Weigh-in wasn't as bad as I expected!

Weigh-in last night wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected, especially considering that Christmas and my TOM were both in the last 7 days. I took off my jacket and shoes (I try to be as consistent as possible) and stepped onto the scale, briefly saying a little prayer to God that I didn’t gain too much. LOL, then I crossed both my fingers and looked at what my leader was writing down, and it was 283.8 pounds, up only 1 POUND FROM LAST TUESDAY!!! I’m feeling pretty proud of that. I know that next week will be lower, just because AF will be gone and I always drop a few pounds then. YAY!

There’s been a similar theme, it seems, across several blogs I’ve read lately, but they both actually came after a Biggest Loser show, where Jillian said something like “with every bite you eat, you’re choosing to be either fat or healthy”. Something like that. Anyways, it’s been bothering me because that really is true. As much as I want to be healthy and thin, until lately, I have apparently wanted that fast food, or chocolate more than to be thin. How sad is it that I’ve made such a poor choice so many times that I let myself get and stay fat. It irritates me. Now lately, I’ve been repeating that in my head before I eat, and it’s really an eye opener. I want to choose to be healthy and thin, and that bears repeating as many times as necessary until I get that instinctive thought when I pick something up to eat.

Post- Christmas update

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! For myself, we spent Christmas eve with my family (including two of my brothers who flew in from Georgia and Florida), and then on Christmas day, we had a brunch and then a light Christmas dinner that afternoon. My mom usually makes a big dinner, but when the afternoon came around, she cooked the turkey and then told everyone to “make ourselves a sandwich” and went and sat down in the living room. LOL, it was so funny. And I think we all enjoyed the casualness of it. No table to set; no other food to prepare; barely any clean-up. Definitely nice. Unfortunately there was a lot of food hanging around the house and I admit, I snacked. A lot. Too much in fact.

And aunt flo arrived on Christmas (sucky, definitely. Felt like a “Merry Christmas Laura! From: God”. I know that’s not true, but it felt like it). Anyways, I am bloated and uncomfortable and I just want to go home today. And then there’s my back which is pretty much not causing any problems now, but there are still things the Chiropractor is working on and I saw her before work this morning, so my back is sore today. My office chair is so NOT ergonomically correct and if I don’t put pillows behind my back to support it, it really starts to hurt.

Food-wise, I am back on track today. And I’m hoping if I stay on track today and tomorrow, I might post a maintain or maybe a small gain. It never helps my weight when af is around. We’ll see though.

Jeff gave me some beautiful sweaters for Christmas, a cute night gown (haven’t had one since I was a kid), some slippers and a few other fun things including the Biggest Loser Wii program. I’m really looking forward to trying it out. Maybe tonight if it’s really low-key so I don’t hurt my back again, or overexert myself and start hacking again. Speaking of that, the antibiotics the doc gave to me didn’t work because I’m still coughing quite a bit. I’m debating getting another round, but then I think I may just have to kick it myself in the end and if that’s the case, I could at least save us some much needed money.

Oh well. Hopefully soon, things will straighten back out and be normal again. I’m working on a new resolution for 2011 right now. I might not share it on my blog because it seems intensely personal to me, but I’m definitely making some goals. Just to share, because it really feels motivating, I came across a blog today (I can’t remembers whose) and they put up the following quote; “A YEAR FROM NOW, YOU’LL WISH YOU HAD STARTED TODAY.” Isn’t that the truth?!? Right now, I wish a year ago I had really buckled down on my weight loss, as I would probably not have stalled for 7 months. The only positive side is that I have still lost 15 pounds in the last 12 months, and though small, that is a success.

Have you come up with any resolutions for the upcoming year? Want to share?

I hope you’ve all had a great weekend, and that your Monday isn’t too bad! :)

Update for the week

Update for the week; I did really well last week! I tracked everything I ate every single day, and exercised at least 3 times which were my goals for the last week.

I’ve still been sick which made exercising really hard, especially since I couldn’t do any cardio. Then on Monday, my back was feeling pretty sore from all the coughing I was doing from the Bronchitis. Unfortunately on Monday night, when I was going to bed, I reached to put something on my dresser and was struck with the most excruciating pain across my mid-upper back. It was so painful it brought me to tears and made it so I almost couldn’t move. Sleeping that night was near impossible and the next day, I wasn’t able to go to work I was hurting so bad. I had to hobble around the house like an old lady. I was able to get in to a chiropractor yesterday afternoon and again this morning and am to the point where I only hurt when I move certain ways. Unfortunately, because it’s my back, I can’t lift any weights! So now I can’t exercise at all! 

Luckily because I did so well last week, I did drop 2.2 pounds, so I’m at least on the right path. Hopefully I can keep things under control for the next week so that despite my inability to exercise, I will still lose weight. (Or at least maintain if that’s all I can do).

Shocking!!!

I am shocked and appalled!!! I’ve been creating a list of foods for a quick reference, calculating the new weight watchers points plus values on my favorite foods at all the restaurants we go to, and am just speechless (verbally, not in my mind, which is why I can still think). At most of the restaurants, the values were bearable, as in they’d fit in my day if I was careful, and planned ahead a little bit. But at Shari’s, no can do! Even every single one of their salads are over 1,000 calories. The only healthy items on their menu is the “soup and salad” (a special, I’m sure, small salad). The ONLY! I even checked out their kids menu and all of the kids items are atrocious! I couldn’t believe it! So, I can definitely say it’s a good thing we go to Shari’s only a couple of times a year. And I’m definitely going to have to plan ahead so that I have the points.

On to less shocking (maybe) items, I have done strength training exercises on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and to my utter disbelief, my abs are actually sore today. The only reason I really noticed is that every single time I cough, I’m majorly straining those already sore muscles and I kind of curl up a little bit. I’m thinking I might have to lay off the ab exercises until I’m not sick anymore. LOL. I have also been in my points for Wednesday and Thursday, and I’m doing well today so far.

Last night, I weighed myself just for kicks, and my scale said I was back in the 270’s, for the first time in a couple of months. I know that my scale is a little bit lower than the weight watchers one, but I also know that it does fluctuate like I do, so I actually have a loss this week! YAY!

That is all. Have a great weekend!

Things are getting back on track!

Sigh, well at least it has only been a week since I’ve blogged last. There’s been a lot going on in my neck of the woods, but all in all, it hasn’t been too bad.

I’ve been sick since before Thanksgiving with a cold (to start with), then the flu last week, and now I found out my cold turned into Bronchitis, which is just a lot of nasty coughing, which can be really frustrating when you have a phone job like I do. LOL, I really have to work at holding it in sometimes. I’m on an antibiotic for it, but it doesn’t seem to have done anything so far. Keep your fingers crossed.

In the mean time, exerting myself only makes the coughing and (tmi) mucus worse, so I’ve had to avoid cardio workouts. Instead, the last few days I’ve been doing strength training and yoga. Low movement, and completely non-overexerting. And I’ve definitely felt like I’ve gotten a workout.

And, YAY, I used up all of my points target yesterday, and didn’t go over at all. I know I ate some things that are not the greatest, but that was actually limited. I got 4 fruits in, my dairy, etc. Not too shabby! And today I’m doing well so far too. I’m feeling like I’m more on top of things lately, that I’m finally gaining back control. I feel positively empowered! Hear me roar!!!

I lost something!

At my weight watchers meeting last night, I weighed in at 284.2 pounds, which is a loss of 0.6 pounds! YAY! After that, I came home and while I ate like crap last night, I walked three miles with a workout video, so that’s something.

As of last night, Jeff thought he was coming down with the flu, and then this morning, I was at work, but my stomach felt pretty terrible. On top of the cold I’ve had for 2 ½ weeks now, I’m getting a little irked. Cross your fingers that I don’t have the flu. If I have both at the same time, I don’t even know what that is. Maybe the Clu, or the Fold. LOL, I don’t know. I guess I never realized it might be possible to have them both at the same time. Either way, it can’t last forever.

Have a great day!

I've been lazy!

Sadly, I think this might be the longest gap since I started writing a blog. Things are alright here, though nothing is going really well.

My eating has been sub-par at best. My exercise has been nearly nonexistent, except for once, and maybe twice a week. And I re-joined weight watchers last week. I hadn’t really been thinking about it, except that I knew I wasn’t doing well weight-wise. And when I got an email last Monday about the new plan, I decided to join up again. It’s going to eat up most of my $50 monthly allowance but I think it’s for a worthy cause so I went last Tuesday just in time to learn all about the new program.

While there are a few negatives to the new plan, including that you have to either figure out the points values online or buy a special calculator to figure it out, I think the bigger positive is that it shows they’re making progress in figuring how our bodies work. The old system worked with calories, fat and fiber. The new system doesn’t use calories, and instead focuses more on fat, carbs, protein and fiber, which I think is more important, especially since all these things are what makes up the calories. I’m pretty excited about the new plan, and am hoping the change will get me back on track.

Speaking of that, I had my first weigh-in last Tuesday and my weight was up to 284
.8. A gain of about 6-8 pounds. Not surprising, but a little bit disappointing. I’ve pretty much been on this plateau for the last 7-8 months, and finally posted a gain which makes sense. Jeff also recently discovered he’s up about 10 pounds and in talking last night, we both decided we need to do something before some health problem jumps up and makes things worse. He’s going to be getting a monthly membership at 24-hour fitness again (had to stop before because of money) and for now, I’m going to stick to weight watchers and exercising at home.

Everything is NOT going as planned!

This has been a bit of a crazy week! I’ve been sick since last Monday (a week and 2 days ago) but now it’s not quite so bad. I had a terrible sore throat and stuffy nose before. Now, it’s a bad cough and froggy voice, and slightly stuffy nose. I think I prefer the now.

Jeff and I went to the beach over the weekend. We were supposed to go on Friday, but he was going through his male PMS and being a pain in the butt, and we ended up not going until Saturday. Had a great time actually, and we both really wished we had gone as planned before.

Tonight after work, he’s picking me up so we can drive south for an hour and a half for the night and then continue all the way to Bend tomorrow. The pass is pretty bad from what we’ve been hearing, and I personally don’t want to drive over that in the dark. I ended up not going to work yesterday because the roads were like sheets of ice, and we’re at a low elevation! I don’t even want to think about how bad it might be up there but we’ve got our chains and blankets and food, so we’ll be fine.

Time to fess up. For the last couple of times I’ve weighed myself, the scale said I’m back in the 280’s, 284 to be exact. I keep giving myself pep talks, because I don’t want to regain all the weight I’ve lost, but they don’t seem to be helping. It’s especially difficult when I live with someone who doesn’t try at all, and really does sabotage my diet, even unintentionally. I think he does it without thinking about it which is driving me crazy! We talked yesterday and hopefully more fully tonight about him supporting my changes, and making changes himself, and I really think if we’re both working on staying on track, it’ll be easier in the long run.

I bought Leslie Sansone’s newer (est?) video a week ago at Walmart, and it’s got me excited! It’s 5 miles, twelve minute miles in fact, and at the end of each of them, she does a cardio boost, or in this case, jogs for 2 minutes, which I was able to do. And I finished a 12 minute mile, so I CAN do better than the 17 minute mile I did a few weeks ago! That’s great!

Off to get some work done! I hope you all have a healthy and great Thanksgiving!

Sick! And not in a "that's cool man" kind of way.

Sadly, I don’t have much to blog about today. I am miserably sick with a sore throat, runny nose and pressure behind my eyes, and have been loading up on Emergen-C’s, vitamin C’s and Dayquil. Luckily I have been drinking plenty of water (had to get those pills down somehow!) and have been peeing, I swear every half hour for the last couple of days. I even go at the beginning of my lunch break and go again at the end (it’s only a 30 minute break), so I’m going crazy with this all too!

In regards to the rest, my eating’s been only ok and I haven’t exercised worth squat in the last week. I will do better once I’m no longer feeling like crap.

Jeff and I had been planning on going to the beach with my cousin and her Jeff for the weekend, but I just found out that the pass over the mountain range is supposed to be really nasty this weekend, which means we will likely be not going. Normally I’d just try to brave it, but we’re driving to Bend for Thanksgiving, and the pass there is probably going to be nasty as well, and we really don’t want to have to do it twice in a week. So my weekend is no longer going to be exciting, which means I’ll get to spend more time recuperating. Yay.

I know this is probably one of my lamest blogs, but I can’t help myself. I hope you’re doing a lot better than I am.

50 days...

I forgot to weigh-in this morning so I’m keeping the weight from the last weigh-in a few days ago until next Friday, which was 273.6 pounds.

I’m frustrated, trying to find my control to get myself in line. I am tired of being fat. I’m tired of eating crap that makes me feel like crap. I’m tired of feeling attractive in an outfit and then looking in the mirror and having that illusion destroyed. I am just plain tired and it has gotten me nowhere all this time.

At the beginning of this year, I was very successful in losing weight. I lost 40-45-ish pounds between September of 2009 and May 2010. But then I hit a stall, and then a plateau and then a mountain and have struggled to get back on track. Luckily I have maintained that loss without a problem at all, but that may not continue if I don’t get control of myself. Therefore, I am using the last 50 days of this month to be successful and get control of my life.

I’m calling it my:

50 DAYS OF SUCCESS

I am tired of being fat. It’s time for me to stop making excuses, stop allowing things to knock me off track, and get back on top of my health. Today is my day.

It is 50 days from November 12th (today) until January 1st, 2011. My goal is to be on track for 100% of those 50 days.

- I will track my foods daily in my weight watchers book
- I will stay within my points target of 33 points
- I will drink 8 cups of water each day
- I will exercise every single day for 15 minutes or more

By the end of these 50 days, I could be down as much as 14 pounds to the 250’s and will have a firm grasp of the control that I’ve been reaching for.