slow lane

I lost .8 at weigh in today. I was hoping for a little more, but I'm still really happy with the loss. That’s almost a lb. I've been perfect on the program and it's TOM, which usually means no loss at all. That's .8 that I'll never see again.

I've got some challenges coming up at the end of May/beginning of June, so I talked to my JCC about that. I've got to come up with a really structured plan so I can get through them.

Every time I really get back on track, I end up having to travel for a week or having someone come to town, and my weight loss is totally wrecked. I can't let this happen again!

Well, I'll blog again later today. Just wanted to get my weigh in results in.

get in shape girl

Remember the get in shape girl sets you could buy in the 80s? I loved my gymnast wand with the ribbon tied to it. I can vaguely hear the commercial jingle in my head.

Get in shape girl! It’s almost as good as JEM!

I'm kind of embarrassed that this was running through my head at the gym today, and it was kind of pumping me up. Even funnier, imagine Rocky doing his little meat punchin’, stair joggin' montage to that music.

Oh yeah. You heard it right. I went to the gym tonight. Lame theme song and all.

I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and 15 on the bike. I'm over the hump, so I'm hoping it will be easier to go from now on. I'm going to try for 3 times this week so I don't overdo it, as I'm prone to do.

Stayed OP today, so that's 2 successful weeks on Jenny Craig. Can't wait for my weigh in on Wednesday.

Today was crazy busy. I edited ALL DAY, which is an extremely brain bending experience. I got a ton done, but by 5 I was absolutely useless. I can barely stand reading as I'm writing right now.

Hope all you guys had great Mondays!

hippy

I've always been a pear shaped gal. I carry most of my weight in my lower abdomen, thighs, hips and butt. Even now, at 195, I can barely create cleavage and it involves a gravity defiant bra and back fat.

I'm very grateful for this genetic shape because I have friends who carry their weight in their busts. Though they tend to have an easier time of it when it comes to swimsuit season, I've seen them struggle with very serious issues like back pain and surgery and having to special order bras. And they have just as much trouble finding tops as I do finding bottoms.

Well this morning I woke up with an aching pain in my left hip joint. I turned to my other side and woke up only a few minutes later with the same pain. Not like "Oh my God!" pain, just uncomfortable nagging pain. No matter what I did, I could not get comfortable.

And this is where I start to sound like a Posturepedic commercial. What will I do about these leg pains mattresses o’ the world?

I got up to make breakfast and contemplate this new body ailment. This extra weight is taking much more of a toll on my body than I realized. I already have a bad left knee (that I'm told will get better with weight loss and exercise), a few bulging disks in my back and now these hip aches. Something tells me it's not going to get any easier down the road.

I'm 28 and this is not acceptable. I refuse to be 40 or 50 or even 60, barely able to get around without a wheelchair. You just don't have to settle for that these days unless there’s something really wrong with you. I still feel 18 in this cookey brain of mine, and I want to keep it that way as long as possible. Thinking about all these aches and pains is not helping!

So, I'm going to the gym tomorrow and am more resolved than ever to get into shape. Why the hell do I care about the size clothes I wear? I’m talking about the length of time between me and a nursing home now. Or worse. This is serious.

What a wake up call, literally.

I also took my measurements this morning finally. Just hadn’t felt like doing it. And, I’ve decided that I will get a message when I reach my first 10 lb. loss.

lazy saturday

I slept soooo late today and got absolutely nothing done. We ended up not going to the movies because everything playing seemed more Netflixable than theatre worthy. We did take a little walk around the city, so I got some movement in, but it hardly counts as exercise.

We only walked about 1 mile I'd say, and, I'm southern, so unless I've got on gym clothes and tennis shoes, I stroll. I try to be a city walker, but strolling is just ingrained in me. I like to take everything in—stop to look in a shop window, watch some cute kids playing in the park, contemplate the homeless man at the bus stop. Maybe it’s not a southern thing, maybe I just like to stare.

We were honestly kind of bored because we normally like to go out to eat on the weekends. It was kind of sad to think about how much of our free time revolves around going out to eat. And, I’m not gonna lie, it’s a lot of fun to go to a nice restaurant, sit outside in the sun and let someone wait on you. We chill there for a couple hours reading or talking and eating, eating, eating. We thought about going to the gym, but just didn’t feel like it.

Well that’s gotta stop kids. Even when we (my husband is dieting too) get to our goal weight, we can’t fall back into those old habits, so here are some things we can do on the weekend besides go out to eat (cleaning house doesn’t count cause we do that every weekend anyway). Let me know if you have any ideas to add!

-Go to they gym.

-Go to the zoo.

-Go to the beach.

-Go to Golden Gate Park.

-Visit one of the bajillion museums here.

-Watch the sea lions.

-Go shopping! (If finances allow.)

-Go to the movies.

-Go ice skating.

-Go bowling.

-Fly a kite.

Okay, no excuses now. I’m making it one of my goals for us to do one of these things next weekend (tomorrow’s cleaning day). Hold me accountable okay!

On another note, stayed OP today, but feel really weird. Kind of light-headed and shakey. Hope that goes away.

peeps

I'm adding a bunch of people to my friends list so I can keep up with their blogs. Let me know if you're strongly opposed to the idea!

In other news, the Jenny Craig blueberry muffin is much better with a spritz or two of spray butter. Scrumptious!

Going to catch up on everyone's blogs and maybe to the movies.

francophile

I just got this e-mail at work.

"Please note that our French office will be closed on the following days in May for Public Holidays.

May 1st

May 8th

May 17th

May 28th"

Do you see that? Four holidays in May and that's just the tip of the iceburg. We need to learn how to celebrate in the new world people. No wonder French women don't get fat. I'd be skinny too if I had 50 days off a year.

And, they have the French Riviera. So not fair.

snack attack

I’ve always been a late night snacker. My mom told me once that she came into my room one night when I was still sleeping in a crib and I cried, “Chips momma, chips!”

I had to stay up late tonight to finish my monthly report for work because I procrastinate like that, and the good news is I'm done. The bad news is, I have a bad case of the late night munchies. I went into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and said, "No, I'll blog instead."

Munchies averted. All is quiet on the Western Front.

On a different note, I gotta get this sleeping business on a schedule. I think that's why I'm having such a difficult time getting back into exercising.

I'm tired people! I get 8 hours a day usually, but it is at different times each day, sometimes in spurts and that is whacking me out. I am definitely a creature who requires sleep. I have been known to fall asleep at my desk and cannot possibly be a passenger in a care without falling asleep. And, I roll with it guys, because if the sleep does not occur, then the incredible beastliness will.

Okay, not snacky anymore! That was pretty cool. Going to bed now and listening to Harry Potter on my i Pod. An English dude reads it and it is the best way to fall asleep.

All grown up and still get chips, I mean bedtime stories…puurrrrrrr.

woulda, coulda, shoulda - inspired by TatumsMom

So, TatumsMom sent me a message that really got me thinking. Yes, I believe that the Scientologists are overlooking me because I'm fat, and that's probably a good thing. But, there are tons of things that I want to do, but don't do because of my weight. Things that I'm putting on hold until I get this business under control.

When I gained this weight and started trying to lose it 5 years ago, this was an acceptable option. "Focus on your health, and then do x, y, z, because you won't be the best you can be until that's taken care of," is what I've been saying to myself.

That's 5 years to do all these things down the drain. Poof. Gone. Never to return. That is depressing. So, I'm going to make a list of all the things I WILL DO when the weight is gone in a year. That will be right before my 30th birthday, and I'll be ready to accept these new challenges.

By writing them here, I will be forced to look back at them and make these things a reality. What are you not doing that you want to do when you get your health under control?

1. Go back to school and finish my graphic design degree. (I have a degree in English, but I never finished this one, and I want to get a masters degree in graphic design once the bachelor’s is complete. I'm a nerd.)

2. Write a book. (I've really wanted to do this for a long time. I'm not sure if it will be a grown up book or a kid's book, but it will be fiction. I'm just waiting for the right idea to come along.)

3. Join a church choir. (I studied opera from ages 12 to 20. I decided it wasn't the right career for me, but I would love to start singing again. I really miss that. Anyone know a good church in SF who needs a Soprano II?)

4. Take yoga, pilates and some kind of dance class. (I used to do yoga all the time before gaining weight and now I get really frustrated when I try to do it and can't hold the poses. Just really want to try the other two. Maybe become certified in one.)

5. Start my own business. (I do some freelance writing and design stuff, but definitely not enough to support myself.)

6. Take more pictures. (I got a Nikon FM12 for Christmas a few years ago and have learned a little bit about photography. I would like to spend more time taking pictures creatively and with my husband. We don't have enough of those.)

6.5 Have a baby. (I'm not sure about this one yet, that's why it's a .5. I love kids and want to have one, but it seems like such a hard thing to do. Plus we couldn't afford it now and it seems like you can never really afford it you just have to do it and I'm just in awe of all you guys that do it.)

And, of course, buy lots of awesome skinny clothes.

Okay, that is definitely enough to keep me busy for the rest of my life. Can you tell I’m and overachiever? It kills me that I don’t get an A in weight loss. These are the things that I want to do, but don't. I've given myself a deadline to lose weight. Now I've given myself a start date to do all this.

droppin' some science...tology

So, I just walked by the Church of Scientology on Montgomery Street in SF. I have to walk by there for lunch when I go to the office. It's a very cool Flatiron style building with really funny looking fake movie posters advertising why you should join Scientology.

I've lived in the city for almost two years now, and walked by this building many a time, but I still get a little thrill of excitement as I'm passing. I mean, come on! This is scientology. To a girl from a small town in Georgia, that's like seeing a unicorn or discovering you can fly. It just doesn't happen.

So, I'm walking by like a 10-year old walking past Boo Radley's, a little intrigued a little creeped out, and I so want someone to come out and try to recruit me. I don't know why. Just so I can say, "I almost became a scientologist once," probably.

And, I'm secretly kind of annoyed that they've never approached me. I mean there are a lot of scientologists here with there black box emotion reading machines and they've never once tried to rope me into a demonstration.

I wouldn't be a very good scientologist. I'm not good at organized anything. I'm terrible at sports, I was an awful sorority sister and I prefer to keep my convos with God one-on-ones. Maybe they can sense that.

But here's the really crazy thing. For a split second I thought, “They probably don't want me cause I'm fat.” WHAT!

So here's an experiment I'm going to try. If, when I lose my 60 lbs, I am still not approached by the scientologists, then I've been making up all the fat snobbery I have perceived on these beautiful city streets. If I am approached, then I was totally right.

How's that for a scientific-ologic experiment?

Finally, I love the little restaurant where I get salads for lunch during work. They have the most awesome, freshest salad bar ever.

Still OP, yeah! Need to start exercising, boo! Any tips on getting yourself to make that first exercise plunge?

no scurvy - argh!

I'm a big fan of sour and salty stuff, and chocolatey, sweet and chewy stuff for that matter too. I like lots of stuffs. Anyway, I've really been craving the sour and salty stuff. Normally I scarf down some vinegar and salt potato chips and call it a calorie stuffed day.

Well, I recently rediscovered something I used to do when I was younger that satisfies this craving and it's totally on Jenny, plus it gives me this neat nostalgic satisfaction. Like squashing the bread of sandwiches.

Anyway, some of y'all are going to be like GRODY, but this hits the spot for me.

So what I do is take a lemon (I love raw lemons, eating them with a straight face would be my circus talent if I ever decided to take the big top plunge. All the ladies in my family can do it. We could be like the straight-faced lemon sisters or something) and cut the top off so that a quarter-sized section of the fruit is showing from the top. Then I sprinkle a little salt on the top and squeeze the lemon so that the salt seeps in. Then I just kind of lick the salty lemon juice. It's kind of like a lemon sour if you've ever had one, but with no club soda. It lasts forever, so it's something to occupy me at night when I'm watching TV instead of chowing on other stuff, and it really does satisfy the salty, sour thing.

Plus, I will never get scurvy, and that my friends is what we call a bonus.

It does add a bit of sodium, but I try to keep the salt light and I drink so much water, I haven’t found that I retain anything.

That's about as gourmet as I get unless I'm making an order. Give it a try. You just might like it. Or let me know if you do this too so I don't feel weird.