Week #3 Results

Well, the good news is, today I weighed in at 185.5, for a loss of -1.5 this week. So that brings my total lost to -9.5 since I first started. So close to 10 pounds, I can’t wait to write that number next week.

The bad news is, I lost 1.5 pounds this week??? Now I know that is not a bad number and I’m really happy the scale is going down but I don’t get it. The first two weeks were not great on program weeks. There were at least two occasions each week that I went way over my points AND my flex points. And I lost more both times.

But this week I stayed within my 23 daily points every single day. I used only 12 of my 35 flex points this week on Saturday so I even had 23 that I could have used. I didn’t get to exercise 3 times this week like I wanted, but I did exercise twice and they were both really good workouts.
So, how did I have such a great week and this is my worst weight loss? Should I up my points a bit more or make sure I use my 35 each week to confuse my body? I found the papers for the Wendy program in some recipes last night so I thought about trying that to get different calories in each day. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I had this big plan that if I could lose at least two pounds a week I could be down to a really good weight in time for Derby this year. I have some friends from out of town that want to actually go to the Derby, which I never have been, and I wanted to shock them by how good I look. So I think that is adding to my disappointment a bit.

One thing I am very proud of though is that my frustration did not lead me to just say screw it today and eat whatever I wanted like it would have in the past. People here at work ordered out pizza today and I ate my packed lunch. And I’ve already tried to plan out my exercise this week to get in at least three or four good workouts.

I did some deep thinking on the way to work this morning and realized that even a 1.5 pound loss a week is 6 pounds a month and that adds up. But most of all I like the way I feel now. I like not having stomach problems from greasy food and overeating to the point of discomfort and feeling strong and healthy and proud of myself. So I’m nowhere close to giving up. And maybe next week will surprise me.

Yummy

My order of PB2 finally came yesterday! I think the UPS man was afraid of how fast I grabbed it from him. : ) I was really worried I wasn't going to like it and end up with $40.00 worth of dried peanut butter but not the case at all.

I love peanut butter in all forms, it is probably one of my favorite foods, so I should have known. I had it last night smeared onto a Weight Watchers 1 point fudge bar, today in my steel cut oats, and then again tonight with another fudge bar. I got two jars of the chocolate PB2 but I haven't tried it yet.

I was stuck at home today because of a big ice storm in Louisville (yep, right there with you Shari!) so I spent the entire day on my behind doing homework. Stayed right within my points but I wish I had got some activity in. Tomorrow is my Boot Camp/Yoga day and I will have accomplished my goal of exercising three times this week. One more day until weigh in. It is really odd to me that I'm actually looking forward to it for a change. : )

Ow, ow, ow ...

Hope everyone's weekend went well. I took a little break from the computer and enjoyed just hanging around this weekend. Food wise, did really well. I decided to have Saturday be my day to use my extra flex points and I think I used about 19 overall. So 16 left for the week in case something comes up. So far I am doing good in accomplishing my goal of not going over my points.

I did have something different for my breakfast this morning that was so good. I read about Angie's oatmeal all the time and it looks so good. So I ordered some PB2 and bought my oatmeal and was all ready to go yesterday. I rushed home Friday, no delivery. I checked online and it says it was rescheduled until tomorrow. Boo. I was so disappointed.

But I made the oats anyway and used real peanut butter, coconut, a few dates and a little brown sugar. It was delicious. I tried the steel cut oats this time but I have old fashioned oatmeal to try too. I thought the portion size looked so tiny I would be hungry again in an hour. But it filled me up and I wasn't hungry again until lunch. Guess I am a convert. I will hopefully let you know how it is with my PB2 on Tuesday.

One of my other goals this week was to exercise 3 times and add some strength training. Which is how I came up with my title above, because I've been saying it all day. I am a huge fan of the Biggest Loser and when I saw their two new videos at Sams last weekend I had to grab them. I tried them both yesterday and Bob pretty much kicked my behind all over the place. : ) I have always said I would prefer Jillian if I ever had a choice but wow, I have new found respect for Bob. Here are the two I got.



I am sore in muscles I didn't even know I had. But overall they were a lot of fun. The boot camp is using weights and it was hard but not too bad. I think I may need to get a little heavier weights. But the yoga was really rough. I never imagined yoga was that difficult. Now, he does say this is a weight loss yoga so I am assuming it was not like a normal relaxing yoga. But I was covered in sweat and shaking all over by the time it was done. And yep, I fully intend on doing them again tomorrow and Wednesday.

I am off to check up on everyone else. I am really enjoying the Biggest Loser Blog Edition so much and so far it has kept me motivated like nothing else has. Thanks to everyone who keeps up with me and leaves such encouraging comments, it really means a lot.

Week #2 Results

Well, even after two out of control days I managed to lose -2.5 pounds. Yippee! I feel so good about that. I think having a couple rough days over the weekend made me really kick it in gear for the final three. I was diligent about my points, got in all my fruits and veggies and even exercised 3 times this week like I wanted to.

Now for next week here’s what my mini goals are. Exercise at least 3 times this week and add a few strength training workouts. Eat within all my points each day and do NOT go over my 35 extra flex points. Hopefully that will give me good results for week 3.

I am having a bit of a rough day tonight food wise. I made something I thought was going to be good for dinner that ended up being pretty blah. I only ate half of it so I still have three points left but I am feeling munchie and that’s never good.

Maybe that is something I can do as well this week. Try and work out a menu plan over the weekend and start sticking to it. Trying to figure out what to eat as the day goes on often gets me into trouble.

I can’t wait to go read about everyone else’s week and see how we all did. Go A-Team!

A post to read

I just read the most amazing post written by Kud at Fabulously Fit. I had just written how I was having a hard time looking in the mirror each morning and really just hating what I see. My face is too bloated, my hair is dull and limp, my stomach sticks way out, my hips are too wide and on and on …

And then I started my round of blogs and this is the first one I clicked on. It’s well worth the read. And I still don’t know how to link but it is over on the right hand side of my page. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The night before ...

Okay, I am done eating for the night. Even with the two days I threw eating to the wind I managed to stay within my points the other five days. And I met my goal of exercising three times this week. I hope that is enough for a loss tomorrow morning. I am not even looking for a big loss, just something to keep me motivated going into week 3. And I’m just plain nervous about seeing that number.

I keep looking in the mirror expecting to see this new thinner person after losing 5 ½ pounds but I don’t see her yet. Well, duh. And I really don’t like the physical looks of the person I see now. Although I do like the new energy and attitude these past few weeks have already given me. Hopefully that is going to be motivating me all throughout the next 16 weeks. I already have images of all the cute outfits I am going to be able to wear this summer!

Weekend update

Well, I am so glad this weekend is over. It was a wonderful weekend fun wise. Food wise, not so great. Saturday was my actual birthday so a bunch of us went out to dinner and then to a local bar. Food leading up to dinner was great. Dinner was great. We went to a mongolian BBQ restaurant that has the nutritional values on their website. They even offer lettuce cups to put the food in instead of rice or a tortilla. So I had chicken, shrimp, scallops, lots of veggies and the lettuce cups. Then we went to the bar and that's where everything went downhill. I don't think that the drink I had was too bad points wise, it was the quantity I had it in. I don't drink a lot but I had about 6 of these fruity concoctions and 3 shots. I counted about 3 points for each one. OUCH! I have to say though I had such a good time. I even voluntarily got up and sang at karoke and I never do that! : ) Afterwards the whole group went to Waffle House and I had a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich and 1/4 of a waffle. I counted about 3 points for the waffle and 11 for the sandwich. So that put me using 31 points over for the day. Not bad...even gave me 4 left for the week.

I think where I got off track was Sunday. We got home at about 5:00 in the morning so by the time I got up I just felt off all day. Not hungover at all, because I hate throwing up so I don't let myself get there, but just sluggish and not quite with it. I ended up going over my points by 27 that day. My downfall was a California Pizza from the grocery. It looked so innocent, chicken, white sauce, onions and garlic. I was starving and ate the whole thing. 24 points. Again, OUCH! So for the week I used 23 points I didn't have.

But today I was off work and I went to the grocery and got all sorts of good foods for the next week. I stayed right within my points, even a few under today. And I'm hoping to get off here and go exercise again. The odd thing about all this is that I'm not even upset that I went so off my points. Yes, I wish I had stopped after Saturday and gotten back on plan but I didn't and Sunday happened too. Its just that this time I don't want to have a few bad days and give up and gain it all back. I want to enjoy myself, which I did, and then continue on with my healthy way of living. It feels good not to beat myself up about it. Just knowing that I still did great the two days before that and I'm going to do great the three days after. Maybe some of this is starting to sink in and I'll be able to make the change to healthy for good this time.

I don't want to be too longwinded here but I did want to say how incredible everyone on Team Angie did last week. Wow! There are some very motivating and inspiring ladies out that. I especially want to say congrats to Shari who was the top winner for Team Angie. I really enjoy reading her because she is right here in my city. (And I would link to her but I don't know how yet!) So go Team Angie, here's to another awesome week!

Week #1 - Results

I am so excited about this...I lost 5.5 pounds! Yippee. I am so proud of myself for everything I did this week to not just give up and stay where I am even through some rough times. And as I was hoping this loss is really motivating and encouraging me to keep going. We had my birthday potluck at lunch today and I was on such a high I watched everything I ate and journaled it as soon as I got back to my desk. And managed to stay exactly within my points today. The only day I am worried about is Saturday, that is when we are going OUT for my birthday. Thanks to some great suggestions on here I am hoping to be in control of that too.

One thing I really want to do this week is add some exercise. And so tonight before dinner I got on the treadmill for 40 minutes and went almost 2 miles. Very slow to a lot of you awesome runners out there, I know but that was including the warm up and cool down. And just starting out after not exercising for months and months, I guess that is not bad. I have already got my food ready for tomorrow and I am hoping to do another 40 minutes after work. But wow, did it wear me out. I am exhausted and ready for bed at 9:30.

The only bad thing about this week is that I unfortunately lose a point for going under 190. And then on Saturday I turn 38, which is another point. I think I am dropping to 24 this week and then 23 next week though instead of doing them both at once.

I've been surfing other blogs and it looks like Team Angie is doing great this week. I hope I was able to help in some way. There are a few ladies who had some rough times, and I know that has got to be difficult. And I am fully aware that at some point in this journey that is going to be me and I hope I handle it as wonderful as they did. Thanks for all the support so far, this has been a great week!

New year, same plan apparently

Today was another day right on my points and this is one I'm incredibly proud of. I came home from work expecting to have a full 4-5 hours of homework when I get a phone call from the fraud department of my bank. Seems someone tried to access my account online and so the bank immediately closed all my accounts! So I had to run up to the local branch and reopen all of them and try to get everything switched over. My direct deposit goes into these accounts, I pay my bills from these accounts and I never carry cash because I always use my debit card. So now I'm stuck with no money at all until everything gets moved. Talk about stressed. All this would usually lead me to throwing in the towel and coming home to devour everything in my cabinets. But I am very proud that I did not. I made the dinner I planned and amazingly even skipped the dessert I had counted for just because I didn't feel like it. Now that I think about it that is very odd. Maybe I'm in shock... :)

I wanted to share something interesting I found when I was cleaning out stuff this weekend. It was a very eye-opening discovery. I have been to WW so many times over the years I have lost count. But in a box I found two old WW weigh in cards. One was from September of 2002. I was married then and living in Michigan. My starting weight was 190.2. I only have 12 weeks stamped but as of July 2003 I was down to 174.8. Guess I stopped and started a few times. The other card was from April 2004. Newly divorced and living back in Louisville. Starting weight was 189.0. Last weigh in was September 2004 at 168.6. Last March I started WW at 201.4, my highest weight ever. By May or June I had made it down to 179.0. So I have been losing and gaining these same 20 or so pounds for about 6 years. And who knows about the cards I didn't find from before 2002. I honestly did not realize I weighed this much as far back as 2002. In 1999 I weighed 165 for my wedding. That is the lowest number I can remember. Its a little sad I think. I'm not sure why this time is going to be any different. I'm sure I felt as optimistic and excited each one of those times and yet I'm here again. Maybe it will be staying accountable here that finally changes things. Or reading everyone else's journey and knowing I'm not alone with my struggles. Or maybe I've just finally had enough of the lumps and bumps and would like to see what I look like at a normal weight. Only thing I know is I am going to keep going forward as hard as I can and just keep getting back up and trying.

Busy times

Sorry, didn't mean to disappear off the radar like that. I am currently taking classes online to finish up my bachelor's degree. I mistakenly thought I had a week break in between classes and discovered I most certainly did not. So I am a little behind and frantically catching up. Of course this is one of the harder classes so my days have mainly been working and coming straight home to study. Fun, fun, fun.

In more important news I am still doing fairly well with my points. I would like to say I'm doing great but I did have a bit of a problem on Saturday where I just decided to eat whatever I wanted. Not sure why, but I've had those days before and I'm sure I will again. In my meager defense we were at a friends house and the table was covered with all sorts of goodies and munchies. But last time I checked I am perfectly capable of saying no. The important thing is getting right back to it no matter how many bad days there are. That's what I've always have trouble with in the past. One day leads to two, leads to months, leads to the year being gone and me being exactly where I was. Not this time. On Sunday I jumped right back into journaling. And today was perfect on points too. I have already planned my food out for tomorrow and hopefully that will be the last night of my catching up with school also. I still have not added any exercise to my routine but I am hoping that will come next week.

I do have a few very challenging days coming up. Saturday is my birthday (yea!) but unfortunately that usually means a weeks worth of food (boo). On Thursday we are having a potluck at work. Luckily there are several people there in the New Year's diet mode so we are planning a very point friendly lunch. Then Saturday we are going out with friends and I picked a mongolian BBQ restaurant that I love that should also allow me to watch my points. Here's where I need some advice. What type of alcohol is WW friendly? I don't drink much but I would like to have a few this night. Any suggestions?

I peeked at the scale and it shows me going in the right direction. I am going to make my weigh-in Thursday instead of Wednesday to give me 3 days to get back on track after the weekends so I'm hoping to have an even better number by then. I will be visiting everyone's blogs and catching up in the next few days, but from the few I've seen Angie's team is doing awesome! I'll be so excited to add my number to the group.

Go Team Angie!

I am so excited to be on Team Angie for the Biggest Loser Blog Edition. I have been reading her for a little over a year now and she is one of my favorite blogs. I have already gotten comments from several other team members and checked out their sites and I think we are going to do awesome and definitely win this thing!

I didn't get around to taking different before pictures yet but I did get my measurements and I want to try to keep up with them. I am going to take them once a month so if my weight loss stalls that will give me some motivation and show me I am on the right path. I did not weight today, I am going to start with the weight I gave for the Biggest Loser Challenge, which was on Sunday.

Weight: 195
BMI: 35
R Arm: 13 1/2 L Arm: 13 1/2
Waist: 43
Hips: 46
R Thigh: 22 3/4 L Thigh: 22 3/4
R Calf: 16 1/2 L Calf: 16
Chest: 43 1/2

As far as my first day on plan went, I am really happy with how I did. I get 25 points a day and I had exactly 25. I got in all my water and all my fruits and veggies. I didn't get any oil or dairy in, but I did take my Tums with calcium, so does that count? I am going to try and do better on those tomorrow. I also need to try and spread my points out a little better during the day. I came home and still had 13 left for dinner. I almost felt like I overate just because I needed to get them in. I also didn't exercise but I did do about 30 intermittent minutes of DDR with my boyfriend's daughter so I counted that as 1 activity point. I am planning on using my flex but not my activity points so we'll see how it goes.

I think its amazing how great I felt today. I know I haven't lost any weight yet but just the initial excitement of starting a plan and having a goal just made me feel better about myself. I tend to only keep this motivation for about 6 weeks and then I slide so this time I need to do something different to keep me going! Hopefully this challenge is going to be exactly what I need. Good luck everyone!

Getting ready

Wow, I got comments! I was so excited. And I even got one from Angie of Angie all the Way, who is a big hero of mine. What she went through and how far she has come in spite of her obstacles is just amazing to me. Makes me realize I have no excuse to get my butt in gear and do it too. I now can see what people mean when they say having a blog like this motivates them to keep going and the people they meet inspire them and keep them accountable. And I've already found several more blogs that I want to keep up with, including someone in my city.

My official weigh in day is going to be on Wednesdays so I am going to start actually counting points tomorrow. I have been watching things for the past two days and honestly trying to get some bad stuff out of the house (yes, by eating it, I realize that kind of defeats the purpose!). But I have gone to the grocery and have stocked up on healthy food and I am ready to go. I will post all my stats tomorrow along with my points for the day. I am also going to take measurements tonight and hopefully take a better before picture.

Here are the weight loss goals I have now. I am going to work on them for the Biggest Loser challenge and then reevaluate them when it ends and see where I want to go and what I want to focus on then. I know at the moment I am mainly focused on losing weight but I also want to become healthier over the long term. And I honestly don't have an ending goal weight yet because I have no idea where it might be that I'm happy with myself. According to Weight Watchers for a 5'3 person my weight should be between 113 - 141. I think I'd be happy somewhere in that range. I certainly can't remember the last time I weighed even the high end of that so I'm looking forward to getting there.

Weight loss goals:
10% (19 pounds) 176
Wedding weight 165
Closer to 100 then 200 149

Non weight related goals:
Eat less sugar
Eat less processed food
Drink more water/less soft drinks (I love Diet Mt. Dew)
Exercise at least 3x a week

The Beginning

Well, here is my first post. I have wanted to start a blog for quite a while but joining the Biggest Loser Blog Edition finally got me motivated to do it. I almost joined last time but missed out on the sign up date. And of course, I am still the same weight I was back then. I am so excited about doing this challenge. I am hoping following along with everyone else will be the kick in the pants I need to finally get myself on the right track to becoming the healthy person I know I can be. I have lurked on probably hundreds of blogs over the last several years and reading them is so inspiring.

As far as my background, I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel overweight. Even as a kid I was never skinny. I don’t think from looking at pictures that I was overweight, but I seemed to always be the “healthy” one in the group, while my friends were always petite and tiny. In high school I think I was at a very normal weight for my height (5’3) but again, I was always around very thin and petite people and that’s when I really started to be aware of it. Ever since then I have tried every diet known and I would do well for a while and then quit and gain every bit back plus more. I am not currently at my all time high weight but I am very close to it.

I am hoping this time will be the one that breaks the cycle and lets me get this weight off once and for all. I am going to follow weight watchers since I have had the most success with it and know the plan backwards and forwards. Unfortunately I really can’t afford the meetings right now so I am going to do it on my own. I am doing a few things different this time that I hope will motivate me and keep me going. The biggest one is this blog.

I think I probably should not be so long winded on my first post so I’ll wrap this up. I am going to come up with some short term and long term goals and post them in the next few days. I weighed in this morning to email my weight to the Biggest Loser challenge but I am going to start following the plan tomorrow.