Down 1.2

I lost 1.2 lbs. last week. Part of me hoped I'd lose more, but the other part knew I wouldn't because I didn't make the best choices for how I used my points. Oh well, it's a new week. And overall I've hit the 5 lb mark - 5.8 to be exact, so that's very exciting. We're walking the big trail again tonight, but this time we're walking the opposite way, which means bigger hills, but the hilly part is shadier and cooler. So we'll see how that goes. I have never been a runner, but one of my long (very long) term goals is to run this trail. I see people doing it all the time, but I've never even dreamed of doing something like that. But one day, I'm going to do it. But for now, we'll just focus on walking it.

What a weekend!

I don't even know where to start. I have been walking with my buddy a couple nights a week, and last night was a pretty cool evening, so we decided to tackle a new walking/biking trail they put in near our house. It's about 3.5 miles, and let me tell you it is MAJOR. The hills were killing us. I had to laugh (at the end after the sweat was drying and my breathing didn't sound like a freight train) because as we were chugging along, I was pushing Ty in the stroller, and he kepy leaning forward and pointing and shouting "GO GO GO!!!" People were like encouraging us saying how brutal it can be. But we did it!! Our faces were beet red and boy were we sweaty, but it was good bonding. I also shared with her my new favorite snacks: The Fiber One chocolate oat bars and also a wedge of Laughing Cow light spreadable cheese and reduced fat triscuits. Yum. One wedge + seven triscuits = 3 points!

(If you're squeamish, you might want to stop here. It's nothing too bad, but I thought I'd throw in the disclaimer just in case.)

Then I came home and got out my new mandolin slicer. (There are some of you who may already know where this story is headed.) I was so excited to use it because I was going to use it to chop up veggies and fruit to keep in the fridge for the week. Yeah, I sliced the tip of my pinkie finger off. Not the whole entire finger, but a substantial bit of my finger is now gone and won't grow back. I was horrified. I still am. I have been wounded in my quest for health and weight loss. I couldn't look, I just felt that I'd cut myself, grabbed a paper towl and wrapped my finger in it and went to find my husband. I must have been totally shocked, because I found him and said "please, don't say I told you so or anything smart, but I cut my finger and I can't look at it." Then I started crying. There was a lot of blood, and it hurts. A lot. And I can't look at cucumber slices because that's what I was cutting, and I'm a little scarred now I think. Tom had to throw away the plate of them for me. I asked if they could glue everything back together (my finger, not the cucumbers), but everyone looked at me like I had lost it. Other than that debacle, I had a good weekend point wise. I have my weigh in tonight, so I'll post the results later.

Shameless Mom-tactics

I really wanted a scoop of ice cream tonight, but the freezer was empty. So I packed Ty into the stroller and walked down to Baskin Robbins. I have to admit, I totally used Tyler. Because when a mom and a little kid come in, it's like "oh, look at the mom and her son, theyr'e out getting a scoop of ice cream together!" If I come in by myself, it's more like "oh, look at that lady! She hoofed it all the way down here by herself to add some ice cream to that butt!" There are some things that we don't usually do, but with our kids, it's ok. Another prime example: I wanted to get the new Harry Potter book at midnight when it came out. So I dragged my two nephews along with me so that I wouldn't look like a big dork all alone at the bookstore. It was actually really fun, we got posters and made wands. They had a blast. They are 5 and 12, so any opportunity to be out past bedtime was major -plus the fact they are huge fans as well.

I did get some activity in today though. I decided I'm going to log my activity on my blog as well as my points tracker so that I feel a little more accountable. I made sure my trek for ice cream was a brisk one so that I could count it, I did 25 min. of Turbo Sculpt, and Ty and I danced like crazy today to the Sgt. Pepper album while I was cleaning. I'm a big Beatles fan, I grew up listening to all my dad's music. I don't know how many activity points that equates to, but at least I know I was active. That's one of my main goals - even if I don't know exactly how many points an activity is, I'm trying to stay moving a lot more. Well, I'm off to read a few more blogs and then try and get to bed before 11. We'll see!


Points: 23.5/24 Activity: 25 min. TS/15 min brisk walk/15 min dancing =)

Yeah Baby!

4.6 pounds!!! Woo-hoo!! I was so worried that I hadn't lost anything, so when she said that I almost fell off the scale. Now, I know that the first week is usually a big loss and it's going to slow down, but I'm just going to revel in it for a while. That's pretty darn close to 5 lbs! It really made me feel motivated to keep going. I'm that much closer to doing the skinny dance!!

Cross your fingers!

I have my second weigh-in tonight and I'm just HOPING that I at least lost a little something. Because if I didn't, I know I'm going to be so sad. I think I have because I put on my work pants this morning and they felt a little bit looser. It must mean I've lost a little or that my fat is shifting. I hope to goodness it's not the second one. I've been reading about a lot of other victories so I hope I can post mine later tonight. Thanks for all the supportive comments everyone has left!!

Falling off the wagon...

I can already see that weekends are going to be a challenge for me. Yesterday wasn't such a great day. (let's just say Dairy Queen and leave it at that. You don't need the gory details.) We are usually out and about on the weekends, which means we end up eating out a lot more. I need to turn off the part of my brain that tells me "if you don't know how many points it is, that means it's no points at all!" And I know it's up to me to make the good choices. Grilled chicken vs. crispy, low fat dressing vs. full fat....I know. Today I tried veggie sausage and I was actually really impressed. It was the little sausage patties - two of them was 4 points, but compared to the real stuff, that's nothing. My son loved them too, so that's a bonus. Okay, I feel better now that I confessed to the Dairy Queen. I'm ready to make better choices today.

Me vs. The Candy Bar

I really like the fact that my employer likes to show that they appreciate their employees, but really. Do they have to give us all a candy bar to show it? And not a mini candy bar, not even a regular sized one. The KING SIZED 100 Grand bar (because they think we're "grand" Cute, huh? Not.) I stared at it for a while, and then I gave it to my coworker next to me. Now you may think, why would you do that to your coworker? Well, he's younger and more in shape than me and I felt bad throwing it away. Watching him eat it was kind of rewarding, because he reallllly enjoyed that candy bar. What would you call that? Eating junk food by proxy? Whatever it is, I didn't eat the candy bar, and for me that's big. It goes back to not eating the office birthday cake. These are usually my downfalls. I've been reading a lot of other blogs lately, and I really have to say that has helped me with this whole process. The feeling of community and the support everyone shares is very inspiring. I grab my water bottle and settle in to read some blogs and it really keeps me from snacking. That seems to be a common feeling I've noticed some other bloggers mentioning, so I just wanted to chime in and say I agree!

My first weigh in!

I had hoped that by some miracle, the Fat Fairy had come and sucked some pounds off so that I would weigh in under 200, but of course that didn't happen. 209.2 is my "official" starting weight. Which technically is better than the 211 I thought I was. I love my leader - it's a guy, which I wasn't totally sure about at first, but he is HILARIOUS. That scores major points with me, so I'm excited. My mom is a lifetime member so she gave me some cool stuff (recipes, books, etc.) to use, which is cool. I used a couple flex points and had an extra piece of pizza (gasp!) but other than that I've been right on point. No late night snacks or hiding...so far =)

Fun-Filled Day

Today we went to the Kent Cornucopia Days street fair with my parents. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Lots of walking and I didn't do too bad points-wise:

Breakfast:
Egg McMuffin (Just the muffin, egg and cheese - no meat) but I still counted it at 9 pts. just to be safe

Lunch:
Okay, here's where I got confused. I had a Raspberry Chipotle chicken flatbread salad from Quizno's, but I didn't eat the bread and got it with no bacon. So it was lettuce, a sprinkling of cheese, and chicken. I didn't eat very much of the dressing either because I just dipped my fork in the dressing and then got a bite of salad. The points tracker says the salad is 25 pts (WTH?!?!?) but I'm sure that's mostly the bread and the bacon. When I put the ingredients I actually ate in the recipe builder, it gave me a value of 6 points. After this lengthy explanation, I went with the 6 pts. I hope I'm not cheating.

Dinner:
1 cooked chicken breast, grilled veggies, and rice. I never realized when I eat rice how much I'm eating. I was trying to cut back a few points since I wasn't sure about lunch, so I only had 2/3 cup rice. That is actually a lot of rice!!! So dinner was 6 pts and I totally felt full. I can't believe how much I used to eat!!

Snack:
One WW Chocolate Cookie ice cream bar - 2 points. I loooove these!!! They are so yummy, and when I ate it, I took my time and enjoyed it!!

Total: 24/26 - two points leftover! But I'm not going to use them because of lunch.

Also, I talked to hubby today about how he felt about my WW plan because in the past, I haven't stuck with anything, and I wanted to make sure he is going to support me in this. He is totally into it! We actually had a good time together planning meals and doing the shopping. He kept asking me how many points something was. So hopefully we'll be able to make our lifestyle changes together.

Yay for the weekend!

I had a great morning at work (I work four hours on Saturday) and tonight I made it through the day with one point still left over. Tom and I went for a really nice walk this evening. We put Ty in his new stroller and walked for about forty minutes. We took our dog too, but she's a corgi and has really short little legs, so she was really tired by the end. We put her in the basket underneath the stroller and she rode in there for about five minutes and then decided she could carry on. I had to laugh at myself because I'm always really self conscious when people say anything to me about exercising - even like a simple little comment - because I jump to the conclusion that they are saying I need to exercise (which obviously I do, but soooo not the point). So there's this guy pushing a stroller coming towards us. We smile and say hi, and then he says "yeah, gotta get out and get that exercise, huh?" Well of course, in my head I'm like, "um, is he implying that I'm a fat ass and need to get out and walk more?" I told Tom this, and he promptly told me to stop it because the guy was just trying to be nice. =) I was thinking that I will be so happy when I can stop obsessing about food and my weight, but then I realized this will probably be a life long challenge for me, so I need to hush up that little voice in my head that spouts off negativity. I used to stuff her face with food to shut her up, now I'll have to find something else.

I have a buddy!

I absolutely loved my former boss, but she took a great job opportunity at another bank branch. I am happy for her, but I miss her of course. We look very similar and are about the same body type - people coming in the bank always asked if we were sisters or got the two of us mixed up. Anyway, I was chatting with her today and mentioned I have my first weigh in on Monday, and after we talked a while, she decided she is going to join with me. We live very close to one another as well as to an awesome new walking path around a new golf course. I don't think we'll be able to go to weigh ins all the time together because I have a part time schedule, but it will be awesome to have someone to walk with and I get to stay in touch with her. I also tried out the new stroller I got for Tyler and it's a DREAM! Our old stroller was kind of clunky and the wheels got stuck, but this one is really smooth, and the handle part is longer so I stand up straighter when I push it. It was a really great evening to walk. It made me feel much better because I had some chow mein noodles for dinner (not home made, so they were a little greasy), and they really made me feel weighed down. It's funny how even a few days of eating better and getting moving can really make you feel better.

*Also, I've been wanting to try Hummus - I keep hearing about it and seeing it as a snack suggestion, but I've never tried it. So if anyone has a hummus recipe they really like, please share it with me if you wouldn't mind. Thank you!

Good Decisions

Well, I had a mini-milestone yesterday. It was my turn to bring the birthday cake to work for a co-worker. I got a great oreo cake, and I didn't have a single piece. And I was okay with it. I came home for lunch and had my sandwich and fruit like it was no biggie. Usually when I bring the birthday cake, I take home the leftovers (and hide them of course!!) to enjoy while I watch Grey's Anatomy. Not this time!! And my first weigh in is this Monday. I would normally be tempted to have this weekend be a free for all before I weigh in, but I really want to get started off right. I'm excited.

Mostly I'm excited to get my weight loss jump-started because I saw some pictures of myself today, and oh my goodness gracious. I would look a lot thinner if it wasn't for my boobs. And my arms. And my thighs. Okay, so overall, I need some help. But man, my boobs just looked ginormous. I might post one of those pics in the kitchen to discourage myself from plowing through a bag of cookies. We'll see.

I'm cheating on my husband....

With food. At least it feels that way sometimes. Confession time: I went to the store a couple days ago, and they had these cute little fruit tarts on sale, buy one get one free. I brought them home and shared the first one with hubby and Ty and myself. But then later on, I heard that second one calling me and of course, I ate it. DH asks what happened to the fruit tart, knowing darn well I ate it. He mentions that there can't be any dessert in the house, because I eat it. So sometimes I hide it, and then I feel so guilty. I'm confused - do I clear out all the sweets? But then I'm scared I'll have a super craving and end up binging. If I have them in the house, can I trust myself not to eat too much? It seems like such a small thing, but in my mind it's this huge burning question. I got some great cherries and watermelon today, so they have been satisfying my sweet tooth. So far, great day. One day at a time.

The Beginning

Well, this is my official commitment. I don't want to be fat anymore. I've been checking out a few other weight loss blogs, and I decided that I was going to chronicle my weight loss and the issues that come along with it. I've never been very good at holding myself accountable when it comes to losing weight. I always swore that I would never be a fat mom. I was going to be the hip, skinny, fun mom that everyone else wanted to be. Somehow along the road, I became fat, frumpy mom. And I haven't even been a mom that long! EEk!

So here I am. My first goal is to decide how I want to go about this. I'm thinking I might join Weight Watchers because a lot of people have had success with it, and it sounds like it focuses on my main downfall - portion control. I can't just eat one brownie and be done, I have to eat the whole pan. So I'd like to be able to eat what I want, but learn to stop when I've had enough.

Wish me luck.