Week 59, Day 3

I got the job offer!

Wow, I feel great and having the confidence to go into an interview not concerned with my appearance or my thighs definitely made a big difference!

So,I got a great job offer, its a Human Resources Business Partner position with a very large Fortune 500 company!  Great company, great career advancement, great opportunity.  I haven't accepted it yet, as I need to ask them for more $$$!!!

Yay!  Doing the happy dance for sure!

Week 59, Day 2

I was down 1.6 at WI tonight

Had a pretty good week, got my 4 spin classes in, only had 2 meals out.  I still am having an issue with the 100 calorie snacks...the issue being that I am eating too many of them.  I usually have at least 1 a day in addition to my JC snack.  They seem so harmless, ONLY 100 cals, but I'm sure that if I limited this behavior I would have an easier time getting to goal.  It definitely feels great though to get back on track.

I have been deep in the process of interviewing for new jobs and being down almost 50 lbs has had some great implications.  For one thing, I feel so confident in my interview suits...feel like when I show up they are not noticing my weight....its just in the normal range.  Before, I would have felt so self conscious and that would have gotten in the way of my interview.  The companies I am interviewing with are pretty high profile, Fortune 500 co's and I know that part of the interview process is seeing if the person would be a good ambassador or "face of the company' to the public.  Right or wrong, it feels great to be confident about how I look and the impression I am making.

I certaintly hope to have some great job news for you all soon...send me your "new, high paying job" vibes if you don't mind!

Week 58, Day 7

Yum, Indian buffet was delicious as usual.  I limited myself to one plate of food (various rice and chicken and lentil dishes) and one plate of fruit/dessert/rice pudding.  Usually I have 2 plates of the main courses.  Progress, huh?

Workouts were great yesterday...it felt great to get back into it.  I've been wearing a heart rate monitor that someone gave me and its pretty cool to see which moves (during spinning classes) make the heart rate go higher.  Its also a great way to self monitor and motivate myself...dont' want to see it go below the target range.

Wanted to comment on a few new JC foods that I've tried (Steph, are you still eating JC??)

• Teriyaki Salmon dinner - Yum. I love salmon so was really looking forward to this one.  Granted it doesn't take like salmon when I put it on the grill and has a strange perfectly rectangular shape...but the flavor of the sauce is good, the brown rice is yummy and there's pleny of veggies with it.
• Mexican Chicken Tortilla soup - another good choice.  I like the convenient microwavable bowl it comes in.  Soup itself was a bit bland, I had to add just a little salt (I know, defeats the purpose of low sodium soup, but it was needed.) and I had about 3 wheat crackers with it.  Good flavor, love the beans and rice in it.

I didnt' try the Italian Wedding soup - has anyone else?  Someone told me they got the new triple chocolate cheesecake - has anyone tried this yet?  How could it be bad, right?

So, my goal is to continue to do well this week and have a good loss at WI on Wednesday.  I 'm hoping for the 2 lbs I "found" last week.

On another note, a new JC center opened up inthe SAME shopping center as my gym, and about 10 mins closer than my current center.  I've been going to my center for well, 58 weeks, and I love my consultant......but I'm definitely considering switching.  I think it may actually be good to have someone new pushing me...since I haven't gotten to goal yet.  It will be bittersweet though!

Hope eveyone is having a good week so far.  So great to hear from old friends here!!

Week 58, Day 6

Yay, Maureen is back too!

I'm back on the JC/EXP wagon this week!  Had my WI at JC on Wednesday and I was up 2 lbs...as expected.  I am up a total of 3 lbs since 1/17 - not bad for almost a full month of misbehaving!  However, this now puts me at 7lbs to go to get to my goal...not where i want to be!  I recommitted this week - mostly because I feel like crap when I eat crap and miss workouts!

It is so scary how easy it is to fall out of good habits.  Due to our houseguests last week and then the clean up this week, I had missed about 1.5 weeks of spin classes.  Yesterday morning it was so tempting to just sleep in and worry about my work out later - would have been BAD news!  I jumped back in yesterday and did my 2 classes this morning!

My consultant is making me stick to only 2 meals out this week - we had mexican last night and are going to do Indian buffet for lunch, so I'm done.  I have been back on JC food and I must say I missed it.  I can be a control freak  so having my regular foods back feels much more comforting than having to wing it --- and there is much less room for errors (uh, I mean cheats) when all the good choices are there.

So, count me in as having a very good OP week.  I consciously decided not to have snacks at work and did not buy any chocolate bars (um, did I forget to mention that bad habit that I had started??).  I did have  few pieced of chocolate here and there, but MUCH less.  I ate JC meals for all my meals and got 3 out of my 4 workouts in.  A good week, and so much improved over the past few.

It feels SO good to be back...back OP, back IN CONTROL and back at the gym. It feels so good to know that I am doing the right things!

Week 58, Day 1

Trying out the email to blog feature and hoping it works!  UPDATE: this feature will post your email signature and possibly personal info...

SO, Yeah, its been a month.  Wish I could say that I had met my goal and then just become bored of EP and decided to desert you all :-P    Alas, not the case!!!  I guess you can say that I have been on a break of sorts.
I've been under a good deal of financial stress and haven't been able to buy JC food for a few weeks.  I did have some leftovers, so just now am I running totally out and I'll be going tomorrow to restock.  The good part of this is that I have had to find substitutes.  Some of the things I have been eating include:

Lean Pockets (their whole grain choices tend to be similar, nutrionally to JC, although smaller)
Frosted Mini Wheats cereal
Smart Start Maple Brown Sugar cereal
Lean Cuisine Spa meals
Pria 100 Calorie Chocolate Mint Vitamin Bars
Assorted 100 calorie snack packs (they make these in all sorts of great varieties now.  Some of my favorite have been chex mix chocolate and carmel, oreo, mini fudge stripes, cheetos, doritos, etc)

I like being able to branch out a bit from JC and add some variety.  I do have to be careful with how many 100 calories snacks I have in a day!

The other good news is that with the exception of last week, I have been very consistently keeping up with my workouts - 4 spinning classes per week.

The not as good is that I have had houseguests for the past week and we have been eating junk food galore!  I'm talking pizza, cheesesteaks, french fries, strombolis, chinese food, cheesecake, chocolate, you name it!!  Also, I've been giving in to the girl scout cookies at work.  As much as I enjoy these foods, it makes a definite difference in my energy levels and overall feeling of health.  I feel bloated, full and overall tired!  It has been great to just continually indulge every whim, but at the same time, it is TIME to get back to it.

I only have about 5 lbs to go (maybe a few more at this point).  I know that there is some psychological stuff happening that is trying to sabotage my reaching my goal.  This is what happened in the past, and I must not ignore this, I must fight through it.  I so enjoy feeling "thin" and comfortable in clothing.  Its like a huge weight being lifted off of my shoulders.  I don't want to get complacement or over confident and think that the work is done....IT IS NOT.  It will likely never be done, it will likely continue throughout my life.

So, I will be making my JC appt tomorrow for the first time in several weeks, and I will return to balanced eating, reigning in the snacking and getting into the gym.

I do have some good motivation coming up - I'll be in VEGAS for a business trip next month and one of my best friends is coming to meet me and spend the weekend after the conference!!!  In honor of my almost 50 lb weight loss and needing to up my "coolness" factor for Vegas, I did make a fantastic purchase.  I bought a pair of "cool jeans".  They were more than I have ever spent on a single item of clothing before - usually shop at Marshalls!!, but I love 'em and can't wait to wear them in Vegas!

Ok, I feel better for catching up.  Thanks to all of those who have thought of me and checked in on me in my absence!

Week 54, Day 2

Welcome to eveyone who has found EP in the new year!  This is a great website/community and has been so helpful in keeping me on track and motivated throughout the last year.  I intend to respond to eveyone who has commented to me, and read their stories and hope to give back some of what this community has given me.

With that being said, looks like I fell off the posting wagon yet again!  The good news is that I had a 3.2 lb loss last week!  Totally unexplainable though.  Was weird, told my consultant I thought that at this point, my weight loss was more random and doesn't seem to be as tied to my actual weekly activity.  BUT, I'll take it!

Have had a pretty decent week, and hope to be down tonight....I'm inching closer to my goal - only 3.6 lbs as of now to go! 

Week 53, Day 1

Having some issues getting motivated for the new year.  Still seem to really be having cravings - not for a specific food, more of the "what else is there to eat" variety.  Eating 2 JC snacks most days...or other extras, not the worst choices nutritionally, but I still NEED to LOSE 6 more lbs. 

The first almost 50 were not as hard as these last few.  WHY is that?  What do we (the collective genius of EP land) think is the reason behind this???

Week 52 WI

So the holidays have caught up with me - I was up 2.2 lbs tonight!

While this takes me back to 6.8 lbs from goal, its a good reality check.  As a few of us have been saying lately, once you are down a bunch of lbs, it can be so easy to slip back into old habits.  Getting too comfortable with having "a little" of this or a "litte more" of that can start to add up.

For me, lately it has been the snacking.  After dinner I feel like I want a little something more...many days Ihave had 2 JC snacks...my consultant keeps reminding me that once I make goal, I can add more calories back and be ok having the extra snack or whatever per day.  The big point is that FIRST I have to MAKE GOAL!

I need to be conscious of my actions and my snacking and keep asking myself if what I am doing is bringing me closer to or farther from my goal.

 

Week 52, Day 2

Happy New Year everyone!

Gvmemoment's post about 2005 vs 2006 weight inspired me to report that as of January 2006, I weighted 203.2 lbs and did NO exercise on a regular basis.  As of January 2007, I weigh 154.6 lbs, and do 4 spinning classes per week.  My exercise has become a great release and something I look forward to and a PRIORITY!

Here's to continued success in 2007.  I am so proud of how far I have come this year and how much healthier I am and how much better I feel.  So many things feel easier when I am healthy and at a comfortable weight.  I am much less self conscious and conscious about whether people are noticing what I am eating.  However, I need to refocus and remain committed to this new lifestyle.  It can be so easy to slip back into old habits.

I didn't post last week, but was only up .6 from the holidays, which is so not bad, and totally earned!!  I was expecting a few lbs.  I WI tonight, and we'll see how it goes.  I have been off work since 12/22 and have done very well with keeping up with exercising, so I am hoping for a good WI.

In 2007, I plan on continuing to maintain my healthy lifestyle.  I really need to get to goal....I do have some concern about self sabotage and how i have been fluctuating so close to my goal for so long.  I just need to DO IT.  I would also like to find a higher paying job

Week 50, Day 4

Thanks EP for being down yesterday....on the day when my coworker, who is a fantastic Italian cook, brought in 17 (SEVENTEEN) varieties of homemade cookies.

I made a few comments on posts today about overeating and the battle of weight loss, so I wanted to share some of those thoughts here.

Currently, I am on the winning side of my weight loss battle.  I  realize that this is a lifelong battle for me, one which I figure I will always be waging and sometimes be winning, and other times not so much.  It is frustrtating, and makes me resentful at times and makes me think that its unfair (what is fair?), but that's what it is.  Maureen's post about getting to the underlying issues/reasons for struggling with food has me thinking about what I can learn NOW, while I am down?  Stay tuned.....

So, back to yesterday, I had so many cookies and chocolates that I felt sick all day.  Having too much sugar is really a gross feeling.  I didn't even feel like eating my lunch...had to force the salad down, as I knew I shouldn't exist solely on sugar!

Its so hard when I've come so far to stay totally away from all the yummies...almost like I fell like I "deserve" a treat...and can handle it...but then the old monster rears its head and portion control goes out the window!  Can you relate?

So, all sugared up, I went to the gym last night and kicked ass in spinning class to help repent for the sins of the day .  I really pushed it and it felt great!   I plan on staying consistent at the gym over the holidays, and I have off all next week, so I should be able to even get some extra workouts in.