How to gain 5.2 lbs in 4 days

Holy moly! Granted, we did have beef stew for dinner last night made with full sodium beef broth, but the scale was a whopping 190.8 this morning! I didn't want to ever see the 190s again! I knew it probably would be high though - I was up 1/2 the night sweating profusely, not because I am sick, but because of all the salt. Boy was it uncomfortable. And then this morning I felt so hungry, but really was it was was thirst. But thankfully I did not succumb to the fake hunger pains - I have learned! I drank a ton of water.

But some of the gain is legitimate - But this is why I need to weigh myself every day. I didn't weigh myself yesterday and all day I was wondering, but it didn't really help me eater healthier during the day.

But I've been pretty good all day and been dreaming about working out tomorrow morning :)

When the eating is ugly, go running

My eating has been pretty ugly since Thursday. I was successful with just getting a burrito on a low-carb tortilla on Friday. But since I hadn't gone grocery shopping and we had zero food in the house, instead of throwing a frozen pizza in the oven Friday night with no vegetables to go with it, I decided that the whole family should test out the new McDonalds in town. I only have McDonalds maybe 4 times a year and almost never to sit down. I didn't grow up with fast-food and fast-food really didn't play a part in me gaining weight. I don't want to deprive my kids of it - I just don't want it to be a habit. We had a McDonalds and they tore it down and built a new one. I couldn't have had a cheeseburger and small fries, but instead I got a Big Mac and the regular fries. No soda though.

Saturday I had Slim Fast AND a granola bar as we ran out the house to my daughter's dance recital. We had time to burn between the recital and her skating lesson so we went to Dunkin Donuts. I had a donut and 3 Munchkins despite the Fiber One bar in my purse. Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich, with chips, snacks was picking throughout the afternoon, and dinner was what will become our annual "thank god winter is 1/2 way over" celebration of spaghetti (and garlic bread) and cake and ice cream. Spaghetti was a huge, huge contributor to me gaining weight. But since we usually have it on Wednesdays, the night before weigh-in, I have been very good at eating a small amount. But before dinner was even served, I decided I was going to indulge. Not to the point of feeling stuffed. But to be honest, it felt really nice to not care but not feel so full I was miserable. I even had a second serving of ice cream after the kids went to sleep so I could savor it.

I woke up this morning feeling achy. Not I'm-getting-sick-achy, but my arms hurt because we had to rake snow off our roof to try to prevent ice damns (the unit next to us had severe damage 2 years ago from ice dams). I love the feeling of having achy arms!

My daughter and I tried to go swimming but when we got there we found there was a meet going on so the pool was closed. I was itching to get some sort of exercise, so I hit the treadmill. I originally planned on just walking for 45 minutes. But as soon as I got on I decided I was going to go for a 5K. I had the time. But at my slow pokey pace of 3.2 mph max it was going to take forever. So I decided to do some intervals of jogging (and a whopping 4.0 for 90 seconds) Including the warm-up, the 5K took me 55 minutes - My last interval I did at 5.0 - my pants almost fell down :) I am not sure where I will go with it - If I am going to be on the treadmill I have to get my heart rate up and in order to do that I need to at least jog some of the time. But the treadmill has never been my favorite form of hard cardio - Biking and Step I enjoy more. But I will try it occasionally and see what happens.

We have a tv on our top floor where I am wasting money each week paying for a cable box - I think I need to get the guy out to move it downstairs (I am not sure if the cable downstairs is even working) so I can watch DVRed shows down there or do On Demand videos.

Long Chinese Hangover

I still feel the affects of the chinese food from yesterday.

I wasn't hungry for a snack yesterday afternoon, though did drink my 8 oz coke that I didn't have with lunch, because I needed a little pick-me-up. And I had my intended LC pizza and carrots for dinner instead. I still felt so bloated at bedtime and woke up 2 lbs heavier this morning. Ugh.

I was feeling lazy and adventurous, so didn't pack myself any food except for a morning lunch, my 8 oz coke, and my afternoon snack. Instead of my normal breakfast sandwich AND yogurt parfait, I just got my yogurt parfait. For lunch I need to run out to Target (yeah payday!) and I plan on going to Fresh City and getting a black bean burrito on a low-carb wrap and NO salad - for a while I was getting both the burrito and a salad (with nuts, cheese and lots of dressing).

My husband, my daughter and my birthdays are all within 3 weeks of each other in August - last summer, after having cake 3 times in 3 weeks, we decided that we'd only do cake for her and ice cream for all of us. And then my son's birthday is St Patrick's Day. We are going to do cupcakes for his birthday, so since we won't be buying a cake at this insanely yummy place, I am going to pick one up tonight for tomorrow. Tomorrow is my daughter's dance recital. And we all need a pick-me-up to celebrate the 1/2 way point of winter (well almost the 1/2 way point) - I do get SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) to a degree and this month has been insane with 60" of snow so far. So yes, we are going to celebrate with cake :)

If only we could be back in Hawaii....

All of this snow this winter is really getting to me. It is only January 27th and we've had at least 60" of snow and  none of it is gone!

While I am working from home, in celebration of seeing the "Overweight" instead of "Obese" for the first time, I decided to try on my honeymoon clothes. I am 1.6 lbs away from where I was when I got married, but I look very different - thanks 2 kids (and from what I hear from friends who are over 40, the sagging boobs isn't just a kid thing). I got married in May 2005 and got pregnant 6 months later.

The clothes I wore to Hawaii were size 14 dresses, size L shirts, and size 16 shorts/skirts. Everything zipped up, though I had a couple of dresses that zipped on the sides and I had a slight problem getting them up but I was successful. But things I could wear braless almost 6 years ago, no way anymore! I think I was a 38 C when I got married and now I wear a 40 C but dreaming of getting back to a 38. Well, what I really want is to be a 36 B again, which I was through highschool, all through my 20s, and into my early 30s.

Trying everything on made it painfully obvious how much I need to work out and try to tone everything as much as I can. I don't expect to look like I did in my 20s. Honestly, I don't know what to expect in terms with how much I can tone my mid-section. Until I had kids I never had weight in my stomach area, even at 200 lbs.

And what did I do after all this, I went with my husband and raided the Chinese Buffet. Ugh I feel sick now and I don't want to eat for a week!

Weekly Weigh In

Last Week: 187.2
This Week: 185.6
Change: -1.6
Total Since 3/25/2010: -30.4

Okay, I'll admit, I was a cheater this morning. Originally I posted my weight of 186.2, but 2 hours later, after shoveling a ton and peeing more :) I was back to 185.6. The first time I stepped on my scale I was 185.4 so I got to see the magic number. But when I went to get my iphone for photographic proof, it wouldn't go back down. But I did jump on the Wii Fit seeing that they love to say 'That's Obese'. But no, finally they got to say 'That's Overweight'!!!!! BMI of 29.94 since the Wii Fit goes to 2 decimals and my scale only goes to 1 so my scale has me right at 30.0.

So even though it was a little of a cheat, I am standing by it! And I am staying on course because I don't ever want to be obese again!

Mid-week Check In

Lots of stuff going on - it's been a little hectic and the next few weeks will continue to be so.

Work is crazy and I have barely been at my desk which makes it a bit harder to eat all my meals and snacks on time, but I have been doing it. I work with all men and they are great - either they are on Weight Watchers, want to be on Weight Watchers, or have wives on Weight Watchers, so they definitely help.

Despite disorganized dinners this week, the scale was at 185.6 this morning! I so badly want it to be 185.4 because that is a very, very magic number according to my scale.

We are getting another snow storm tomorrow so I cancelled Weight Watchers - the storm is not supposed to  be as big as originally expected, but even with a little snow a lot of people will work from home. So I postponed the registration until next week (and now I won't be there) - I am still worried we won't get 15 people. I am trying not to stress about it though. I will need to find a meeting elsewhere though - I don't trust myself to do it 100% on my own. Plus I want to get the trinkets and stickers you get at milestones :)

And next week I am supposed to travel for work. I haven't had to travel by plane for work in over 10 years. I hate flying. And I am so nervous about the eating aspect of being on the road for 3-5 days. I feel like I am on a roll and I don't want it sidelined due to travel, but there is nothing I can do about it. Plus I think I may have to go shopping because I don't have any nice business casual that fits.

The weekend is over...

I woke up Saturday morning at 186.0 and was ectatic, but this wasn't the best weekend food-wise. Not horrible, but definitely not great.

I had chips both days at lunch and I nibbled in the chip bag (pita chips) more than once.

We had pulled pork and Asian coleslaw for dinner Saturday night - I literally can eat a whole bag of asian coleslaw, it is that good, but I only had 2 servings, though I did find myself nibbling off the spoon as we were cleaning up.

I had one piece of pizza at a birthday party - my poor daughter doesn't like pizza, but that is what they serve at every party, and usually it is at their place when they go in to sit down. But I didn't have a second piece. And I passed on the cake and the orange soda.

My husband make pancakes this morning, using Star Wars molds the kids gave him for Christmas. I didn't put butter on mine and instead of seconds, I have yogurt and blueberries.

I roasted a chicken for dinner tonight and made Thanksgiving stuffing. Another dish I could eat a whole dish full, but didn't even have seconds. But we did have ice cream for dessert.

So I'd love to be back to 186 by Thursday, but I am not sure. Our dinners this week are a little wacky. And we have potentially another huge storm to deal with this week. And the rumor is that the after-school program at school is full meaning we'll have to figure out something on our own (which will be a PITA and lots of $) and throw in tons and tons of work, this week could be incredibly stressful. But I am going to try to eat well despite the stress. Because the work stress isn't going to go away any time soon.

On a good note, we broke out the Nickelodeon Fit and Just Dance for the Wii and all 4 of us had fun with them. It felt good to just move at all!

It's a White Wedding

Okay, I couldn't wait. I woke up this morning at 186.6, 2.6 lbs (and many inches) away from my wedding weight. After the husband and 2 kids drove off into yet another snow storm, I decided I was going to see if my wedding dress actually could be zipped up all the way. It hasn't been able to be since we got home from the honeymoon. In the 6 months between getting married and conceiving our daughter, I gained 22 lbs. I haven't seen the 180s since we got married - I don't think I weighed myself when we got home from our honeymoon, but I would not be surprised if I gained more than 6 lbs in those 2 weeks.

So here I am today - no makeup, rolled-out-of bed look

Here I am on one of the best days of my life. Even though I wasn't the weight I wanted to be, I truely felt like a princess for the first time in my life.

We got married in Stowe, Vermont where the Von Trapp's (of the Sound of Music) have a hotel, so I decided to twirl and sing 'The Hills are Alive...'

Weekly Weigh In

Last Week: 188.4
This Week: 187.2
Change: -1.2
Total Since 3/25/2010: -28.8

I'll take it! I had hoped for 187.0 but TOM is in the house. For next week I am hoping for 186. I am doing a challege with friends and hoping to get to 184 by Feb 10, so 3.2 lbs in 3 weeks. I can do it! I do want to step it up a notch to try to get to an average of 1.5 lbs per week. I am really hoping to be at goal by my first child's 5th birthday (August 7) but if not then, by my 41st birthday. But in order to make that I need to step it up definitely. But at the same time, I hate to make time goals because I never, ever seem to reach them.

Edited to say: I got another 5 lb sticker at WW - and since we have new books with the new program, I got all 6 5 lb stickers! At first she said 'You are down .2' - I was kind of like - huh? But then I realized I had forgotten to take off my bulky sweater that I wear over my very thin dress I wear each Thursday. My one pound sweater I now know! So according to WW I am down 30.6 :)

7 months to being fit?

The title of this blog, currently, is Fit (Again) by 41 - Well I just looked at the calendar and was reminded that 41 will arrive in 7 months from today. And while I have lost almost 30 lbs since last March, I have done zero to become more fit.

My quick experiences with exercise have been just that, quick.
- 2 weeks in May before I was convinced I had plantar fasciitis (which made me feel horrible because I was convinced it was happening because I had gotten too fat for my flat feet)
-6 weeks in September before I got a dreadful head/chest cold that last 25 days (I did work out through the first couple of days but stopped). I have returned to working out and I am the oldest broken record in the world.  But really, a lot of it, was that I had to work really hard to change my lifestyle to go to bed at 10:30 to get up at 5:30. I still know that that is the only time I can work out, but I've been so busy in the evenings that I haven't been able to get myself up early. But Friday will be the day. I sware!

I am truely aching to have my body ache. I can't remember the last time it did. I am working from home today and decided to just fast-forward through Jillian's 30 Day Shred to see what it entailed. I am very excited! If I can do that a couple of times a week and then pure cardio another 3-4 days a week then I think I will have a very good start. Part of why I have been reluctant to pick up the weights, when that is the aspect of working out that I have loved in the past, is that I wanted to concentrate on cardio and sweating and I usually don't sweat when I lift weights. But from what everyone tells me, I will be sweating with the 30 Day Shred. So I'll walk on Friday and try Jillian over the weekend. Wow I am excited!

The Monthly Weight Dip

For so long I never had to worry about how my TOM would affect the scale at Weight Watchers. The many times I've been a member, I've always weighed in on Thursdays. But being on the Pill, my cycle was completely predictable and incredibly short. It arrived on Tuesday morning and was gone by Thursday morning, so the weigh-in before was never up because it was too far in advance and the weigh-in after/during wasn't affected because it was over. Perfect world!

But now we've had our kids and I don't need the Pill anymore (thank you Husband!) but the predictability is no longer there and I definitely miss that. When we were trying to have kids each cycle was 35 days long, but now is roughly 27-29 days. Go figure.

But what I have been noticing over the last year is usually the morning TOM arrives, I get on the scale and I am down 1-2 lbs! Very weird - I don't know why. Because within a few hours I am crampy and bloated and feel as big as a house. Then I eat like crap during that time and the scale is back up.

But the last couple of mornings I've been down almost 1/2 lb each day - I am not complaining. I was 187.0 this morning! I hope it continues to tumble - I thought I would shoot through the 190s and that so was not the case! 5 months to lose 10 lbs is not impressive, though I know each pound lost is good for my health. But I want, I need to fly through the 180s. 184.0 is so close and that means trying on my wedding dress.....

But in the immediate future is my next 5lb star at WW - As long as I am 188.0 or less on Thursday I should get it. I want it so badly that I drove into work today with my husband, despite the horrible weather, but I didn't trust myself to be home with chocolate santas and Lindt truffles.

Treats and Rewards

The treats being that the off-plan activities of Thursday night and Friday morning have led to a kind of
lackadaisical attitude this weekend.I haven't tracked one line this week and the week is 4 days old.  And this afternoon, I found myself popping the Lindt truffled from my Christmas stocking.

The rewards part was that I decided to take my 189 ld progress pictures. Since I've been 209, I've taken pictures at ##9 and ##4. I take front, side and back pictures in 4 different outfits: workout, one piece bathing suit, bra and underwear, and jeans and shirt. Not pretty, but keeps it real. But it is sad that the last time I took pictures was almost 3 months and the time before that was almost 3 months before that, so since 7/28/2010, the first time I saw 199, I've only lost 10 lbs.

We were very busy this weekend doing errands and such. A large trip to Target resulted in:

1) Just Dance 2 - We've had the Wii for 2 1/2 years and we really don't use it. We have the Wii Fit as well. Part of it is due to location - It is in our living room and my husband usually dominates the tv at night and it is right below the kids' room so I am afraid to use it in the morning.

2) New underwear! My XL/Size 8 were just too out of control big so I finally threw them all out, except for the 1 pair I take in my progress picks, and got some size 7. They sadly still look large, but not as bad at the XL.

I need to go get some rest so hopefully the rest of the week isn't shot foodwise (doesn't help that TOM is coming up as well).

An off-plan evening turns into an off-plan morning

Last night we had our "holiday" party at work - I had one drink then turned to water, since I had drive home and I had work to do that night. But the passed hors d'oeuvres were way too yummy and way too abundant. Then the husband and I took advantage of my parents babysitting and went out to dinner - we had trouble finding a place because our normal haunts near our house all have on-street parking and after 18"+ inches of snow, there wasn't much room to park, so we ended up at a pubby-type restaurant where we split some appetizers. I had water. My body is just not used to all the greasy food so I get pains - I do sometimes think I have mild gallbladdar issues. I wasn't full persay, but I was uncomfortable for the rest of the night.

Because of all the sodium that night, I woke up in the morning starving. I threw a Slim Fast in my bag, in addition to a yogurt parfait. I drank the Slim Fast on the way to work, along with my normal 20 oz of work. I was dragging when I got to work and still feeling starving so I decided on a breakfast sandwich and a 12 oz can of coke. Not good. But lunch and snacks from now on will be on program and then I will really need to track for the rest of the week.

We live in Patriots country, but I told my husband that I don't want to eat Super Bowl type food until the actual Super Bowl, regardless of who is in it. A 4:30 in the afternoon football game is not a reason to eat lots of junk.

So hopefully this 15 hour blip is over for week - I am not going to beat myself up over a blip. This is not a diet. This is life and life is full of blips. My new manager at work lost 20 lbs on WW over the summer over 12 weeks and never ate one of her extra weekly points. She had to go to a center for her last weigh-in and she was all mad when people at that center told her that while they force people to eat any or all of their weeklies, their experience has been that it is harder for people to keep it off if they do it quickly and strictly. I completely agree with them! I am by no means doing this quickly but I am learning so much in the process. Hmmm, I guess I should write a post sometime soon of what I am learned. Or maybe keep it for the end of March when my 1st anniversary of recommitment comes up.

Milestones for 180s

While I am not saying that I will never see the 190s again (A 1.6 lb buffer is a little too close for comfort) but I've been wanting to post my milestones because this is a pretty significant decade for me.

189.8 - Make it into the 180s DONE
189.0 - Get to take progress pictures Would do tomorrow if I were to be home, so might have to wait
188.0 - Get another 5 lb sticker at WW Hoping for next week
186.0 - Lost 30 lbs since 3/25/2010
185.4 - Overweight status - no longer obese/ 1/2 way to goal since 1/1/2010 weight (221.8)
184.0 - Wedding weight (was married 5/21/2005, go pregnant 6 months later)/ Get to take progress pictures/ Will try on wedding dress and honeymoon pictures
183.0 - Get another 5 lb sticker at WW
182.4 - 1/2 way to goal since recomittment on 3/25/2010 (216)

Just so much to be excited for! The overweight status is definitely the key. The wedding dress/honeymoon pictures sound like a fun idea, but probably won't make me feel better because I doubt they will fit. After having 2 kids and also not working out (I toned a lot before I got married), I have my doubts. My honeymoon clothes were Size 14 and I am no where near there. My 16W pants are pretty baggy, but my 16s are not. Definitely gives me incentive to work out....if only I didn't feel a nasty cold coming on and all the long hours working.

I am just thrilled to be in the 180s, but I hope I pass by them quickly! Not the 5+ months it took me to get out of the 190s.

Weekly Weigh In

Last Week: 191.0
This Week: 188.4
Change: -2.6
Change Since 3/25/2010: -27.6

Yeah for being in the 180s - boo that I could have been less if it wasn't for all my snacking yesterday. I continued to be annoyed at myself.

Tracking definitely helped this week so I need to keep it up. Usually I bail on the tracking because Thursday or Friday I usually let myself eat more but I don't track then I don't fully know how many extra points I have and I give up.

I didn't get a chance to make up my menu for the week. Tonight we are staying late at work for our "holiday party" and may go out to dinner. I won't be able to work from home tomorrow because of the storm yesterday, but I hopefully can leave early to go shopping on the way home.

Last night I worked for 4 hours on the couch but at the end I started feeling crappy and was hoarse, almost like broncitis or something is coming on. Boo. But also with all the work I will be staying up really late for at least the next 3 weeks so I am not sure where/if exercise will come in.

Oh yeah, I forgot. NSV yesterday! The fact that I was able to wear my snow pants and button/zip up my ski jacket. Yeah!!!!

Snow snacks

I knew me and my husband was going to be home today and I knew it was likely that the kids would be home as well a  nd I knew it would be stressful because I have so much work to do. But I had pre-populated my WW tracker thinking I would stay on-plan. By 10:00 am I was off. I ate breakfast too early (at 7:30), then had a Slim Fast around 9:30. But then my husband left out the Chex Mix and the kids wasnted Pirates Booty so I found myself munching - probabably 5 points worth. And then at noon I had more normal morning snack and lunch - so by the end of lunch I was 10 points over what I normally am. But I will probably burn some of it when we brave the elements later for a family outing in the 18" of snow to unearth our cars. Dinner is up in the air because we were going to get Subway - not sure what we'll do now. The scale was fantastic this morning - 188.2! But who knows what it will be tomorrow - weigh-in day :(

I am hoping I can stay relatively on-plan for the rest of the day - though it is only 2 pm and I've got at least 10 hours left since I have to make up all my work once the kids go to sleep.

Passed the new snack test

My afternoon snack was a banana and 1 stalk of celery with 1 TB of Peanut Butter. I didn't feel like eating the house when I got home, though I was hungry. AND I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home and didn't buy anything bad - though those M&Ms looked really, really good.

I figured out the points of my "real" chicken nuggets (4) and measured out my 1 cup of whole grain pasta. And I had a huge, huge salad. It looked like a ton of food. And I passed on the chocolate santa that my husband and kids broke out.

I resorted back to the Lean Cuisine pizza for lunch (9 points where I literally will cut (with scissors) a chunk out of it to make it 8 points). And my snack will be a vitatop and an apple. I brought a sharp knife to work (somehow that felt so wrong) so I could cut up my apple. We'll see how it goes.

 I am now greedy and can't wait to see the scale say 188.8.

189.6 again....

I went to bed at 12:30 and woke up at 5:00 to do work - ugh. But the scale was nice to me this morning - yeah! I am so eager to really jump into the 180s and never see the 190s again. Also, when I am firmly planted at 189.0 I get to take progress pictures again. It has been since 10/22 when I took my 194.0 progress pics. I am very eager, though the pictures usually do send me back to reality that I am still considered obese.

Not only did it take me a while to pack my food yesterday, it took me a while to pack my lunch bag this morning - I couldn't remember exactly which meal each food was for. Breakfast and morning snack were the same. Lunch was a tuna sandwich instead of Lean Cuisine pizza. So far, so good. Though I did make the sandwich too early yesterday so it was pretty soggy by lunch today - pitfulls of Light bread I guess. It's been so long since I packed a sandwich. My real test will be the banana and celery/PB snack this afternoon. After 9 months of chocolate vitatops, I am not sure where/how to get my chocolate fix (and don't say our cupboard full of chocolate santas and Lindt truffles)

My husband did pay me a compliment Saturday in telling me my jeans were baggy. Granted, I usually wear the pair for a couple of days so it had plenty of time to get baggy, but I will take the compliment! I have no problem taking them :)

Not sure if the work-out is going to happen tomorrow morning. I only got 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night and i would love to say I'd go to bed at 10:00 tonight to make up for it, but I think I will be up late and up early working again. Or maybe just up late but then really need to "sleep in" to 6:15 so I am not completely exhausted. I need to get out of this hole at work and be all caught up - I thought I was on Friday and then it got piled on me again. No fun.

Almost Monday

With a 4 year old and almost 2 year old, I am usually glad when Monday rolls around. This weekend is no exception.

I am also looking forward to the morning to see what the scale brings. As I expected, I have seen the 180s again since New Year's Eve morning and I am eager to see it again. I was 190.0 this morning. So close!

Working out unfortunately did not happen again this weekend. We were rushed for time on Saturday and in-and-out all day. Sunday the kids got up way too early and I was dragging all day. Hopefully it will happen on Tuesday.

I did break out my 3-month WW journal on Thursday and have been trying to track since then. I've been doing pretty well, even tracking my dinners! I did graze on some new pita chips my husband bought today and were sitting in a bowl, but I did track the 1 point I presume I ate.

It took me over an hour to make my lunch today. I figured I needed to get on board with Points Plus, which means changing my lunch and afternoon snack. I actually made a tuna sandwich. I also cooked 2 oz of 2 different whole wheat pastas to have later in the week (one as strictly pasta, the other as tuna/pasta salad). I am worried about my afternoon lunch. I've been used to having 4-5 points and now I only get 3 - otherwise I eat into my dinner points which I don't want to do.

We'll see how it goes. I did buy my normal Lean Cuisine pizza (9 pts!) and my vitatops and yogurt for snack. But I will try not to get back to it. It is going to be a huge adustment to have to think when I make my lunch at night instead of it taking 2 minutes to throw everything together.

Come on 180s!

On the treadmill

That was me at 5:30 this morning. I figure if I can force myself to go to bed at 10:30, instead of watching all the new shows on last night, and get up at 5:30 am when it was 18 degrees outside and our heat isn't on yet, and get on the treadmill, then I should be okay.

I took it slow. I haven't exercised since 10/15/2010. At that point I was walking for 45 minutes at 3.2 mph. Today I decided to only go at a max of 2.9. I don't want to overdo it right away and hurt myself. It was more important to hit the time versus the speed/distance.

I know I won't be waiting 6 weeks again to do more than just the treadmill. I was just about the venture onto other things in October when I had a cold for 3 1/2 weeks. By the time I felt up to doing anything, it was close to the holidays and I said screw it. Not very good.

I still want to stick to my plan of doing cardio on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday - but soon that cardio may include my Step Video which does some weights at the end, Jillian's 30-day Shred - which is still in it's package, and kickboxing. But I think soon I will try to add in some weights on Sunday. I know Monday and Thursday's will be my rest days. So maybe Sunday do purely strength training and then Tuesday and Friday do cardio/strength, and Wednesday/Saturday pure cardio.

One step at a time. One step at a time.

Weekly Weigh In

Last Week: 190.6
This Week: 191.0
Change: +.4
Change Since 3/25/2010: -25.0

I am not surprised by the gain, but at least it is a whole lot better than the 193.2. from Monday morning. All I can do is keeping trying - I am hoping for the 180s again for next week.

Yesterday at work was hectic. I had a meeting at 10:00 that I thought would last 1/2 an hour but I was stuck in the room for 3 hours, so I didn't get my morning snack and I didn't eat lunch until 1:00. Then I had meetings from 3-4:30 so I didn't get time to eat my afternoon snack. So my spaghetti dinner was maybe a tad bigger than my new "normal"

Last night I went over WW a little bit with my husband. He wants to lose 15 lbs. But right now he is so unhealthy. If left to his own devices, he would never eat fruit or veggies or dairy. His lunch alone is 18 points and the beer he likes to drink is 6-7 points each! And then he snacks at midnight. I can't mother him, but I need him to get healthy for the kids and me.

Tonight is tacos which is one of my all-time favorite meals, as well as a meal I usually over-indulge with (and hence we usually have them on Thursdays when we do). I am going to try a different approach this time. I got some of the low-carb wraps which are only 2 pts each and I am going to make the 2 tacos I have at the beginning. I also got WW reduced fat cheese and I am going to measure everything - I know I will go over the 12 points I allocate for dinner, but not by as much as I usually do.

I was supposed to do my menu planning last night, but I didn't. I was a little nervous because for a couple of months I've put really no effort into it at all and we've been eating way too many quick meals (not take out, but hotdogs, sloppy joes, spaghetti, pizza, other kids friendly meals) and I want to change that. I want to make at least 1-2 new recipes a week.

Last of all, I am going to my WW meeting today - the first weigh-in since December 1st. I think I will show a slight gain because my weight on that day was 190.8.

Mid-week Check In

It's been back to the grind this week - fun, fun, fun.

The week started out badly when the scale said 193.2. Yikes! But back to 191.4 by this morning. Tomorrow is my first WW meeting in over a month - since before we went to Disney. I don't think I will have maintained - maybe up a little. Unless the scale decides to jump down a pound by morning.

Last night I pulled out the Wii Fit - I hadn't stepped on it in a while. It said I was down 7 lbs since whenever I was last on it, so obviously it's been a while! I want to start using it, even if to just play games - at least I will be moving at night which is something I never do.

My plan is to get up and work out on Friday morning. I've slowly started going to bed earlier - ie last night at 10:50 which was the earliest I have gone to bed since mid-October when I stopped working out. I could have gone to bed earlier but I got a late start watching The Biggest Loser.

So 192.4 was my starting weight at the first show of The Biggest Loser - wonder what I will be at the finale in May? I was glad to see that what they really meant in the promos of The Biggest Season yet, was the # of contestants. And yes, the biggest guy ever on the show at 504 lb but only 5'8" (and he has already lost 150 lbs). But at least not all the contestants are over 300 lbs. I have a hard time relating to that. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the season that I will really be motivated to Get Moving.

Tomorrow it all begins

Last day of continued indulgences, hopefully.

I had been craving Eggs Benedict for literally a year. I finally demanded that my husband make it this morning. Yum, yum, yum.

Me and the kids ate lunch before we went to our "playdate" (ie the kids play, we watch football) - We were to get there at 1 pm so I didn't figure lunch would be served. They were grilling when we got there, had spreads of pita/hummus, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, fruit and dip - all for 4 adults and 4 kids. Me and the wife were seated next to the food - not a good idea! I snacked a ton...as I explained the new WW to her.

Dinner was disorganized since we all had been snacking all afternoon. I had a Lean Cuisine and the last of the chocolate mousse.

The good thing of the day was I wrapped up all the light/low carb/wheat bread/rolls/wraps I got at the grocery store. I individually wrapped everything so I could easily pull one out of the freezer for me.

My husband had asked me to explain points to him - I figured out his lunch - all 18 points of it! Yikes! And tomorrow I'll explain the whole thing to him. Hopefully it will really open his eyes that he is incredibly unhealthy and needs to change for himself, me and the kids.

I am dreading going back to work. Sucks when you know you have 1 day holiday/vacation day in the next 5 months (might be 2 if I chose to take the day off to watch the Royal Wedding on tv - but that is still 4 months away)

Indulgences for one more day...

Who ever starts their healthy life actually on New Year's Day?!

My daughter had a birthday party to go to at noon - since she won't eat pizza, I fed her lunch before the party and had some snacks myself (cheese stick, peaches, Fiber One Bar - okay, I guess more than a snack, but a small meal). The pizza they had at the bowling alley was made there - OMG, it was to die for. I haven't had real pizza in well over a year - for caloric and monetary reasons (and the fact that my daughter won't eat it), our Pizza Fridays have been frozen for a long time. I ended up eating 3 pieces of cheese pizza! And then one small piece of ice cream cake - I passed on the cupcake as well as the soda (I think it is very important to "track" what you don't eat, as well as what you did eat)

Later in the afternoon I was making Chocolate Drop Pretzels for our playdate today...with the Chex Mix next to me. I definitely indulged too much in all of it. I know that one of my weaknesses is bowls of anything - chips, chocolate, candy. I usually stay far away, because once I start, if I can still see it, I don't do very well stopping.

We had an early dinner (Pizza Friday moved to Saturday) - I did make a huge salad, but threw in the remainder of the blue cheese and bacon bits. But I can now say we are free of cheese in the house. Yeah! And finally, even though I was actually full, I had my second serving of chocolate mousse from the night before. I didn't want to pass it up and I didn't want to eat it at 9:00 pm. So I ate it. I did enjoy it sort of - but I was too full and felt so sick because of it. I hate, hate, hate that too full feeling. Hopefully I don't feel it for a very, very long time.

Needless to say, the scale said 192.0 this morning....

Identical Weights

I have not weighed less than my husband for most of our relationship. The biggest difference was probably back in 2004 when I was 206 (the first time) and he was probably 170-175, the lowest in our relationship.

Well as of yesterday we are basically the same weight: 190. He is 5'11" and I am 5'6". He wants to lose about 15 lbs. I want to lose at least 40.

I can't wait to be less than him for real!

2011: It’s All About Moving

In my previous post I covered all the areas of my life that weren’t great last year and I want to change. But really, I want 2011 to be about Moving and that means 2 things



Moving – Physical
I’ve been talking about exercise (or my lack-of) forever, but I haven’t really given my history of exercise/being physical.


As a child, I hated team sports, I hated playing out in the heat. I did love to swim and I loved individual sports. I didn’t really have the opportunity to do either as a child. In Junior High I was forced to play on team sports and I wasn’t very good because I had zero energy (but this is due to my mom’s food, which is a post for another day). Once I got to high school I was more interested in hanging with my friends, so I did the minimum PE required for graduation. I had gotten shin splints and stress fractions on both my legs from being forced to run on pavement in cleats in Junior High and that really turned me off from sports. I loved to run and 25 years later I still dream about it, but every time I have tried to run I feel like they are coming back. I took a weight lifting class in college and loved it. I continued to go to the gym on-and-off throughout my 20s, mainly to do weights, instead of cardio. I have yet to find cardio that I love.


In my early 30s I dated/lived with someone who loved the outdoors so I did a ton of hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, rock climbing, snowboarding, snow shoeing, winter hiking. I did love it. I was in fantastic shape! We broke up and as something to work towards, on New Year’s Day 2002, I decided to hike Mt Rainier in August 2002. I spent 8 months working out in the gym and hiking every single weekend. I was in even more amazing shape, thought I did go from 150 to 165 lbs during this time (and it wasn’t all muscle). But I also burnt myself out. The moment I stepped off the mountain in August 2002, I stopped doing anything physical and haven’t done much since. I started dating my husband in December 2002, and except to tone myself before our wedding in 2005, I haven’t worked out and have subsequently gained a ton of weight. I went up to 206 before we got engaged, went down to 184 before the wedding, back up to 206 in 6 months after that while we were trying to conceive.


Back in October I was only walking on the treadmill – I was about to start doing other things when I got sick. I want to get back on the treadmill to start. As much as I would like to run, I don’t think I will try. That might change. I love my bike trainer – I have some fun spinning videos I love. I like the step. We have a Wii. I want to get back into kick boxing. The only part of the Biggest Loser I like is when I see them pulling things, and moving big tires, just moving their bodies in lots of different ways. I need to have stuff I can do at home – I definitely learned this year that the morning is the only time I can work out.


Aside from working out in my basement, I want to get moving more with my kids and my husband. Getting down on the floor more and playing with them. Running around outside, playing soccer, going swimming, taking my daughter to the climbing gym.


And the parts about running around outside bring me to the next part of: Moving


Moving - Location

Currently we live in a 1800 sq ft townhouse. It is 4 floors, though the top and bottom floors are more storage than anything. The kids share a room. We have a deck, but not a ton of places to go outside easily. Our schools are not great at all. The kindergarten class is 120 but the high school graduating class is 65. I bought this townhouse when I was single, so it is time for me and my husband to buy a single family house, in a new town.


We have decided that we are going to try to move in the spring of 2012. As much as we would like to move this year, we can’t/won’t for the following 3 reasons:


1) As long as my daughter is still in daycare we can’t afford a higher mortgage


2) As long as my daughter is still in daycare we can’t afford to do the work to our current house that we need to in order to put it on the market


3) Even if we could afford to do the work right now, I want this year to be about living – last year was about planning and organizing too much. I don’t want to deal with contractors and Home Depot at this point. Maybe come the fall I will want to

 We pretty much know what town(s) we are going to look at, so we’ll keep an eye on them this year and continue to do a little research and visit the towns in the different seasons this year. And get ourselves ready for 2012. I already wrote a note for next year as I was packing up the Christmas decorations (not very well) that next year I would have to pack them really, really well.


So here is to 2011 and Get Moving!

It's Official: 30 lbs gone in 2010

I woke up this morning weighing 191.4, officially 30.4 lbs less than last year.

New Year's Eve dinner was slightly disappointing, but in a good way I guess.
*I got myself a dozen shrimp -yum
*Put out some veggies and hummus to fill me up - was a success
*Put out crackers/pepperoni/crackers for the kids and my big kid - they all loved it, I barely touched it
*Cooked some frozen spinach puff appetizers - yummy, but my husband ate most of them - good
Rosted asparagus - yummy!
*Cooked some frozen beef wrapped in bacon appetizers - gross! Very disappointed, but they are gone from the house
*Cheese Fondue - what I've been waiting for all year - would have enjoyed it more if I had it by myself, but then I would have eaten more - I did get my fill, didn't overeat because I had eaten other things, but I didn't get to r eally savor it because the kids were being kids
*Chocolate Mousse dessert - yummy! Again, didn't get to fully enjoy it. But we have another serving for today so maybe I'll get to enjoy it

I am not going to say that just because it is New Year's Day that all of a sudden I am going to be perfect or anything. That is not realistic and that is not living. We have a birthday party to go to today at lunchtime with pizza and cake. Tomorrow we have a playdate to go to during the Patriot's game.

I am also not going to speculate what the scale will say next New Year's Day. I am going to commit to weighing myself at least 350 days this year (expecting to be away some) compared to 298 day this past year. Weighing myself every day truely does help me lose weight.