reported earlier, went well. The second day....not so much. My shins were killing me! I made it through but was in some serious pain. On a positive note though, I didn't experience any side aches! Thanks for suggesting I work on my breathing....I did and it worked!

Tonight I did day three. I did some reading on shin splints and found some warm-up exercises to try. I'm proud to report that I had an awesome run/walk tonight...no shin pain or side aches! AND, I did it at the gym! The two previous sessions were done in my neighborhood at 6 a.m. when no one was out and about. I conquered my fear and did it! I found the treadmill to be more comfortable to run on, too, so I will continue my training there. Now I can sleep in till my normal time in the morning and not have to get up before the sun does! ; )

I'm ready to move on to week two, which I will start this Sunday. Thanks again for helping me!

I'm a Runner...

2008-07-13T07:33:00.003-05:00

My little 2-minute run a couple of weeks ago had me itching to try something new. I had done some reseach on the Couch to 5K running program and running podcasts. I have an iPod shuffle, but without erasing everything on it and only having the running podcasts on it, I didn't know how I'd ever find them since there's no menu or display. Or maybe I am just dumb and there is a way, but to make things easier, we went and bought me a new iPod nano last night. My plan is to leave the shuffle at work and use it only for my exercise there and use the nano at the gym and to run with.

So we (okay, my husband) transferred my shuffle's playlist to the nano, as well as downloaded all 9 of Robert Ullrey's C25K podcasts. They are available free on iTunes.

I woke up this morning at 6:15 and couldn't get back to sleep so I figured I might as well give this whole running thing a shot when it was still cool out (60 degrees, no wind...absolutely beautiful!).

I put on one of my new workout shirts that I bought yesterday at Gordman's and strapped on my iPod. I at least looked like I had the potential to be a runner! lol.... And out into the neighborhood I went.

I really like the podcast...it tells you when to run and when to walk. And the music is upbeat, too. There are 8 intervals of 60-second run and 90-second walks. The whole thing is about 28 minutes, including warm up and cool downs of 5 minutes each.

It went surpisingly well, and I didn't feel any pain till the 6th run when I had a little pain in my right side. I had a flashback to middle school and junior high....whenever we had to run more than a few laps around the gym, my side would hurt. Apparently I haven't outgrown that! Maybe as the weeks go on and I get more used to running it won't bother me anymore. I was out of breath at the end of the 8th run but it was a good out of breath, not a "Good Lord I'm gonna die" type out of breath. lol....

It was a good workout but it didn't completely kick my ass. I think it showed me that I'm actually in much better shape than I thought I was and that I need to give myself a little more credit. I could never have done this with my old 220-pound body so I see how far I've come.

It Paid Off

2008-07-12T15:11:00.003-05:00

My efforts at the gym and at work paid off at weigh-in this morning. I had a 2 pound loss, which is technically over the last 2 weeks since I didn't go last Saturday. This brings my total to 59.6 which means I am oh so close to losing another point worth of food. It's always bittersweet to get to a new decade...it's a good thing but I hate giving up a treasured point! I'm sure you can all relate.

I ordered a dress online from Talbots a couple of days ago for the upcoming wedding (3 weeks from today). I got a great deal on it....the original price was $158 and I got it on sale for $44! I actually ordered two, in different sizes, since I'm not sure how their sizes run. It should be here by Wednesday, if not earlier, and I am SO excited to see how it fits. I will post a picture if all goes well!

I wanted to share with you a recipe for onion rings, if you don't have it already. We've made these twice now and I love them! Take an onion and slice it up into rings. Grind up 1/2 cup Fiber One Original cereal in a food processor and season with salt and pepper (optional). Transfer to a ziplock bag. Dip onions into 1/4 cup eggbeaters and then put them, one at a time, into the ziplock bag of ground up Fiber One and shake to coat. We put the rings on non-stick aluminum foil and grill on each side for a few minutes. You can also bake them, though we haven't done them that way since we do 90% of our summer cooking on the grill. They are really good...I think I actually prefer them to fried onion rings because you taste more of the sweet onion flavor instead of the fried grease flavor. Oh, and the whole serving is 2 pts. It makes enough to share with another person, too.

Enjoy!

My First Gain...Unofficially

2008-07-10T08:20:00.002-05:00

I am extremely late in posting this, but my home computer has been locking up left and right so I didn't want to start a blog only to have it act up and lose it....and well, it's been a busy week at work so I haven't had a chance to do it until now.

So let's pretend it's last weekend when I'm writing this! I didn't actually go to my weigh-in....I sort of slept right through it! I did weigh myself on my scale though and I was up .6 from my "naked" weight the previous Saturday. Not a huge gain, but frustrating nonetheless.

Last week I started exercising religiously here at work and am proud to say that since July 1, I've been to the gym six times! And, one night I even RAN (gasp!) for 2 minutes straight! That was the first time I'd ever really ran as an adult so that made me proud. I was the only one there that night so that's why I decided to try it. I don't think I'd be comfortable doing it when others are there....it's that whole "I'm afraid of looking stupid" thing. But maybe some night when it isn't ridiculously hot and humid I'll try jogging a bit around our neighborhood.

I also decided to start tracking the exercise I do here at work. Since July 1st I've done 51 sets of stairs (4,182 total steps) and 47 laps around the inside of the building (equal to 11.75 miles). That's 6 days' worth. I can't wait to do a monthly tally!

That's all for now...hopefully I won't be so late in posting this week's weigh-in!

Time to Kick It Up

2008-06-30T16:23:00.002-05:00

Another small loss this week...*only* .8 pounds. June was the worst month for me as far as weight loss totals go. Admittedly, I slacked most of the month when it came to exercising at work so I am going to recommit myself starting tomorrow and hopefully July will be a better month.

I also want to make myself go to the gym a few days during the week. I could easily go on Sunday mornings since the dog wakes us up around 6 a.m. anyway. I might as well be at the gym working out instead of trying to ignore her attempts to get us out of bed. ; ) I don't have to start getting ready for church until 9:30 so it's doable.

I could also easily go on Tuesday nights since my husband leaves for choir practice at 6:30 and doesn't get home until 8:30ish. I tend to have the munchies when left alone anyway, so it would help with that.

And maybe Thursdays will be my other night to go. I'd like to start going 3 times a week, which will be a struggle at first given that I don't like going to the gym. I will suck it up and go though. (Bill, if you're reading this....please make me stick to my new Tues-Thurs-Sun routine.)

Here's to June being over....and July starting!

Recharged & Ready

2008-06-21T21:09:00.012-05:00

Every now and then I try on my bridal gown, the one that was, admittedly, too tight on our wedding day in December 2006. I weighed 187 that day, so I now weigh 24 pounds less. I tried the gown on last night and seeing how big it is on me, instantly recharged me and I am looking forward to the new week. Last week wasn't the best...my martini indulgence, as fun as it was, bit me in the butt. Big Time. And well, the theatre popcorn (kids size & no butter, but still), more popcorn at the bar, nachos at a baseball game and two ice cream cones from McD's obviously didn't help any either. I still lost .6 this week (total 56.8) but it was a struggle getting off the extra pounds I had packed on from the first few days of last week.

Here's a picture of me in the dress. As you can see, there's quite a lot of room now! When I wasn't holding it up, it fell down about 3" from where it should sit on my chest. It's way big on top...my "girls" could invite some friends to join them. There's also lots of room in the tummy area and butt, too.

A Funny Comic & How We're Losing Weight

2008-06-17T12:31:00.006-05:00

I don't usually read Pearls Before Swine, but I did today and it was so funny I had to post it here. Hopefully you find it laughable as well. =)

Part of the reason I find it funny is that I've been a paying member of one gym or another since about 1996. Have I worked out continually since 1996? NO! Even now, I'm a member of Anytime Fitness, however, I haven't been to the gym since March. I don't like going to gyms...never really have...but I continue to pay each and every month. It's not that I don't exercise because I do. I generally walk and climb stairs at work for 30-60 minutes each day, and we take the dog for a 30-minute walk every evening. Last Saturday we took her on an hour-long walk. So I do exercise, but I don't go "work out" the way a lot of you do.

About 5 years ago I did work out. I spent at least 10 hours/week at the gym and lost 20 pounds in 2 months. I modified my diet a bit, but the weight came off primarily through exercise. As soon as my life picked back up (aka, my broken heart mended), I stopped exercising and the weight came back because I hadn't learned to eat right.

This time around, I'm modifying my diet and doing exercise that I know I can stick with. I know I can continue exercising at work and the dog will always need to be walked. Even last winter, we took her every day. We live in Nebraska so there were many days when we were walking in temps in the teens with snow on the ground. I bundled up in double, sometimes triple, layers and didn't let it stop me. I choose to spend my evenings with my husband and dog rather than at the gym.

My husband is unable to exercise during his workday, so he works out at the gym. But like me, he'd rather spend time with us in the evening, so he heads to the gym every morning (M-F) shortly after 5 a.m. and is there for 45-60 minutes. I choose to sleep in because let's just state it....I'm crabby as it is in the morning, let alone at 5 a.m.! He's modified his diet but he still routinely eats burgers, fries, bratwursts, wings, beer, etc., but he's not "doing" WW so that's fine. And "his way" is obviously working for him as he's lost 47 pounds himself.

I don't think that either way is wrong. We each have to do what works best for us. And so far, what I'm doing is working and vice versa. When the day comes that my losses slow down or I plateau, I will have to change something up and I will likely spend some time at the gym to see if that works. But until then, my 60-90 minutes of walking each day will have to do.

More Food Reviews

2008-06-17T09:33:00.002-05:00

I tried two new products this week so I thought I would share them with you!

Krusteaz Fat-Free Pancake Mix
There is only one word to describe these things and that is G-R-O-S-S!!! I made them per the instructions and the batter was so thick it wouldn't pour. I ended up scooping it out and plopping it onto the griddle. They turned out really heavy, thick, and chewy. After we tasted one bite, I gave the rest of it to our dog. Even she had trouble chewing the darn thing! lol.... So the remaining 5 of them were pitched in the trash. Luckily we had a regular box of pancake mix on-hand, so our brunch wasn't ruined! I like some of Krusteaz's other fat-free products, but be sure to stay away from this one!

Western Bagel....The Alternative Bagel
I had one of the cinnamon spice flavored ones with my breakfast this morning and was pleasantly surprised! I've never found a "healthy" bagel (or english muffin, for that matter) that tasted "real" but this one was great! It's a nice size, 2 oz, so it's not one of those mini ones. It's obviously not the size of one from Panera, but it's satisfying. The NI is 110 cal, 0 fat, and 7 fiber for a Points value of 1. I will definitely purchase more when these are gone. By the way, in my supermarket, they are in the refrigerated healthy foods section and not with the regular bagels.

Fiber One Original Cereal : Update
I still like them plain as a snack, but when I eat them with milk I find they taste much better with a little bit of cinnamon and splenda.

Hebrew National 97% Fat-Free Beef Hot Dogs
These are 100% fresh kosher beef franks made with nothing artifical. The NI is 45 cal, 1.5 fat, 0 fiber for a Points value of just 1 Point! I like a hot dog every now and then, but my are they pointy! So I thought it would be great to find these suckers! I've looked at 3 different stores but didn't have any luck. HOWEVER, I just called another store and they have them! I told the guy I would stop by after work, and luckily, it's not completely out of my way! I am SOOOOO excited! I will write a review as soon as I try one.

Indulgence

2008-06-15T08:56:00.004-05:00

That was our meeting topic yesterday and yes, I do indulge. But mine are somewhat planned. Pretty much every Saturday, I blow right through my 22 daily points and at least half of my weeklies. Usually I use the extra weekly points on lunch and dinner out, but this week's 35 points went straight toward martinis!

My husband and I went to Grata, a new lounge in the south part of town. We dropped in to have A drink. As in one. Only one. HOWEVER, they have an extensive martini list and well, one led to two....and two led to three....

We had a great time but decided it's probably good that we live about 15 miles away on the north side of town because otherwise my 35 points would routinely be spent there! lol....

After Grata we went to the Starlight Lounge, another martini bar, located downtown and on our way home. It's sort of a throwback lounge...chairs, couches, and other decor from the 1970's. They have a couch in there that is exactly like the one my aunt & uncle had when I was a kid. Same design and fabric, but a different color. And the carpet is orange...as in Brady Bunch orange! I only had one drink and we called it a night.

So yes, I indulge....and apparently that includes martinis!

I lost 1.4 this week so that brings me to 56.2 total. My personal goal is to lose 80 pounds, but my WW goal is 75. So I've only got 18.8 to go for that. It seems weird typing a number in the teens.....lol....

Fiber One Reviews

2008-06-13T10:20:00.003-05:00

Fiber One Original Cereal
I purchased some Fiber One Original yesterday because a recipe I found called for it. I had never bought it before because, well, it looks like twigs from a mini-tree! I figured it would be hard and crunchy, like Grape Nuts, so I had never ever wanted to try it. When I got home I decided to see if it was any good and reached in and grabbed a few "twigs." To my surprise, it was actually pretty good! They aren't hard at all and remind me of Cheerios a bit, in texture and taste, and seem to have a slight cinnamon flavor. The nutritional info for 1/2 cup (dry) is 60 cal, 1 fat, 14 fiber. For a points value of ZERO! They'd be good for a pre-dinner snack or late night snack when you're out of points. Even with 1/2 cup skim milk, they're still only 1 point. I had a bowl this morning with milk on it and honestly, I like them dry better. But, by having the Fiber One Original instead of the Fiber One Honey Clusters that I have been eating, I can save 3 points on breakfast! That's HUGE, especially as I continue to lose points. I don't know that I'll have them every morning, but they'd be great for days when I know I'll be eating some meals out.

Fiber One Chewy Bars -- Oats & Strawberries with Almonds
I am a HUGE fan of their Oats & Chocolate flavor (much to my husband's dismay), so I thought I would give this new flavor a try. To be honest, I don't like them. As much, anyway. They don't seem to be as gooey as the Oats & Chocolate ones, and the dried strawberries are way too sweet. They actually made my throat hurt! I will eat the rest of them, gradually, but I won't buy them again. I'll stick with the chocolate ones instead.

Please, Mother Nature...

2008-06-12T09:31:00.003-05:00

...Take a break already! We spent another evening in our unfinished basement while we were in a tornado warning for nearly 2 hours. Tornadoes touched down all around Lincoln, but none hit in the city. Thankfully our 3 sump-pumps kept up with the downpouring rain so our basement stayed dry. Our backyard turned into a pond, as it always does with heavy rains, plus we ended up with a river on the north side of the house and a flooded sidewalk with worms floating by, but all is well this morning. I'm guessing that our neighbors didn't fare as well because a truck with the words "Emergency Water Removal & Structural Drying" on the side of it was in their driveway when I left for work today. Unlike ours, their basement is finished so I imagine they have quite a mess.

I received an email from my sister-in-law today saying that one of the boy scouts that lost his life in last night's storm was from their city (Omaha), and a member of their church. He was only 13. I can't imagine how scared all of those young boys were. I was scared...and I was in a structurally-sound basement. I hope I never have to go through what they did, but if I do, I hope that I'm as brave as they were. I've been reading stories about how they put the skills they've learned to use and helped one another, from removing tree limbs off of fellow scouts to rescuing a ranger and his wife from beneath rubble. It's just amazing.

Please keep the children and their families in your thoughts and prayers in the coming days.

We've Hit 100!

2008-06-07T10:58:00.002-05:00

That's right! My husband and I have lost a combined total of 100 pounds! Okay, technically 99.4 but I'm rounding up. =) He's lost 44.6 and I've lost 54.8! How awesome is that?!

We were talking last night and I told him that when I first started, I had no idea I would be this successful. To be honest, I figured it would be like all of my previous weight loss attempts....I'd try hard for a few weeks, see no results and give up, only to gain even more weight. But for some reason, this time was completely different. My first week I lost 5 pounds and I still remember how excited I was to tell him. And you know what? I'm still excited to report my weigh in to him every Saturday morning. I used to wait till I got home to tell him; now I text him from my meeting and he sends back a "way to go" message or something along that line.

In today's meeting we talked about motivation and motivators and who our biggest cheerleader is. My husband is without a doubt the person who keeps me going. I don't think a day goes by when he doesn't say "hey skinny," or "I'm very proud of you." I'm glad that he decided to join me on my journey because without his support, I'm pretty positive I would still weigh 220 pounds...if not more.

I've set mini-goals from the beginning and now that the Chicago goal was met, it's time to set another one. One of my husband's cousins is getting married August 2nd which is 8 weeks from today. My goal is to weigh 150 by then, so I have to lose 15 pounds. Is it doable? I'm not quite sure...so I'll settle for 155. Another goal is to wear a dress to the wedding. I'm not a dress-wearing girl, so it's going to be tough. I haven't worn a girly dress since I was little....unless you count prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, and my wedding gown. I'll do skirts occassionally. So really, the dress thing is more daunting than the weight loss itself!

Wow...I was long-winded today! Must have been the coffee I had this morning!

An updated progress chart is below.

Unbelievable

2008-05-31T16:24:00.006-05:00

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!

2008-05-24T11:55:00.007-05:00

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...

2008-05-22T21:42:00.006-05:00

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!

2008-05-21T21:56:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-05-17T14:50:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-05-14T09:08:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-13T12:06:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-09T11:14:00.004-05:00

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.

2008-05-07T08:45:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-03T10:12:00.007-05:00

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.

Tooting My Horn (Again!)

2008-04-24T13:47:00.004-05:00

I didn't know what else to call this post, so I thought this title fits since I am so gosh darn proud of myself right now.

In honor of "Administrative Professionals Week," my office hosted lunch for all of the support staff which includes yours truly. They ordered in Italian entrees from Valentino's and then designated others to bring side items, desserts, etc.

Surprisingly, there were some healthy options, which isn't always the case.

This is what I ate:

1 piece of pepperoni pizza (a small corner piece...Val's cuts their circular pizzas into square pieces)
3 baby carrots
1 raddish
2 pieces of celery
4 large strawberries
Lots of fresh blueberries....about 1/2 cup

Now here's a list of stuff I passed up: sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake w/whip cream & cherry topping, cheesecake, cream cheese fruit pizza, pecan pie, chocolate cupcakes, lasagna, mostacolli, macaroni salad and french bread!

Other than the piece of pizza, everything I ate was 0 point items! Okay, technically the blueberries are .5 according to the tracker but I'm counting them as 0 since I've never tracked 1/2 points. Unfortunately, Val's doesn't list their NI online, so I'm going to count it as 6 since that's what most places are, even though it was definitely not the size of a full slice. It was serioulsy only 4 bites, not including the crust. I was going to skip the crust, but theirs is really good so I went for it.

So you see, I'm tooting my horn because I could've been soooo bad today but I wasn't. Go me! (toot-toot...)

A Must-Share Recipe

2008-04-20T19:17:00.013-05:00

Before church this morning, the husband and I watched a cooking show on the Food Network. And no, it wasn't Paula Dean and her pound of fried butter! lol.... It was Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller and it was an episode of "light and satisfying" meals. One in particular looked really good, so we made it for dinner tonight and we will DEFINITELY make it again! It was delicious, quick, easy, and best of all...point friendly!

Grilled Shrimp with Citrus Dipping Sauce & Rice

Rice:
1 cup instant brown rice
1/2 cup fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup orange juice (Tropicana light n healthy)
1/2 cup red onion, chopped

Shrimp:
2 tsp EVOO
1 pound large shrimp, raw, peeled and deveined
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sauce:
1 cup orange juice (Tropicana light n healthy)
1 lime, sqeezed for juice
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves

Garnish:
1 orange, sliced

Preheat a grill pan or griddle over medium-high heat.

Start cooking the rice by combining orange juice, broth, rice, and onions and cook according to the directions.

While rice is cooking, whisk together orange juice, lime juice, ginger, cornstarch, and garlic in a small saucepan. Set pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer 2 minutes, until mixture thickens. Transfer sauce to individual dipping ramikins and sprinkle with cilantro.

Toss shrimp in EVOO and season both sides of shrimp with salt and black pepper. Place shrimp on hot grill pan and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, until bright pink and cooked through. Sprinkle shrimp with cilantro.

Take orange slices and grill briefly, just until grill marks show.

Plate rice, shrimp and orange slices. =)

I'm No Longer Obese!!!

2008-04-19T10:22:00.007-05:00

I never thought I'd be so excited to just be overweight! lol.... But I am THRILLED! I had an awesome loss of 3.2 this week (thanks, Aunt Flo, for packing up and going away...) for a total of 47.2 pounds! That makes my BMI 29.7 which gets me out of the obese category. =)

The mini-goal I've been working towards is to lose 50 pounds before our vacation to Chicago. I only have 2.8 to go and we leave 5 weeks from tomorrow. Unless I hit a plateau (knock on wood), I should be able to have a new charm on my keychain before we get on that plane! One other thing....my butt will fit much better in the seat than it did last summer!

I want to say thank you to Karen and C for sending me skinny vibes earlier this week because they definitely did the trick! ; )

An updated progress chart is below.

I Feel Like Rocky Balboa

2008-04-17T11:08:00.008-05:00

Strange title, I know. But seriously. On my morning break today, a really fast song came on my iPod as I was heading up my 4th set of stairs (explanation...in the building where I work, I consider a "set" of stairs to be up to the 3rd floor which is a total of 82 stairs, and then back down).

I got all pumped up and decided to run up the stairs! (Hence, the Rocky reference.) Now, I've done this before but I usually run the stairs and walk on the landings in between the flights. Today I kept running around the landings! It was FUN! I felt like a little kid actually....lol. And a bit like that one "Friends" episode...you know, the one where Phoebe runs like a crazy woman. I'm not a runner and have no form whatsoever....I'm sure I looked a bit silly, but who cares!

By the time I got back down I was pretty out of breath, but it felt good! I don't think I could've ran another one right after it, but maybe I will strive to run one set during each break & lunch session. If I did, that would be running 3 out of the 16 sets I do each day, which would be awesome! =)

Buh-Bye Scale!

2008-04-14T14:33:00.004-05:00

When I first started WW, I would weigh myself at home a few mornings during the week, just to see how I was doing between weigh-ins at my WW meeting on Saturday mornings. At some point I tried to kick the habit and asked my husband to hide the scale from me....and then I proceeded to play "hide-and-seek" until I found it! (I always was good at that game and it wasn't hidden very well! lol...)

From that day on, I've gotten progressively worse about weighing in too frequently. Knowing that I have trouble dealing with the fluctuations during the 7-day period between "official" weigh-ins at WW, I am now admitting this to all of my fellow bloggers, "My name is Marcie and I'm a daily weigher." Yes, DAILY. I have it bad.

Since there's no official 12-step program for my habit, I did the only thing I could think of. I asked my husband to hide the scale (yes, once again) somewhere in our basement where I won't be able to find it. Keep in mind that our basement isn't finished so besides never going down there, there are too many boxes to look through!

So I'm stopping. Cold turkey. Take that you stupid scale! (...flipping off my scale....) I CAN DO THIS!

Every Loss Counts

2008-04-12T10:55:00.004-05:00

I had the smallest loss this week that I've had since I started, but the .6 pounds makes my total 44.0 pounds. I'm fine with the small loss because I know I had a good week and stayed on the plan. No real regrets.

I exercised every day during my breaks and lunch, but admittedly, not as hard as I had been. Yesterday was the only day all week where I did 16 sets of stairs and 4 laps, which is what my daily routine had been the past few weeks. Most days I only did 4 sets and then walked the remaining time. So instead of getting in 40 minutes of stairs and 20 minutes walking each day; this week was more like 10 minutes of stairs and 50 minutes of walking. Plus, with the weather this past week, I think we only walked the dog 2 or 3 nights after work.

My goal for the next week is to exercise harder while at work and see if I can lose at least 1 pound so I get another sticker for reaching 45 pounds. If you're reading this, please send some skinny vibes my way! =)

An updated progress chart is below.

A Stranger in the Hallway

2008-04-11T11:29:00.002-05:00

While walking during my break today, a lady stopped me in the hallway to tell me she has noticed me losing weight and that I look really nice! She asked me if I was following a program and I told her that I do WW and that I've lost 43 pounds so far. Her eyes got big and then she said "you're doing amazing and it shows!" Talk about a warm fuzzy!

I have no idea who she was, other than she works in the building. I've seen her before, but I don't know in which office she works. What I do know is that she made my day and lifted my spirit! I needed that today because for the first time, I don't think I'm going to have a loss this week. But you know what?? That's okay. I've gotten several nice comments this week, I have stayed on plan, and I have nothing to be ashamed of. It happens. Life goes on.

5 Months Ago Today...

2008-04-10T08:39:00.007-05:00

...I walked into my first WW meeting. To be honest, I didn't know how well this whole weight loss thing would go. After all, I had tried losing weight a couple of times on my own since meeting my now husband and it was a complete flop. I had this "I don't eat that bad" mentality. Heck, I even went to the doctor to have my thyroid checked thinking that surely something was wrong with it and that's why I hadn't been able to lose weight! (It was completely normal, by the way.) That tells you how clueless I was.

After that meeting, I sat down with the leader and she explained the program to me. Then she wanted to know a little about me. I told her I'd gained 70 pounds since April 2003, and 33 of those were just since our wedding in December 2006. I also told her about how painful it was to get out of bed because of my feet (plantar fasciitis) and that I felt like I was 70-years old in the morning. Another reason I told her I was joining was because I was tired of buying new clothes every season because I had outgrown the stuff I had bought the previous year(s). Even my winter coat was too small! That was the final straw....I joined WW a couple of weeks after that depressed me.

Since joining WW, I've lost 43.4 pounds. If you had told me on November 10, 2007, that I would lose this much by today's date, I wouldn't have believed you.

Not to toot my own horn, but (toot-toot!) I'm very proud of myself. It hasn't been easy, but it hasn't really been that hard either. I find that I eat basically the same stuff for my meals at home, but smaller portions. When we go to restaurants, I opt for entrees and sides that aren't fried or battered. I only eat till I'm satisfied....not till I'm stuffed and uncomfortable. I exercise regularly now. By the time I leave work each day, I've gotten in 60 minutes of stairs & walking. We take the dog for a 1.7 mile walk each evening after work which adds another 30 minutes. Once it gets nicer, we're going to increase it to 2 miles or more. I want to start riding my bike (which I've had for 9 months or so and have never ridden). I'm looking forward to going to Chicago next month and not having my feet hurt after a day of walking. I could go on and on, but this post is already pretty long!

So anyway, here's to 5 months! (picture me toasting...!) And here's to more success down the road!

Even with a pulled "butt muscle"

2008-04-06T07:36:00.008-05:00

Yes, I seemed to have pulled a muscle in the middle of my right cheek...but I still lost 1.4 pounds last week. =) Just think what it would've been had I been able to climb stairs Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! I still walked at breaks and lunch and the dog after work, but I had to skip the stairs because it was too uncomfortable. I'll try them tomorrow and see how it goes.

Two people at my WW meeting called me the 's' word....SKINNY! lol.... Okay, so I know I'm not skinny yet but I am 43.4 pounds skinnier than I was 5 months ago. =) The comments made me feel very, very good.

Last week we made something new for dinner....chicken & veggie/fruit kabobs. We put the chicken on their own skewers, as well as the potatoes. Then we combined green peppers, red peppers, tomatoes, red onions and fresh pineapple chunks together on a few skewers. Below is a picture of them on the grill. They turned out really good and we will definitely have them again!

I've added a weight loss ticker on the right side of my blog. It shows my starting BMI, current BMI and goal BMI. It also shows how much weight I've lost and how much more I have to go.

That's all for now. Below is an updated progress chart.

Halfway There!

2008-03-29T10:27:00.006-05:00

I just returned from weigh-in and I'm down another 2.2 for a total loss of 42.0 pounds! My initial goal was to lose 80 pounds...I only have 38 more to go! That's less than what I've lost so far. I'm at the halfway mark. =)

We leave for Chicago 9 weeks from tomorrow. I've decided to change my "45 by May 25" goal to "50 by May 25." If I keep having losses like I have, then 8 pounds in 9 weeks is doable. I want the "50" washer charm for my keychain before we go!

I'm now at the weight I was when we got engaged and 10 pounds less than I was the day we were married. My wedding gown is now too big, mostly due to "the girls" but also in the waist. I try it on every now and then just for fun. =)

That's all for now. An updated progress chart is below.

We're BOTH Losers!

2008-03-24T09:40:00.002-05:00

Even though my husband isn't "doing" WW with me, he's now lost 31 pounds since I began 19 weeks ago. I'm so proud of him! He joined the gym and is there every weekday morning around 5:30 a.m. He eats healthy meals at home and is making healthier choices at the cafeteria and often chooses fruit or wheat thins as a snack in the evening. When we go to restaurants, he still eats "bad" food but it hasn't affected his weight loss. He's doing great doing it his way!

We've now lost a combined total of 70 pounds since Nov. 10, 2007. How awesome is that?! We have a ways to go till we're both at goal, but so far we're doing fantastic!

Oh so close!

2008-03-22T11:15:00.009-05:00

I missed the 40-pound mark by only .2 pounds! I needed to lose 1.8 but came up a bit short with 1.6. To be honest, I was surprised I lost that much! It was a challenging week with a wine tasting party (thanks Hampton's!), a St. Patty's party at work, and a night with the girls....but I stayed on track and did well. On top of that, TOM showed up this morning so now I know why I was so crabby yesterday! lol...

Wrigley had her Easter haircut this morning and I can't resist posting a picture of her. How cute is she?! (when she's all dolled up it makes it hard to be mad at her when she's naughty!)

Below is an updated progress chart.

Holy Cow!

2008-03-16T09:29:00.004-05:00

I had weigh-in yesterday and was SHOCKED at the scale...in a good way! I lost 3.0 pounds for a total of 38.2 pounds! I haven't lost that much in a week since week 7's weigh-in. I am only 6.8 away from meeting my 45-pound mini-goal for our Chicago trip. We leave in 10 weeks so I'm not too worried about making goal. I'm not going to change it yet, but I'm thinking that I might be able to lose 50 pounds by then!

I am really starting to get compliments from people. It took losing 30+ pounds before they started noticing, but last week I had a lot of nice comments. I think it helps wearing pants that fit rather than my old "fat" pants. =) I wore a pair of dress pants last week to work and had 3 people tell me I was really looking nice. Then at WI yesterday, I wore a new pair of jeans (size 16) and a lady at the meeting said that she can really tell I've lost a lot and that she's been meaning to tell me. That was a huge NSV for me.

I bought a new pair of khaki pants yesterday at Steve & Barry's. It's nice being able to shop in "regular" stores again. I'm hoping to go get a couple more pairs later today. It's going to be too nice to wear the corduroy pants pretty soon, and plus they are really big on me now.

That's all for now. Check out the updated progress chart below.

Another Sticker!

2008-03-08T15:47:00.005-06:00

I lost 1.2 this week so I'm at 35.2 pounds and I received another sticker to put in my book! I've now lost 16% of my starting weight.

I am only 10 pounds from my mini-goal of "175 by May 25." I'm pretty confident I will make it! Once I get to 175, my BMI will be in the overweight category and I will no longer be classified as obese! I would love to be "just overweight" when we go to Chicago!

Below is an updated progress chart.

I've Lost My Age!

2008-03-01T10:18:00.003-06:00

Yep, after losing another 2.2 I've now lost exactly 34 pounds! I also received my "clapping hands" charm for sticking with WW for 16 weeks. =) The next charm I will receive is for having lost 50 pounds! That's only 16 pounds away!

Last week I ate pretty much all of my activity points and hardly any (just 3) of my weekly flex points. So perhaps that's the key. I will do the same this week and see what happens.

I'm striving to lose at least 1 pound this week so I'll get another star sticker AND be able to have coffee with my husband. With every 5 pounds lost, we go to Starbucks and I get a 'skinny' latte as a little reward and treat. They say to reward with non-food items, and well, it technically isn't food...but probably not what they have in mind. It's only 2 points and coffee is something that I've quit drinking otherwise. So it's okay.

An updated progress chart is below.

A Loss is a Loss, Right?

2008-02-23T15:59:00.003-06:00

I lost .8 pounds which is disappointing...but it's still a loss. If it had only been .2 more and been 1 pound, I would've been fine. I just hate to see weight losses that start with a "." rather than a number. But I know that they add up just the same. I've still lost 31.8 pounds in 15 weeks which is great.

I worked out more last week than any other week and to see a small loss is just really frustrating. I ate all of my activity points last week and 15 of my weeklies. This week I'm going to try not to use as many weeklies and not use all of the activity points. We'll see how that goes.

The small loss could be also due to TOM which I think will arrive tomorrow. I feel like I'm coming up with excuses now...my leader would tell me "NO EXCUSES!" and I need to tell myself the same.

I know I am starting to look different to others so the scale shouldn't matter. I had two coworkers tell me last week that my face is thinner. Another one told me I am looking "really good" and two weeks ago, two other coworkers noticed that I am losing weight. I just need to focus on those NSVs and not on the scale so much. But it's just so hard not to!

Anyway, an updated progress chart is below.

Another Sticker and Decade!

2008-02-16T12:34:00.003-06:00

Woo-hoo! I lost 2.2 pounds during the week which makes it 31 pounds total. =) I received another "5" sticker and also entered the 180s. I lose a point but that's fine with me. It's a good thing!

I've been exercising every day at work, generally getting in 45-60 minutes of activity. I did 10 sets of stairs yesterday at work plus 4 laps. Bill bought me a new iPod shuffle for Valentine's Day so I'm able to listen to music at the same time. One day ZZ Top's "Legs" came on just as I was starting up the stairs. It was quite an appropriate song because I thought to myself "some day I'M going to have nice, svelte legs from all of these darn stairs!"

I'm still on track to meet my "175 by May 25" goal. Only 14 pounds to go and I have 14 weeks to lose them. As long as I can average 1 pound each week, I'll make it.

An updated progress chart is below.

Better Late Than Never

2008-02-12T14:13:00.000-06:00

I didn't get around to posting after last weekend's weigh-in, so here it is.

I lost .8 pounds so I'm at 28.8 total loss. Still proud, but I'll be honest, I was disappointed in only losing .8 pounds (my smallest loss since starting WW). I know that I shouldn't say "only" because I would not be happy with "only" a .8 GAIN. No, it wasn't a huge loss, but it was still a LOSS! I exercised every day last week and I'm proud of that. So what if the scale didn't reflect it as much as I would have liked? It'll catch up eventually.

We celebrated our anniversary (yes, 2 months late) by going to Omaha last Saturday afternoon. We went to dinner at Upstream, saw Phantom of the Opera, spent the night at the Hilton Garden Inn, had lunch with friends the next day and did some shopping. We decided we need to do mini-trips more often as we had a great time and enjoyed some Wrigley-free sanity time!

So far the week is going well. I really, really want to hit 30 pounds this Saturday. I'm sending "skinny vibes" to myself in hopes I can lose 1.2 this week! I'll let you know how I do in a few days.

Just a Follow-Up

2008-02-05T16:22:00.000-06:00

In my last post I mentioned two things that were happening last weekend, Novartis Night and the Super Bowl, so I thought I would post an update on those events.

Novartis Night: I went in with a plan...but didn't exactly stick to it. I did fine during the actual dinner and I figure I ate 8 points worth of food. Not bad! Then came dessert. They have the desserts pre-set on the table so it's sitting there eye-balling you from the time you sit down. Completely cruel, huh?! So sitting in front of me was a huge slice of carrot cake, which I LOVE. I was going to do the 3-bite thing...which then turned into about 8 bites and half the cake. I decided to count each bite as a point, so 8 points on that alone! I could be guestimating high, but I figured I'd rather count high than low. (Plus, Denny's carrot cake was the highest I found and it was 16...since I only ate half, that would make it 8.) Okay, so moving on. After we left the dinner party, we headed to one of our favorite bars and I NEEDED chocolate thanks to you know who. I ordered a chocolate martini which was absolutely fabulous! It wasn't cream-based, so I just counted each of the alcohols as 2 pts for a grand total of 6 pts. It was very worth it!

So, all-in-all, I went over my daily points by 14. Hmmm....perhaps it's just mere coincidence that the cake and martini together were 14? lol... I deducted my overage from my weekly points and moved on.

Super Bowl: I only ate things that we took to the party and that I knew the points of. That included a mini-bag of 94% ff popcorn, 1 mini pig-in-a-blanket, 4 turkey meatballs, 1 diet cherry coke cupcake, and 1 glass of wine. I also drank 80 ounces of water and went upstairs to use the restroom 5 times which was 75 stairs total. I exercised! lol...just kidding. I finished the day with 1 point to spare.

There you have it, my weekend wrap-up. It was a challenging weekend but I made it through it. This weekend will also be a bit difficult since we'll be in Omaha from Saturday afternoon - Sunday afternoon. I'll just have to plan a bit ahead.

I'll post again after Saturday's weigh-in

12 Weeks Down

2008-02-02T15:18:00.000-06:00

It's been 12 weeks since I started WW and after a loss of 1.2 this past week, I am down 28 pounds!

I earned 23 activity points last week and I exercised EVERY day! I've been doing a lot of stairs...7 sets on Thursday alone (3 sets at lunch then 4 sets during break).

Tonight is Bill's company party so I exercised this morning in order to earn a couple of activity points for dinner. There's a chicken dish so I'll have that. I know it's in some sort of glaze so it'll probably be 4 points, I'm guessing. Hopefully they have some fat-free dressings for the salad and some sort of veggie dish, too.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl and we're going to a get-together. It's going to be a challenge since it's during the time we would normally be eating dinner. I am going to have to eat ahead of time so I don't get too hungry. We're taking mini-pigs-in-a-blanket which I know are 2 points so I will have one or two of those and I'm thinking about taking my own bag of popcorn, too.

I'm hoping to have a really good week and lose 2 pounds by next week so I can get another star and reach 30 pounds. TOM started yesterday so hopefully once it's gone I'll drop some extra weight from that and be able to get to 190.2.

Until then, an updated progress chart is below.

Virtual Model

2008-01-29T16:02:00.000-06:00

Okay, so since I don't have a full-body "before" shot of me, I decided to try the next best thing...a virtual model! Below is "me" at my starting weight of 220 and "me" at my goal weight of 135. I'm gonna be hot! lol....

A Decent Week

2008-01-26T10:11:00.000-06:00

I lost 1.4 pounds during the week so in 11 weeks I've lost 26.8 pounds! I weighed myself here at home yesterday and had lost exactly 2 pounds according to my scale. I'm pretty sure that the .6 difference between yesterday morning and this morning has to do with the tostada, margarita and bacardi & diet coke I had last night. It was a friend's bday so we went out. I shouldn't have done it the night before a weigh-in, but I have to live my life, right? It could also have to do with the fact that I wore jeans for weigh-in today and not my normal khaki pants. The jeans obviously weigh a little more, though I'm not sure exactly how much. At any rate, a 1.4 pound loss is still great!

I bought some of the WW chocolate smoothie packets today and decided to try one of the recipes that came with them. I mixed in some crushed ice, cherry coke zero, milk, and lite cool whip along with the chocolate packet and used my hand blender to mix it up and WOW was it good! It's nice and thick like a milk shake and the cherry flavor really came out. I will definitely make it like this again! It was only 3 points and counts as 2 milk servings, which is awesome.

I think it's supposed to be warmer this week so hopefully I'll get more walking in than I did this past week. Besides being a little under the weater, it was about 10 degrees all last week....too cold to walk outside. I only earned 4 AP's last week, which is way under the goal I set last Saturday. Again, this week should be better.

Below is an updated progress chart.

A New Charm!

2008-01-19T09:48:00.000-06:00

Yay! I lost 2.0 pounds during the week so I've now lost 25.4 pounds! Along with the 25 pound milestone came a new silver charm to put on my keychain!

I earned 11 activity points during the week, too, which is the most since I started. My goal this week is to earn 16 points...that would be walking the dog every day (M-F anyway) and walking at work 3 times during the week.

Not to gloat, but I am SO very proud of myself. I never thought that I would do this good! I was too hung up on past failures to think that this would REALLY work! I'm glad that I took the chance and walked through the door that day because I have enjoyed the past 10 weeks and here's to 25 more! Michigan Avenue, here I come!

Below is an updated progress chart.

I Have a New KEYCHAIN!

2008-01-12T09:58:00.000-06:00

Yay! I lost 2.0 pounds last week for a total loss of 23.4 pounds in 9 weeks! I also reached my 10% goal which was set at 22. =)

It feels good to have reached my first goal...and it's now time to set my next goal! I have 19 more weigh-ins before we leave for Chicago, so my new goal is "175 before May 25!" I need to lose 21.8 pounds to attain it. I will then be the weight I was when Bill and I got engaged!

This is a short blog as I have some housework to do. I may post again before next week's weigh-in. Until then, an updated progress chart is below.

It's My Birthday!

2008-01-05T10:02:00.000-06:00

Yayyyy! Okay, so I didn't get the keychain from WW today, but I was SOOO close! I only lacked .6 pounds of getting it. A little bummed, but I am determined to get it next week. Plus, losing a total of 21.4 pounds in 8 weeks ain't anything to shake a stick at! I'm doing GREAT!!!

I haven't had any coffee in 8 weeks, so I decided to treat myself (it's my birthday afterall!) to a skinny caramel macchiato from Starbucks! It's made with non-fat milk and sugar-free caramel syrup and sugar-free vanilla syrup...and minus the drizzle of caramel as the topping. It's delicious and I've earned it!

We're going to Applebee's for lunch and I'm ordering the cajun lime tilapia and the chocolate raspberry cake. Mmmmm...I'll even let them sing to me if they'll give me the dessert for free!

Tonight is the hockey game and I plan to have a snack there, but not my usual bucket of peanuts or nachos. A soft pretzel is only 3 points, so I'll get that and mustard to dip it into instead. Also, instead of beer, DH said he'd buy me bacardi & diet coke, which is 2 points compared to 3. A point is a point!

Here's an updated progress chart for week 8.

A Contest and a New Product from Orville!

2008-01-02T10:16:00.000-06:00

Okay, so my favorite brand of popcorn, Orville Redenbacher, is sponsoring a contest for people who blog. You can win free popcorn for a year, as well as a subscription to Netflix! What could be better?! If you blog, you can enter the contest, too, through Roni's site.

Also, Orville is introducing a NEW Natural line of popcorn. It has zero artificial colors, flavors or preservatives...it tastes great naturally! And it comes in 3 flavors: Simply Salted, Buttery Garlic and Buttery Salt & Cracked Pepper (and yes there is a low fat version!) .

I'm looking forward to giving it a try!

Woo-Hoo!

2007-12-29T09:42:00.000-06:00

I lost another 2.2 this week, so I've now lost 20.2 pounds! YES!!! I received another 5-pound sticker, so I have 4 of them in my book now. My goal for next week is to lose at least 1.8 more so I can make my 10% goal. I really want to get the keychain for my birthday, which is the day of the next meeting. =)

I had a NSV last night at Famous Dave's. For my side orders, I asked for baked beans and green beans, but when it came out, they had given me baked beans and STEAK FRIES ! I LOVE their steak fries, so it would've been easy to just say "ah, what the heck..." and ate them, but I told them of the mistake. Instead of taking the whole plate back, they left the fries and brought out a dish of green beans. I didn't want the fries on my plate, so I put them all on the little plate that the green beans came on! Victory! I ate all of the green beans and baked beans, but only half of my salmon. I'll have it for lunch today.

So 2007 is coming to a close. I'm hoping that my weight loss in 2008 is as successful as the last 7 weeks of 2007 have been!

Below is an updated progress chart.

Christmas Update

2007-12-26T08:22:00.001-06:00

I was very worried about Christmas and the days leading up to it. We went to my parent's house Saturday morning and came home last night. In preparation, I packed some of my own food (popcorn, V8, apples, chicken salad mixture and oatmeal) and took it with me.

I told my mom that I was on WW and she was pretty supportive. I asked if she still had her old diet scale, and she did, so I was able to weigh my food and stay within my portions.

I tracked everything I ate, the best I could. Here are some of the foods that I ate while home: chili, chicken noodle soup, french dip sandwich, pork sirloin roast, and boiled potatoes.

For Christmas dinner I had everything I normally have, except I took more turkey and less of the other things. I took just enough of the 'sides' to amount to 3 bites (a helpful hint from last week's meeting). So I had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes, and corn. I also had one piece of the pumpkin dessert I made, too. Other than that dessert, I had one cookie and a piece of peanut brittle...which were both on Saturday evening.

I am really surprised that I didn't give into temptations while I was home. I think it was mostly because I knew that if I did, my mom would think "she's not doing so well on this 'diet' thing" and I didn't want that.

We got back to Lincoln around 7:00 last night and decided to have a frozen pizza for dinner. I had two slices and dipped into my flex points to do so. But hey, that's what they're for, right?

Anyway, I stepped on the scale this morning just hoping that I maintained and not expecting to lose. To my surprise, I lost a little while being out of town!

I'll post again after this Saturday's weigh-in.

Six Weeks...

2007-12-26T08:04:00.000-06:00

...and I have lost 18 pounds! I am getting close to my 10% goal...only 4 more to go. I am very proud of how well I've done (not to gloat or anything, but....).

I am just now getting around to updating this since we headed back to McCook for Christmas as soon as I got home from my meeting.

Below is an updated progress chart.

Great Week!

2007-12-15T10:52:00.000-06:00

I just got back from weigh-in and I've lost another 3.2 pounds for a total loss of 16.8 pounds! I got another '5 pound loss' sticker at the meeting, too.

I am surprised I lost so much this week. Yesterday was our holiday party and we had mexican food. I had some of the ticoritto supreme and boy was it yummy! I didn't go overboard though.

It would be great if I could lose the same amount this coming week as last, because then I would be at 20 pounds lost by the time we go home for Christmas!

We'll see...one day at a time. Below is an updated progress chart.

Bits & Pieces -- long post, be warned!

2007-12-12T10:05:00.000-06:00

I know I still have a long journey ahead of me, but I am so proud of how I've done so far. My only regret is that I wish I had joined WW much earlier! The past 4 1/2 weeks have been relatively easy. I hope I don't jinx myself by saying that!

Below are just some random tellings and thoughts...

Last night one of our neighbors brought us a little bag of homemade cookies, so I splurged and had a chocolate chip one (I had to dip into my flext points since I was out of daily points...it was 9:45 p.m. when she came over!). It was really, really yummy...except that it gave me an instant tummy ache! And it was so sweet that it actually hurt my throat! I know that sounds weird, but it happens when I eat super sweet stuff. So I guess it's obvious that my body isn't used to that kind of stuff any more.

I used to hate the taste of the low sodium V8. I decided to try it again though and now I like it! I don't even notice that it's not as salty. I also discovered that I was figuring the points wrong for my 2 cups that I bring to work for a morning break. I had been tracking it as 2 points, since when I figured it for 1 cup, it was 1 point. So I doubled the points since it was double the amount. Yesterday I calculated it for 2 cups and it is still just 1 point! I drink it every morning at 10 a.m. and it fills me up enough to hold me over to lunch. Plus, it counts as 4 vegetable servings. So between that and my daily cup of orange juice with breakfast, I have my 5 servings of F & Vs in by noon!

I also discovered some raspberry flavor packets to add to water. They are delicious! I drink plain water during the day at work (68 ounces), but I add the flavor occasionally in the evening. I have a couple in my purse, too, for when we eat out. I can order water, then add the flavor to it and it seems like a treat!

The other thing which has helped me a great deal is the little notebook I bought. I have a section on "Points" where I write down common stuff. I include the brand, serving size, and points value. It's easier to refer to the notebook than have to recalculate all of the time. I also have a section of "Recipes." Again, it's easier to refer to that than have to keep track of printouts from the WW web site.

I have also created my own yummy chicken salad sandwich recipe. I use fat-free mayo, fat-free ranch dressing, a little bit of garlic salt, celery, and apples. It's only 2 points for 1/3 cup. This last time I also threw in some slivered almonds. It bumped it up to 3 points, which still isn't bad.

I found a new bread that is only 1 point for 2 slices! The other bread I was using was 2 points per slice! OUCH! So my sandwhiches had 4 points alone in just the bread...now they will only have 1 point! That's a huge points savings!

Well, I've rambled enough. I'll post again after weigh-in this Saturday!

4-Week Mark

2007-12-08T14:32:00.000-06:00

Well, I joined WW 4 weeks ago today and so far I've lost 13.6 pounds! I'm happy with that amount. Hopefully next week I'll get my 15-pound sticker!

I am 8.4 pounds from hitting my initial goal of 22 pounds (10% mark). I had wanted to hit it at the December 22 weigh-in, but that's just 2 weeks away....so I am pretty positive that I won't reach it. But that's okay...slow and steady is fine. Perhaps by my birthday I will attain it...that gives me 4 weeks from today to lose the 8.4 pounds. That seems more doable.

I have a few things I need to highlight:

I have not had a SINGLE tootsie roll since joining WW! This in itself is a huge accomplishment for me.

The first box of Christmas chocolates arrived yesterday and I resisted my co-worker's offer to choose one. Do you know how hard that was?!

It has been 4 weeks since I've had a french fry! And really, I haven't even been tempted to ask DH to have one of his!

We're going to a wine tasting party tonight and besides the wine, there will be lots of munchies. I plan to eat some soup or something ahead of time so I'm not starved when I get there. It's going to be just red wine, which I'm not really into....but the good thing about it is that I won't drink as much.

That's all for now. Below is an updated progress chart...I'll be using this format from now on instead of the one from WW's site. This shows the weight dropping better!

Not Worth the Points!

2007-12-07T08:23:00.000-06:00

Okay, so my husband and I caved in and went to our favorite Mexican restaurant on Wednesday night for dinner. We used to go there every single Wednesday or Thursday, but we hadn't been there since the beginning of November (before WW).

I had about 8-10 tortilla chips with salsa and my usual tostada with rice and beans. In the past, I would snarf it all down, even if I was full half-way through. This night, it just didn't do much for me. I don't know if it was that I was feeling guilty for eating something so unhealthy, or because of my cold my tastebuds are off. For whatever reason it was just so blah! Maybe it's also because we've been cooking more using really fragrant ingredients....garlic, onion, cilantro, etc.

I only ate about half of the rice and beans, and also left about 4 bites of the tostada. I also skipped the margarita and opted for a diet soda instead.

I am having dinner with my girlfriends Monday night at another Mexican restaurant, owned by the same people as the other place. I'll order something else and see if tastes better now that I'm getting over my cold a bit. Perhaps it's just that my tastes have changed.

Tomorrow is weigh-in. I'm expecting about a 1-pound loss. That's better than a 1-pound gain!

A Little Loss

2007-12-03T09:57:00.000-06:00

Weight Watchers was closed Saturday due to the weather, so I weighed at home in my "weigh-in" outfit. My scale said I was 209.0 with my clothes on, so that is the amount I entered for my progress chart. It's only a loss of 1.6 pounds, which I was disappointed in. However, I knew that my losses would start getting smaller after the first couple of weeks. They say to expect to lose .5 to 2.0 pounds per week, so I guess 1.6 is actually pretty good. I've now lost 11.2 pounds over the last 3 weeks. Not bad.

I got sick over the weekend with tonsilitis. I'm on an antibiotic and feeling a bit better, but still not back to normal yet. I didn't eat much yesterday until dinner. We had alfredo linguini (whole wheat) with chicken, shrimp and broccoli.

My progress chart is below. By the way, the red star represents my first 5 pound loss; the pink star represents an additional 5 pounds.

More Reasons

2007-11-28T11:19:00.000-06:00

Every now and then I think of reasons I want to lose weight, so I decided to jot some of them down as a reminder to myself.

OFFICE CHAIR: My butt just about doesn't fit! This is a chair that when I first got it, I referred to it as a "big butt chair" and now my butt touches the sides of the arm rests! I used to fit in it much better.
CLOTHES SELECTION: I want to be able to shop at ALL stores and not just "big girl" stores like Lane Bryant and Avenue. I see cute clothes hanging in the mall windows but I'm unable to shop there.
SHOPPING: My mother-in-law has asked a few times if she could take me shopping to buy me a new outfit, and because of my size, I've told her "no, thanks...I'm not much into clothes shopping." When I was thinner (back at 150) I liked to go shopping because I actually fit into clothes at any store. I hate it now and I'd be too embarrassed trying on clothes for her to see. So, once I get smaller I will tell her I'll take her up on that shopping spree offer!
LESS PAIN: I want my feet and knees to hurt less.
LESS HUFFING-&-PUFFING: I don't want to be winded any more walking from the parking lot to my office.
STRAIGHT LINE: Okay, so this one is kinda funny. What I mean by "straight line" is this....when I stand and look at myself sideways in a mirror NOW, my boobs stick out farther than my face and my butt sticks way out from my back. After I loose weight, I want my face to enter the room before my boobs! And I don't want my butt exiting the room 10 seconds after the rest of me! I want to look like a straight line rather than a scribble. =)
PICK ME UP!: I want my husband to be able to pick me up if he so desires. You know, like to carry me to the bedroom or something like that! =)

That's all I can think of right now. I'll blog after weigh-in this Saturday. I think I've only lost a pound or two so far. But that's better than gaining, right?

Another Good Week!

2007-11-24T10:41:00.001-06:00

Weigh-in was this morning and I'm down another 4.6 pounds for a total loss of 9.6 pounds in 2 weeks! GO ME!!!

I did well on Thanksgiving, only going over my points by 4. That darned slice of apple pie did me in! I also splurged and had 2 glasses of wine.

I really want to reach my first goal of 10% weight loss by Christmas, and I think I stand a good chance at attaining it. I have 12.4 pounds to go, and I have 4 more weigh-ins before the 25th. It sounds doable, doesn't it?

We took Wrigley for a walk last evening and again this morning. I would like to take her for a walk every day, no matter the weather. She needs excercise, as do we.

That's it for now. My progress chart for week 2 is below.

Change of Plans

2007-11-20T13:28:00.000-06:00

Due to a family emergency, we will be hosting Thanksgiving at our house instead of driving to Iowa.

Now I will be able to weigh-in this Saturday and not have to skip a week. I will also be able to make some food that I can snack on. I will definitely make a veggie tray and I'm going to look through Weight Watchers online and their Turnaround cookbook to see if I can come up with an idea for a salad (to impress the mother-in-law). I also plan to make the green bean casserole per the recipe Joanne gave us at last week's meeting. That'll cut some points off of it.

So now I'm not so worried about over-eating since I'll be on my "turf" and will have access to good, healthy stuff. Plus, since we won't be going out of town, I'll be able to continue calculating and tracking my points.

I'll post again after weigh-in!

I Got the Smile Stick!

2007-11-18T07:49:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was weigh-in and get this....I lost 5 pounds! In the first week! YES! My leader was super excited for me and during the meeting I was awarded the Smile Stick! I also got my "5" sticker to put in my book that shows I've lost that many.

Last night we had my family over before the game and my mom had bought 2 frozen pizzas, cinnamon breadsticks, and regular garlic breadsticks. While at the store I suggested picking up some salad so I'd have something to fill up on. I also cut up 2 red peppers and 1 green pepper for a quick veggie tray. I still had 2 small pieces of pizza (thin crust), but I skipped the breadsticks. The pizza slices were 7 points each, but I still stayed within my 28 points for the day. Okay, technically 29 since I splurged and had a glass of wine. So I used one of my bonus points.

I'd have to say last night was my first test, given that I love pizza! But I handled it very well. Thanskgiving is next week so hopefully I can continue to make good choices. I don't weigh-in again until December 1st (2 weeks) so my goal is to have lost at least 6 more pounds. However, 10 would be even better!

Here's my progress chart for week 1.

Go Me!!!

2007-11-16T14:52:00.000-06:00

I am super PROUD of myself! Here's why:

I haven't had ANY tootsie rolls this week! That is a HUGE accomplishment because there is a candy dish on my desk ledge that ALWAYS has tootsie rolls in it. In the past, on AVERAGE, I would have 8 pieces each DAY. Some days even more. I used to eat them when I had a hunger pang. So to not have ANY all WEEK....that's HUGE for me! =)
My boss just walked by with a basket of mini candy bars and offered me one. I said "no thanks"! That was a tough one because it's about time for my 3:00 snack (light mozzarella string cheese stick) so that took extra willpower! =)

Tomorrow is weigh in. I'm actually looking forward to it!

Holiday

2007-11-12T20:22:00.000-06:00

I had today off for Veteran's day and well, I didn't do much! I like days when I can just veg and relax. After Bill went to work, Wrigley and I napped on the couch till 9:00. We went for a 20-minute walk a little bit later. We would've went longer, but it was pretty chilly. After that we just laid around and watched tv the rest of the day.

I made some chicken salad for lunches and put celery and apples in it. I had some for lunch today in a tortilla. The bites of just the tortilla weren't the best, but the ones with the chicken salad were really yummy.

So far things are going well. I know today is only the 3rd day, but I feel like I'm doing a good job. I haven't cheated yet, and considering I was home all day near lots of food, I didn't! I really think the workweek will be easier since I won't have a refrigerator in the next room. I'm actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow so I'm not tempted.

That's all for now....

I joined!

2007-11-10T19:56:00.000-06:00

Well, I walked through the door at Weight Watchers, which is the first step. I was introduced to the evil scale, which read 220 pounds...exactly what I figured it would say. My first goal will be to lose 10% of my weight, which will be 22 pounds. After I reach that (198) I will choose my "ultimate goal" which is based on the WW healthy weight range chart, which goes by BMI. Since I'm so gosh darn short, mine seems unattainable at this point...117-146. I would be thrilled to get down to 150! That's what I weighed 4 years ago and I thought I looked good (even though I would still be 'overweight') according to their chart. I'll worry about setting the ultimate goal AFTER I reach the 22 pound loss.

I'm laying it out there

2007-11-08T15:41:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I'm completely fed up with my weight. I've been upset about it for awhile, but I guess what "took the cake" was not fitting into my favorite winter coat earlier this week. I'm planning to join Weight Watchers this weekend. I have a lot of weight to lose, so I know that this isn't going to be an easy journey. But the longer I wait to start...the harder it will be.