The clean up is on due 5 to the recent snow storm. I guess we were lucky and only got about 5 inches here. I worked at home due to the weather. I've actually been at home since Wedneday. I've been nauseated and have thrown up a few times since then. I had lots of phone calls to answer, but the day went by fast. I'm not sure about the nausea. I thought I was feeling better, then BAM... out of the blue I just started to throw up. It occured to me, very briefly, that I might be pregnant, but how odd would that be? Getting pregnant after I stopped fertility treatments? The chances are slim, but dh is bringing home a pregnancy test anyways. TOM is not regular, so it's always hard to gage where I am in my cycle.

My dh is on his way to pick up my "bonus" son, who lives about two and a half hours away. I tried to get some exercise in before he gets here. I always feel self conscious when someone is watching me work out-- and he does:)

I got the day off to a bad start by eating 3 croissants. I never even used to like them until I went on my honeymoon in Mexico and room service would send up fresh croissants, coffee, and fruit each morning. Greg and I would wake up to the bright sunshine and start our day together in the sun with the croissants. I never buy them, but Greg brought them home. He loves them because they remind him of growing up in Venezuela... Once I ate one, I kept shoveling them in my mouth. So bad... But they tasted so good. It's not good to have 900 calories in by 10AM.

So far today:

Breakfast: 3 croissants and coffee

Snack- Jenny Craig anytime bar

Lunch- Jenny Craig chicken soup, veggie salad with a little ranch

Snack: an orange and some carrot sticks

PLAN for dinner; Jenny Craig Fish and Chips, steamed veggies

PLAN forEVENING SNACK: Jenny Craig Bruschetta Veggie Chips

Exercise: Weekly Challenge on the Biggest Loser for Wii (High Intensity at least for me)

10 minutes Wii Fit yoga.

PLAN: Valerie Bertinelli workout 20 minutes

Next week I am starting "The Game on Diet". There is a book, but I don't have it. One of my local Facebook friends invited people to participate and we had a meeting at her home Tuesday. It's not like The Biggest Loser groups but it is a team thing and is based on points for healthy choices. It comes with an eating plan, b ut you can use your own if you already doing it like WW or Jenny Craig. You get points for each healthy meal and are supposed to eat 5 small meals per day. You get points for exercise each day, starting a new habit, getting seven hours of sleep, etc. You also get bonus points if you have a weight loss of 1 percent each week. If you don't get your bonus then you are cut off of alcohol for the rest of the game. Working in teams is supposed to keep you accountable. I am both excited about it and anxious. It seems like a lot of pressure for the four weeks, but deep down I think I am pretty competitive, so it should really jumpstart things- at least I hope so. Has anyone else participated in anything like this before?

 

Ok- so my last official weigh in at JC was on December 23rd. I went in this morning and was done 1.5 pounds so I was happy with that. My last few weights logged were from the Wii balance board.

I left this AM at 9 and didn't get home until nine so I skipped my workout. I think that is probably ok because my joints HURT today. I am not sure if it is because bad weather is on the way or because of the lunges yesterday. I did ok food wise. I ate out twice and didn't feel like I over did it.

 

Breakfast: JC Breakfast scramble

orange

coffee with milk.

Snack: JC anytime bar

 

Lunch: cup of veggie soup with 2 small packs of crackers

garden salad with chunk crab meat added and ranch dressing on the side

 

Snack: JC cookies

Dinner -- part out(Applebees) and part at home

glass of wine

cup of french onion soup with cheese.

home- Jenny Craig personal pizza ( the lunch one)

2 homemade chocolate chip cookies (darn dh made cookies again!!!)

Not perfect but not horrible. I'll take it.

It's cold and damp. I can't wait to go to bed and snuggle with dh. He is always warm. Time to steal some of that abundant body heat!!!!

Goodnight!

I got a call from my JC counselor today saying that she was concerned that I didn't have an appointment on the books and she wanted to make sure I got the New Year off to a good start. I explained to her that I had an over abundance of JC food right now and was trying to eat what I had and she told me I should come anyways to get weighed to make sure I stay on track. I had hoped to wait a few days but the only time I was available in the AM was tomorrow. On top of that, it was my friend's birthday and I told her I would take her wherever she wanted for dinner. She chose Chinese. Arrgh. I called JC because I was at work and didn't have my book and they told me what I could eat. I had chicken and veggies in a light sauce with a cup of white rice. I spit it in half and put the second half in a to go box. Interestingly enough, I found it really hard not to eat more since the others were still eating even though my body was satisfied. I might still be up tomorrow. As a general rule, I a not sensitive to sodium, but the sodium in chinese food always kicks my butt.

When I got home I watched the Bachelor and decided to do the Valerie Bertinelli workout. The part I did wasn't cardio, so I am still hopeful I will still sleep tonight. I really have a diffuclt time with squats and lunges. Not only do they hurt, but my knees "snap crackle and pop" That seems to screw me up with every workout DVD or game that I have. I do as many as I can comfortably then skip the rest. It kind of feels like cheating but I haven't found a decent subsitute for as many as there are in that DVD. I also can't do any pushups... not because of pain, but because I am weak. I am curious what others struggle with? Oh, and I had to put the Biggest Loser Game back down a level on the difficulty because just doing jumping jacks not only hurt my knees but was too much impact. I felt embarrassed and ashamed even though no one else knew. I hope once I lose some weight, doing things like jumping jacks won't be so hard of an impact on my joints. I think I am feelling discouraged today. I wish I had the body strength to do this exercises someone my age should be able to do.

Anyways, it was a good eating day, none the less. Hopefully I am starting to recover calorically from NYE.

Today I ate:

Breakfast- 4 ritz crackers, a banana, coffee with milk. (I woke up late.)

Lunch: JC enchilada meal

Snacks: One cookie, one anytime bar

Dinner: 1/2 chinese chicken and veggies meal (about 2 cups) with rice (1 cup) and my fortune cookies, tea.

I am contemplating buying a body bugg and am interested if others who have it think it is a helpful tool and is worth the money. Maybe after I get my mileage check for work on the 15th, I will look into it. That is my fun money.I need to hit the shower and go to bed. Goodnight, all.

I had a very happy (but high calorie) New Year holiday. My weigh in for JC was Wed AM but I cancelled due to a cold. I did weigh in via The Biggest Loser on NYE which had me down 9 lbs. I wish. My first TBL weigh in was on Christmas, after a huge christmas dinner and a whole lot of sodium. LOL. I think the real loss was about 2 lbs. NYE we had my family over for dinner as well as a close friend. I made prime rib (it was my first attempt and really easy). My friend brought cheesy potatoes, we had a big salad, buckeye cheesecake, and my grandma brought blasted mini eclairs and cream puffs. I ate alot. I don't even want to think about the number of calories I burned that night. Usually, one bad meal doesn't set me back too badly as long as I can regain control. Well, guess what my weakness is? Cookies and bite size pastries. LOL. I ate the rest of the mini eclairs and cream puffs yesterday at one sitting. There were probably 30 of them which I'm sure was well over 1000 calories. Today, I finished the last of the cookies (3 of them.) Other than that, I'm on track. Since I finished my first week in the Biggest Loser for Wii, it moved me up to the next highest level workouts. It was way to hard. I thought I was going to die after 10 minutes and had to use my inhaler. I am getting over a cold and have been wheezing anyways. I thought I would be ok with just doing some strenth training in the house. It was mostly cardio-- and since maintaining my air supply is a neccesity, I had to stop. I might try some yoga later.It's really cold here (supposed to get to 5 F tonight) so I am leary to try to go out and walk.

I was thinking about New Year's resolutions. Last year, of course, my resolution was to lose weight. I had a big weight loss goal, which of course I didn't meet, but I did lose overall. So why do I do not consider that to be a success? I am down 17 overall. But that seems so little compared to how much I have to lose.

I got invited to join a group that is weight loss based. It's not like TBL, but you divide in teams and get points for challenges that promote a healthier lifestyle. I am interested, but only know the group hostess-- and I haven't seen her or talked to her in years, except for on facebook. I guess I am a bit shy and haven't decided yet what I am going to do.

 

The Flylady holiday challege of the day is to rid the house of the leftover holiday food and I think, that if I do that, my temptation will be gone. My husband gets mad whenever I throw food away. He'll let it sit for weeks and insist that it is still good. I just can't look at it and not eat the goodies, and I am fanatical about getting rid of food, especially if it's been in my fridge longer than 3 days. I am obsessive about food safety which is ironic because I am married to a Venezuelan who's family eats food that has sat out all night and will eat literally anything:) I love him though:)

Happy New Year to everyone.

 

Merry Christmas everyone! I've been away from blogging for awhile. It seems as though I did better when I had some accountability so I am going to get back to it. The semester is over and I got all A's so I was really happy about that. Only 1 year to go and I will be done and have my MSN:) The weight loss has slowed some. I'd taken off 18 lbs but then Tuesday at my weigh in, I was up 6 lbs. WTH???? Sure I ate some cookies... (okay a lot of cookies) but six pounds worth?

The past couple of days haven't been great for staying OP but... I'm back on track as of this second. My husband made killer buckeye cheescake (chocolate peanutbutter). There are two peices left and I am praying someone else eats them before I find them and eat more.

I got the BIggest Loser to use with my Wii Fit. It was cook, but there were a lot of lunges involved. Because of my high weight and a car accident, I really have trouble with those. My knees are stiff and do not want to bend to go up and down the stairs now. LOL. When I was 15 I was trick or treating and got hit by a Buick while I was crossing the road. I sprained both of my knees and an elbow and still have some issues with my knees since then. Hopefully it will get easier, or the next few days won't be as involved with the lunges.

My brother in law is here from Chicago and we went to dinner at my Mom's which was awesome. There was a very high risk of family drama, but in the spirit of Christmas, everyone behaved. It was a great day. Happy Birthday, Jesus.

I had my interview today. I wanted to leave by 12:15 at the latest because I had no clue how long it was going to take me to get to Ann Arbor. I had laid back down because I had a headache and woke up at 12:10 pm.Ouch! Luckily I had gotten my hair done last night with lots of hairspray- so I had a still salvageable doo. I managed to get ready by 12:45 to leave but had had no coffee, no food, and I was rushed. I HATE that! I did grab a JC snack and an apple but forgot something to drink and something with some protein. It only took me 45 minutes to get there. It was a pretty cool hospital. The interview went pretty well, I thought. It lasted about an hour and a half. They have 3 openings- 2 case manager openings and one Quality Manager postion. I really want the Quality Manager one, but would take the CM one too, since that is where my experience is. I really liked the people that interviewed me and feel like other than the fact that I've never case managed in a hospital, I would be a good fit for them. Hopefully they think so too. I did do one embarrassing thing. I squirted what I thought was hand sanitizer in my hands after the interview when I was walking out with the CEO. It was hand soap.I figured it out as I was walking down the hall rubbing my hands together.LOL. So I had to walk back to a sink to get it off.

After the interveiw I had a really bad headache- probably because I was starving! I ended up driving through McDonalds. I got a 4 peice chicken McNugget and a coffee (in case the headache was from caffeine withdrawal.) Chicken Nuggets are not Jenny Craig approved but I needed some protein and I figured if that was all I had it would probably be ok. I just counted it as lunch. LOL.

Ok- so I just got some feedback from my friend who sat it on the interveiw and got it for me. The other two candidates for the QM position are more qualified, but I am the best CM candidate so far. Yay! She said she talked to the CEO and he is willing to cross train me to do the QM job (I guess if I get hired) to cover vacations and time off. So that sounds promising so far.

I didn't get any exercise in again tonight. I just got my homework done and it is already 10pm. Ouch. I am getting up early tomorrow to go to a scrapbooking fund-raiser so I should probably get to bed. I may try to get up early to get a quick walk in. I am finally starting to feel back to normal after the fall down the steps and should get back to regular exercise before i get out of the habit.

Well... emotionally it was a good day. Diet wise-- I sucked.

Started off good..... stayed faithful to Jenny until Trick or Treat time. I got a massage. It was so nice. Then I came home and hurried to straighten up the house since we were having friends over. It started with two bite size candy bars when no one was here to see me. Then 2 more. Then two pieces of pizza. The two peices of apple pie. Then my Jenny Craig popcorn snack. Arrrrgh. My husband is a saint. Despite the financial sacrifice my husband has made for me to be on Jenny Craig, he said not a word of criticism.

In all fairness, a month ago I could have eaten almost a whole large pizza by myself. I know myself though and once I start to cheat, I have a really hard time getting back on track. I just need to force myself to, I guess.

I got a call for a job interview for a quality manager at a LTAC (long term acute care hospital.) It would be about a 45 minute drive from here and would double my income. I don't really feel that qualified, but I am going to go for it anyways. On Wednsday I am giving a presentation for work on our agency to the Rotary Club. It will be the first time I have been asked to do a public speaking event for the agency I work at now. I feel ok about it, but am just a little nervous.

Tomorrow I need to get some homework done, get caught up on some work stuff, and get some exercise in. I probably won't get enough in to counteract all of the calories from tonight, but something is better than nothing.

I got a big kick out of watching the kids trick or treat. We got a lot of trick or treaters. Probably at least 100. Sitting outside with friends passing out candy was fun. It was one of the moments that hits you and all of a sudden you realize that you are really happy at that exact moment. Gotta go stir my roasting pumpkin seeds.

It was a good day. I got through work-- and when I got home I went for a 45 minute walk. My mp3 player battery went dead, so I used to time to chat with God. I love the fall. Walking through the neighborhood is like walking through a canopy covered in crayola colors. When I grot back, Greg, and my bonus son Michael weren't back yet so I took a nap. Soooo nice.

It turns out, my bonus so scored the highest of all of his classmates in his grade in math. We are really proud. Michael has Asperger's and really struggles with reading, verbal, and social skills, so the fact that he is a rock star in math is so cool. He is a neat kid and I am lucky to be his step mom.

Tomorrow Greg is taking Michael trick or treating and I am having a few friends over to pass out candy. It should be fun. I am doing pretty well with not eating candy or junk unless it is Jenny Craig approved, so I am hoping I can continue to trend. I think I will be ok. I am more excited about seeing the little neighbor kids in their costumes than I am about the candy.

I got two workouts in today just in case I have to miss a day this week. Life happens and I had some extra time. So tonight I did a Leslie Sanson Walk at Home video. I tried a Zumba DVD but my feet won't slide on the hardwood floor with tennies. Every time I tried to dance my foot would stick and I would trip. My dear family decided to sit out here and watch while I was working out. I was self conscious. Greg was in his own little world, but Michael watched me. I asked him if he wanted to join my and got an emphatic "no!!!". When I was done he said "Are you praising the Lord right now that you are done?" I thought that was pretty fun. I told him I was because I was done, and I was because I was grateful because I could do it in the first place.

Yesterday I went on a home visit to see one of my seniors. There was a family there. There was a 3 year old who was very dirty and a one year old. The house was very small and I couldn't get in at first. A young man, in his mid 20's came in and picked his young wife up out of the wheel chair and put her on the couch so I could get in the door. The two kids were her children. She was paralyzed and this young husband took care of her and the two kids. Anyways, it was obvious that they were very poor. I think there were 6 people, two who were wheelchair bound living in what was probably a 700 square feet space. It was sad but they were so nice and despite the condition of things, the kids seemed very happy. It made me really grateful for what I have. I could be that young woman who had to depend on her husband for everything. Time to start thinking about getting ready for bed.

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