Week off to a good start

I had 2 large binders full of recipes for dinner. I had a list of recipes I wanted to make, but it was just too crazy. So I spent all weekend paring it down to 1 medium size binder, so I now have 20 recipes of each category (chicken, beef, pasta, pork, mexican, asian, veggies, salad, starchy sides, crockpot) to pick from. So hopefully next week's menu planning will be more exciting.

2 times a week I have a 6:30 am(!) call so I get up at 5:45. But the call has only been lasting 20-25 minutes so I have extra time. And the other 3 mornings I've started getting up 10 minutes earlier - what a difference that makes! As long as the kids are dressed and downstairs by 7, I feel like we've got all the time in the world. Getting them downstairs.....hit or miss!

I've started getting out stuff to set the table, measuring dry goods, cutting up meat, sometimes vegetables, pull out the spices, etc. Sometimes pull out the pots I need. Quicker dinners, means more quality time with the kids at night.

Eating has been so-so. The weekend wasn't fantastic, not horrible. Monday was pretty good. I am doing better with the water, failing with getting up and walking at work.

Weekly Weigh-in #9

Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 231.0
Current Weight: 228.4
Change Since Last Week: -2.6
Total Change: -3.8
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149

I managed to make it to WW this morning - my leader has a 7 am meeting and a 8:30 meeting - I've always gone to the 7 am meeting. At 4 am this morning I turned off my alarm because I just couldn't phathom getting up that early when it would be 8 degrees outside and snowing just to go see a gain (seeing that the scale was 2.4 lb more yesterday morning, I figured the gain since 2 weeks ago would have been substantial).

My kids got up at 7:45 (which is very late for them!), I saw that it wasn't snowing, and the scale was much more in my favor, so I got dressed and headed to the 8:30 meeting. I am so glad I did! While I am not 100% better, it is time to get back on plan and get the scale moving again.

This week has still been a battle of not feeling 100%, having not done any menu planning, not drinking enough water, being too busy at work to fit in my afternoon snack so I am ravenous when I get home, so have eaten a ton (usually cheese) while making dinner.

So my plan for this week:
1) Get back to drinking lots of water
2) Start wearing my ActiveTracker and walking more at work
3) Make sure I eat my afternoon snack and drink lots of water on the way home
4) Spend this weekend coming up with new dinner ideas - We have been in such a rut for so long.
Hopefully with this the scale will be back the 227.0 next week.

Weekly Weigh-in #8

231.0 - Yep, a 4 lb gain in a week! I've been sick since Monday and have consumed nothing except carbs since then - comfort food, as well as carbs to settle my stomach. Yogurt, fruit, vegetables, beans, nothing seemed appealing. Only cereal, pasta, rice and orange juice.

I am still sick, so who knows what the next week will bring :(

I didn't go to WW today, not because I knew I would see a gain, but I was really hoping to sleep in. Kids and hungry cats don't always allow for that, but still being in my pjs at 8:00 am is a nice change.

Week thrown out the window....

I had to learn early Monday to pick up my daughter who was sick, which also meant I couldn't do some food shopping. And I've been home sick since Tuesday afternoon and I've been eating crap all week long. TMI, but phlegm going into my stomach so I feel like I have morning sickness, that I need to have carbs in my stomach all the time in order to not feel nauseous. Needless to say, the scale is saying some pretty horrible things.

No rest for the weary....

What a long weekend and I am feeling the affects of it. I literally did not sit down all weekend, except to shlep kids in the car, but that doesn't count.

I started the weekend feeling kind of sick, but with very little sleep and no down time I am feeling much worse. The cold has moved to my chest and I barely got any sleep last night because of it.

We had people over both Saturday and Sunday, which meant drinks and food - It could have been a lot worse. But I feel very dehydratd (and the scale was not pleasant).
I've got to get to the grocery store tonight to get some more veggies, as after the festivities I don't have enough to get me through the week.

Wish, wish, wish I were back home in bed. It is only 9:15 am and I am already counting the hours to bedtime (an early bedtime!)

Weekly Weigh-in #7

Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 231.4
Current Weight: 227.0
Change Since Last Week: -4.4
Total Change: -5.2
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149

Doing the happy dance! The holiday weight is gone and then some. I am going to try really hard this week to at least keep this off!

--Hoping I can just drop the kids off at a birthday party so I don't have the temptation of cake
--Hope to mainly avoid the appetizers we are putting out for friends the next 2 days and just eat dinner

Not a stellar week....

While I suspect that the scale will say good things tomorrow, it will be more balancing things out. TOM was really late, and really heavy this month so I sware I am losing 3 lbs in blood and water (I know, way TMI, sorry), but also balancing my body back after a sodium filled week between Christmas and New Year's.

This week was a complete fail in the movement department. I work my WW ActiveLink and pretty much didn't rack up any activity points during the week. I had set alarms on my iphone to walk 5 minutes 4 times a day and I was so swamped at work, I just shut them all off. And every evening I was working until 11 until the end of the week when I stayed up too lates catching up on my DVR. My schedule right now stinks - Getting up 2x a week at 5:45 for a 6:30 am conference call really blows. Those are supposed to be workout days. Hopefully it won't be for too long and hopefully work will level off more so I can get the work done during normal business hours, or at least maybe only work from 8-9, then watch 60-90 minutes of TV and turn off the light at 10:30.

I have been researching Color runs, a Diva Dash, and Rebel Runs - thankfully they are all not until the fall. As much as I would love to run the Boston Marathon 5K this April, I think I will wait until next year - Right now it would be too much pressure that I don't need.

I called my mother today but something unrelated but somehow she managed to turn the conversation to my weight and she was just going off on me - telling me I need to see a doctor, I can't do it on my own. I just let her go off - I didn't tell her I was back at WW or anything. I don't have an desire to share that info with her - Seeing that when I lost 35 in 2010, all she could say was how much more I had to go - story of my life. If she had her way, me and my family would never eat a bad piece of food in our lives....hence how I got here - except for the occasional treat, junkfood was forbidden in our house so as soon as I had money to buy mine own, I ate crap. I don't want that to happen to my kids - I don't want them to see junk good as a treat. I want them to learn to eat in moderation.

I'll be back tomorrow to post my weigh-in.

Late week check-in....

I really have meant to write a lot this week, but this week has been insane. I have been working at home every night after the kids go bed, which has left zero time for me-time or things off my person To Do list.

TOM finally showed up 6 days late and has been kicking my butt as well. But could ultimately be good for the weigh-in on Saturday. My scale at home as been all over the place this week, but I am really hoping the 2 lbs I gained at the end of the holidays will be gone for good.

Some challenges coming up:
Thursday - gymnastics with lots of access to goodies, plus dinner is later and is pizza - must stick to 2 pieces and some salad

Friday - beginning of swimming lessons from 5:45 - 6:40 - I plan on eating a heavy snack before i leave the house and then light snacks for me for during the lessons and eat nothing when I get home - I'll bring heavy snacks/lunch foods for the kids

Saturday - Birthday party in the afternoon; friends coming over for dinner (and football watching starting at 4:30) - 1:00 games or 8:30 games I can get away without eating, but a 4:30 game just screams football food. And I've got 2 of them this weekend.

Sunday - friends coming over for football/dinner starting at 4:30

Weekly Weigh-in #6

Starting Weight (12/1/2012): 232.2
Last Week: 231.4
Current Weight: 231.4
Change Since Last Week: 0
Total Change: -0.8
Height: 5'6"
Goal: 149

I am okay with the maintain this week and I am hoping to lose a couple of pounds by next week to get rid of my "holiday gain". I am not upset about having not lost anything through the holidays as I could have gained a lot! Going to the meetings kept me inspired, even if I really wasn't on plan. But it got me thinking for the first time in a long time.

When I got home from my meeting I pulled out all my info I got in my New Member Kit and my plan this week is to actually read it! Try to start tracking. And not snack when I get home. I am really excited for this week.

I wish TOM would get here. I know I am not pregnant, but it so far is 5 days late and is driving me crazy. When I was trying to conceive my kids, my cycles were 32-35 days but have been 28-30 days since. Stress usually hasn't affected me cyclically, so this is really annoying. Then I start thinking about menopause - though I am only 42. I just want to to hurry up and get here!

Wrote too soon...

Yesterday I was going great until 6:30 - I ate all my normal stuff at work, had my snack in the car (on Thursdays I leave at 3:00 to take my daughter to gymnastics, then I sit in the car from 4-5 to have a conference call). We usually get home at 6:30 - since the fall, my husband has been picking up my son and then getting a pizza and salad for dinner. But for budget (and health) reasons I figure we don't need to order out pizza once a week - so I told him to heat frozen chicken, broccoli and rice for dinner. I got home and was really stressed about the 2-3 hours worth of work I had to do after the kids went to bed, so I found myself snacking on Chex Mix while dinner was heating, and while working I ate a ton more Chex Mix as well as the remaing Christmas chocolate. Ugh. Low and behold I wasn't very excited to get out of bed this morning. But I will take whatever the scale says Saturday morning and then start fresh and the New Year will really be on.

Note to self: Football playoffs is NOT a reason to eat munchies in front of the tv (in the afternoon which is technically not eating time). We can eat crap on Superbowl Sunday, regardless of who is in the game, but not before!

Love being excited to wake up!

I remember being excited to get up each morning and jump on the scale to see what it said, knowing that I had eaten well the day before. The last couple of weeks I didn't have many of those days, since I was eating so much Christmas junk. It was great this morning to bound out of bed to jump on. Yep - I am one of those people that are dictated by the scale, to a degree. Obviously I don't expect to lose every day, and of course there are those days of healthy eating and the scale is outrageously high the next morning, but for the most part I know a good day means good things on the scale - even if that means a maintain.  But it is more knowing that I had control the day before to positively influence what appears back to me on the scale.

I am also loving my Saturday morning meetings - another reason to be excited about the weekends! And knowing that I can be "off plan" somewhat on Saturday.

I still need to compile a list of new dinners, lunches, snacks, and breakfasts I want to try for the next couple of months - even if it is just 1-2 a week.

No pain, no gain

My "official" January 1st weight is 232.2 which is what I was on December 1st when I re-joined WW, but I am okay with that. TOM is going to arrive any moment and I acknowledge that I have eaten more between December 22 through January 1st than I did the rest of the holiday season. I which really restart on Saturday when I go to WW again. I am going to try to track and see what happens.

I did got to my WW meeting this past Saturday even though I forgot to post it - yes, I was up, but that wasn't why I didn't post it - Shortly after my meeting we brought the kids to my parents and had 30 hours of bliss - though we were crazy busy shopping and organizing.

Besides feeling bloated and crampy and genuinely icky and all that monthly stuff, I am eager to get back on track again. Part of the bloating and ickiness is that crap I've been eating for 10 days. The next couple of nights I will sit down and create my meal plan for next week and I hope it is good - different and more exciting that the boring meals we've been eating forever.

I am so excited for 2013!