Week 18 WI

So, the streak -17 weeks in a row of losses- has come to an end.  I was up .6 lbs tonight. :-(

Like I posted earlier, I had several meals out this week and with the big Mexican feast last week, it had to catch up to me!

I'm feeling pretty good about it though.  .6 is not bad, no big deal really.  In some ways, I'm almost glad this happened.  It is kind of like a reality check, or a slap in the face.  I've posted before about the fear of becoming too confident and becoming lazy...this kind of thing can help set me back on the straight and narrow.

I'm considering this a time to go back to basics, cross my t's and dot my i's - no more extra bites, 2 JC snacks in a day, etc.  It definitely has me motivated to come back strong.

Consultant said I should be in the 160's by June....I think that is a damn good goal.  2 weeks, 4.2 lbs....attainable!

So, we have a Dr. appt tomorrow evening so I'll miss my regular spin class - however I'll plan to go on Wed, Sat and Sun.  Maybe we'll even have another Friday night gym date and definitely no eating out this week!

Got my 'gloves' on and I'm ready to fight!! :-)

Week 18, Day 7

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day!

This week was interesting. I can't wait to see how WI goes.  I weighed in 9 days ago since last WI was on a Saturday - had a nice loss and it was the day after a big meal.  Consultant kinda warned me that next WI might be more of a challenge as things may catch up to me.

So, nothing like the power of suggestion right?  I did do 3 spinning classes and worked my butt off during them.  I did 1 nice walk with the dog and some gardening and housecleaning too.

Besides the splurge meal right before last WI, I had a couple of meals off plan.  Had a conference last week and ate their lunch (pretty healthy  though, salad, baked chicken and veggies and potatoes) although I did indulge in a yummy small fudge brownie. 

Then DH and I had Indian on Saturday night.  I did have a NSV there though.  I ordered Channa Masala (one of my favorites, spicy chick peas in a brown sauce) and I took a small portion of rice, a 'normal' portion of my meal, a few bites of DH's tandoori chicken (just baked) and a 1/2 of a naan (yummy bread).  I told myself that I was not going to "go back for seconds" and I DID NOT!  That was quite a victory - as was leaving the restaurant without that sick full feeling!

And, of course, yesterday, I had a nice brunch for my Mom and sister.  DH made his special chocolate chip pancakes, of which I had just one!  I did have 3/4 of a bagel (with the insides scooped out) with cream cheese, tomato and whitefish salad (Jewish delicacy).  I truly enjoyed every bite of this, enough to pass up the pastries - except for a small bite of a raspberry danish.

So, overall I think I did ok onthe week, even with a few off plan meals.  I guess this is what the whole meal on your own thing is for - I've been resisting this officially though as I don't want to "break" something that works so well!

I think I still had 2 days where I ate 2 JC snacks, but hopefully that won't hurt.  Since I had to give up Cool Whip (2 weeks and counting) I have been eating more of the SF hard candies but I don't think that will hurt either.

So, I'm hoping for a good WI.  Scale at home looks the same as last week (or, dare I say a bit higher) but we'll see!

Week 18, Day 4

Just had the new sw chicken salad for lunch, yes, I am adventurous!  I liked it, very tasty and filling - with the crackers and pineapple it comes with.  Had good flavor, tasted like a yummy dip for the crackers.  I'd order it again, but not every week.

I've been eating the cheese  curls several times/week as a snack.  They feel more substantial to me than some of the others.  I did have the toffee bites yesterday, these are really good, especially when you need sweet!  This is week 2 for me with no cool whip (Dh and consultant banned me from it).  I have to admit that I've missed having some yummy creamy goodness to splurge on, but somehow I am making it!  I have been eating a good number of sugar free candies.  I get the SF tootsie rolls and SF cinammon disks - they are a good quick sweet fix.  Sometimes though I eat a bunch of them at a time!!

Feeling pretty good this week, still letting the 30 lbs thing sink in.  Its funny though, I'm still in limbo wardrobe wise.  I have pants in size 14 (even 1 pair of 16) and tons of pants in size 10.  Of course, I'm currently solidly a size 12.  :-P       I've bought a few pairs of 12's, including some capris...but I feel like I am wearing the same 3 or 4 pairs of pants every day (well, I guess I am!!!).  I don't really want to buy anything else in size 12 though...guess I better get back into the 10s!!  Happily, even my shirt size has shrunk.  Last summer, I discovered the beauty (and the agony) of size XL!!!  Everything I bought, shorts, pants, tshirts, sweaters was XL - it was like my savior.  I had never previously had the experience of shirts being too small along the arms and back before - yucky!!!! I even went up a bra size - the back not the boobs!  I'm now able to wear a bunch of my "old" shirts, which is great - some of the girls at work keep asking if my shirt is new!

I know I always say it, but I'm so thrilled and thankful for the this website.  As happy as I am that some of you enjoy reading my story, I get such motivation and appreciation out of receiving all of your comments!  I love checking email and seeing "comment from extrapounds"!  :-)

Week 17, Day 6 and WI??!!

So, we forgot about a Dr. appt we have on Monday evening (our usual JC time).  Fortunately, our center is open on Saturdays, unfortunately we celebrated our anniversary (cinco de mayo) at a fantastic Mexican restaurant the night before - thinking we'd have until Monday to get the scale back down!!! 

For those that "know" me, work has been crazy lately - Friday one of my big projects closed and I really needed a release!  I had a margarita, several authentic chips with salsa and guacamole, a few nachos with yummy gooey cheese and meat and sour cream, and fajitas, minus the tortillas, but cooked in some kind of delicious oil and spices, with cheese on top and rice and refried beans!!! YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY.  It was a fantastic shmorgasbord and I truly enjoyed it.  UNTIL I realized that we'd have to weigh in the next day!!!

So, my butt was at the gym on a bike at 8:15 am and I worked it out! (to quote Randy Jackson).  I even considered doing 2 classes in a row, but then I came to my senses.  So, we went to WI - after working out but before lunch (I usually go before dinner).  I was really concerned about having a gain and a break in my loss record (16 weeks and counting)...

I was thrilled to see 173.6 on the scale - a 1.8 lb loss!!!???  Even DH (who ate a burrito, 3 tacos, and the chips and nachos) had a 3 lb loss.  So, the moral of my post is to eat Mexican food before your WI :-).  As thrilled as I was, I also am realizing that it sometimes takes a few days for the gain to show up and I am concentrating on WORKING it good this week to be able to have a loss next WI.  But, I am so excited and proud - just a hair away from 30 lbs - F* it, I'm going to consider it 30lbs.  Woo Hoo.  Last time I did WW I lost 35 and this was my biggest loss ever - I'm so proud and happy!

So, I did do my 3 spinning classes, but didn't do 2 legitimate dog walks.  I'll try to do better with them this week  I'm still in a crazy time at work, the way I see it, June 1 will be the first time I can breathe.

I had the island chicken for dinner tonight and I just love it.  I love ethnic food so this is right up my alley.  I'll give more props to the new cheese ravioli - the sauce is yummy and tastes fresh.  Had the "homestyle chicken and noodles" (why dont they call it chicken soup?) this week as a way of trying something new - it was fine, ok.  I ordered the new southwestern chicken salad for this week, curiuos to see how that is.  Oh, and even though we all loved cookies and cream cheesecake, gotta say that the raspberry swirl is still delish.  Also, my 2 favorite breakfasts are the french toast and the silver dollars.  Look forward to both and the french toast especially is so filling!!  Enough food talk for now?

Oh, in other big news, we are getting a puppy in June.  A female German Shepherd who we'll name Diva.  She will be the little sister to our 2 yo Golden Retriever.  Pretty excited for June!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the weather.  Thank you all so much for taking the time to read and post in my blog. I'm thrilled to be inspirational to some of you and have just loved my journey so far on JC and this site!  I can't wait to have some time to read up on some of your stories and catch up with everyone!

Week 16 WI

Down 1.4 lbs!  At first, consultant added wrong and said only .6 down but I corrected her!  Much happier with 1.4.  I'm happy with this, this has been my average loss per week.  27.8 lost total - next mini goal will obviously be 30 lbs!!  This is very exciting, the most I have ever lost before was 35 lbs on WW in 1999.  Not that I'm excited to HAVE to lose this much mind you!!!

Plan for this week - 3 spin classes (Tues, Sat, Sun), 2 dog walks.  No more Cool Whip - DH has banned me :-(.  Try to stick to 1 JC snack per day and eat more FRUIT when I need something sweet.

Oh, and enjoy our anniversary dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Friday!

Work is beginning to get slightly less crazy - until next week when it heats up again.  I'm dying to catch up with everyone and am going to start to read...please know how much I appreciate your comments and support!

Week 16, Day 7

Hi Girls!  Another crazy week down at work...this week may not be quite as insane!!

Here's a quick update on how I've been doing:

Activity - 3 spin classes and 3 dog walks this week!  The great weather makes it such a pleasure to take the dog for walks.  I have been really trying to kick butt (literally) in spinning classes.  I've been doing it now for a few weeks and I'm at the point now where I know what I am doing pretty well and am really focusing on pushing it during class and not slacking!  I believe that spinning has been making an incredible difference in my body.  My legs and butt are definitely shaping up and its ALL attributable to spinning, IMO.  For those who have never done it and belong to a gym that offers it, I'd definitely recommend it.  You can start at your own pace and its not intimidating at all!

Food - Have been doing pretty well staying OP.  One night this week we had dinner at a relative's - he made burgers and hot dogs on the grill!  I limited myself to salad, one yummy delicious burger (no cheese) and baked beans.  He had skinny cows for dessert :-)  Otherwise, I have been feeling kinda hungry lately.  On a few days this week I wound up eating more than 1 snack.  I'll have  cheese curls when I get home from work and sometimes a sweet snack after dinner.  Not a huge problem, but I don't want to let myself get into the habit of this.  Also, I have been misbehaving with Lite Coolwhip.  :-(  I finished almost the entire tub yesterday.  Its been my little "cheat" - I feel like I can have a few spoonfulls when I need something sweet.  So far, it hasn't really had a negative affect on my weight losss, but again, I don't want to get too confident or develop bad habits!

Oh, our 3rd anniversary is on Friday and we'll be going out to our favorite Mexican restaurant!  Other than that, life has been just crazy but I am hanging in there!!

Week 16, Day 2

So, cholesterol screening didn't go so well...still very high - 240. While this is down 26 pts from 2 years ago, its obviously not enough to put me in a healthy range...or anywhere near it to be honest. 

My Mom has high cholesterol and is on meds and my Grandfather also had high cholesterol.  I guess its time to follow up with my Dr. for a blood test (our screenings are just a finger prick and not 100% accurate).  Honestly, the last 2 years, I have completely avoided the Dr. b/c I knew I was so unhealthy and was embarrassed to face the Dr.  Silly, but true.

That gets me thinking...how many of us have avoided things - particlarly important things (like seeing a Dr.) b/c we were concerned about our weight.  Sad, huh?

I am feeling comfortable with making a Dr. appt now and will have to do so asap.  Husband has been buggin me to get a physical for a few years, but I have flat out refused.  Until now...

Oh, and I feel awfully young to be considering cholesterol meds - I'm only 34.  Anyone have any knowledge or experience in this area?

On an good note, after yet ANOTHER stessful and busy day at work, I took my butt to the gym and kicked ass in a spinning class.  It felt great to get back and really helped to relieve some of the stress of the day.

Week 15 WI and HALFWAY

Yay!  I was down a sliver of .4 lb - enough to get me to 1/2 way.  I was very excited and happily posed for my pic with the "I can do this" post!  <---- Dork!

This last week definitely had me on my toes this evening - definitely don't like that feeling.  I'd rather go into the WI KNOWING that I did well and will have a loss.

I now also weigh the SAME as my husband!  Can't wait until next week and every week after that that I weigh LESS than him!

I'm not going to do any of those 1/2 way days or anything - I still don't trust myself.  Instead we'll treat ourselves to a dinner out on the weekends and be happy with that!

Tomorrow is our Health Fair at work - one of the nice things is that they do free health screenings.  My cholesterol has been very high the last 2 years, but even that wasn't enough at the time to kick my butt into gear.  I haven't even told my husband (he's a hypochondriac and would freak) what my numbers were, but I'll tell you guys in hopes that it will be lower tomorrow.  In 2004 it was 266 EEK and in 2005 it was 254.  NOT healthy and not good.  In all seriousness, this will be a very important test for me - my Mother is on cholesterol meds so its likely that high chol. runs in my family.

HOpe you are all having a good week, looking forward to having some time to catch up with everyone!

Week 15, Day 7

Ugh, crazy crazy week at work.  To give you an idea, I was at work on Tues until 9:30 pm (hosting the Employee Recognition Dinner) then AT work at 6:00 AM on Thursday for Open Enrollment.  Lets just say that I spent the ENTIRE weekend in bed - slept until 12:45 PM on Saturday!  Exhausting.

Unfortunately, I was physically unable to get to the gym for my spinning classes on Sat or Sun  :-(  I'm feeling very guilty and disappointed about this - they are my savior - not just stress release wise, but knowing that I will burn 5-600 calories on Sat and Sun I think has been a key to my weight loss success.

But, I did learn an important lesson - Don't splurge if you haven't already gone to the gym!  Meaning, don't splurge now and tell yourself you'll go the gym later!  On Friday, after my hellweek at work, we went out for Indian food - our favorite.  Since JC, I've just been ordering plain tandoori chicken, no sauce and having a bit of rice and a small piece of naan (bread).  The owner told me he would make me a low fat version of chicken tikka masala (yummy creamy tomatoe based chicken dish) - how could I resist?  I had it, it was delish (almost too delish) and had a bit  more than I normally would.  Left feeling full - you know, that uncomfortable feeling.  Justified by knowing that I would be at the gym on Sat and Sun.......

As you can see, my best laid plan was foiled and now I am pretty nervous for WI.  Otherwise I did pretty well this week, but without my spinning classes, I'm nervous!  Oh, and this is supposed to be the week that I hit 1/2 way!  Darn.  Cross your fingers for me....I have been so motivated and have never had a gain week - certaintly don't need that now!

Week 14, Day 7 and WI

Down 1more pesky lb...  .8 away from 1/2 way now!

I'm happy to say that I took advantage of being off on Fri and Mon - did step/sculpt on Fri and spinning on Sat, Sun AND Mon :-)  After both a Passover Seder and Easter Dinner, I needed all the calorie burning I could get!

Remember in my last post I talked about beintg careful not to be too confident or slipping a bit once you are successful?  At Passover dinner, I found myself continually reaching into the cashews...more than I should.  I also had 2 chocolate covered marshmellows and a few bites of cake.  For dinner, I had a ton of veggies and a piece of meat and just a few red bliss potatoes.  I left feeling pretty full though and like the cashews were not the best idea.

Yesterday, had some fruit and proscuitto (sp?), then a bit of lamb,a bit of veal, 3 raviolis and a small portion of ziti YUM!  The best was dessert - I DID NOT PASS UP DESSERT AND IT FELT GOOD AND TASTED EVEN BETTER!!!!  I had a very small sliver of raspberry cheesecake, pumpkin pie AND a few strawberries, pineapple and bananas with chocolate fondue!!  I thororoughly enjoyed every bite and didn't feel overly guilty as I knew I didn't really overdo it AND that I was going to the gym this am.

So, even with my 2 celebratory feasts this week (oh, yeah, forgot to mention the entire tub of lite cool whip also) I managed to lose 1 lb.  I'm sure that all of the activity that I had was a big part of this!

I'm very close to 1/2 way now and the consultant mentioned on my own days...I basically told her that last time I was "on my own" I gained 60 lbs so I'm not really in a rush to change anything that is working so well.  I would perhaps like to include being able to eat out on the weekends.  We'll talk more next week.

I'm trying the new (are they new?) cheese ravioli this week, I'll let you all know what I think.

Need some advice about my JC center.  They are all very nice and sweet, but they are pretty disorganized and have a hard time getting my orders right.  They are usually so busy when we go (5:20 pm on Monday nights) that getting our food pulled, checked and paid for takes probably close to 30 mins.  Besides being hungry, our pup is home waiting for us to eat too!

I have had problems with them not checking the food correctly, even when I read it back, so they have let me do the bagging!  The last few weeks, I have tried to fax my order in ahead of time and then they have it ready for me when we come in.  This saves so much time and is much easier.  HOWEVER, twice the fax didn't come through correctly and this week I had to actually just call it in as I was home anyway.  SO, I get home tonight and there are probably about 10 items missing - on my sheet that I paid for but not in the bags.   GRRR.  I call them and they are nice enough and will set aside anotther bag for us to pick up.  But, the point is...what have you found the best way to get your food?  Should I just suck it up and wait for them to pull it and personally pack it? Anyone have a system that works well for them?

In other news, the pup is recovering well from his "fixing".  Its been hard for us to limit his activity though and he is so pathetic with the collar on that we have just been keeping a close eye on him.  Work will still be busy for the next few weeks - I work in HR and open enrollment for benefits starts tomorrow then salary planning...

Anyway, can't wait to start to catch up on how everyone else is doing!!