A Christmas Miracle

I just weighed in on my dad's scale & I'm down 2.6 pounds. I told him that I'm stealing his scale - it can't possibly be an actual real weight loss.

Merry Christmas all - see you next week!

Quick Update

I only gained .6 as a result of my crazy week last week, but the eating continued through the weekend, so I don't expect great results this Thursday. However, considering the time of year I'm pleased with ANY thoughts of paying attention to what I eat.

One thing that I must (and WILL!) work on during this holiday season is doing some walking or Gazelling every day - otherwise Mike will be having to drag me around Chicago when we go in 2  1/2 weeks. I can get a little fitter in two weeks, can't I? Oh curse the slug that is me!

Weigh-In Day (Cue Jaws Music)...

Well, for Week 1 I'm down 4.6 pounds. I'm pretty pleased with that - but I do know that the loss is always much bigger on the 1st week.

I have to admit that the end of the week was a lot tougher than the beginning - I have SUCH a sweet tooth. I counted everything, but still... do you think if I figured out which tooth craved the sweet & then had some oral surgery??? No?

It's Day Two on the Island...

And already the natives are getting restless... Well, I guess it's just me who's restless. Ha! But I'm tracking and I'm wearing my tightest jeans, so things are still ok so far.

Did you know that a Payday bar is 7 points? That's the same number of points as my breakfast sandwich. Food for thought. Literally!

All right - let's head into the weekend with a postive attitude! Go team! Heh.

How many times do you start over?

As many as it takes I reckon. I signed up for WW online again this morning. I was going to go to meetings, but I decided that I didn't want to spend that extra money this close to Christmas AND I don't want to go to meetings. I like them once I'm there but I resent the heck out of HAVING to go. So I'll do online for a while & then consider meetings again in the spring when the weather's better & it's not dark when I get off of work.

So right this minute I'm eating a yummy breakfast of plain oatmeal made with skim milk & a chopped apple. I added cinnamon & 7 whole almonds (that's how many you can have for 1 point). The whole meal is 7 points, which seems high, but it needs to last me all morning. And my lunch (a can of soup) is only 4 points, so that helps.

You know, the human brain is very interesting. I could tell myself that I know how to eat in a healthy manner, but without the accountability of tracking my food & weighing in every week I just won't do it. I've got some faulty wiring up in there. Back before mom died I had just about gotten the wiring fixed, but I let the stress of  that undo all my hard work. I say poo on that! I'm going to be at my goal weight & feeling good about myself by my 50th birthday.

50?

OK, I have to go hyperventilate now. Sheesh!

Food for Thought

Stole this from here. I think I'll use it for my mantra for the next while:

I’ve had to learn self-discipline, the courageous act of refusing to yield to my own wild impulses, which would have me flee from uncomfortable circumstances.

Something to think about.

Food Disappointment

11/4/11

11:40 Here's something I haven't figured out how to deal with: what if the food I'm eating doesn't meet my taste needs? For example, I'm eating Healthy Choice Sesame Glazed Chicken right now for lunch. It's really tasty, but kind of sweet. I don't want sweet for lunch. Will I just accept that I can't have what I want, or will I later try to capture the taste I really wanted with another food? Stay tuned...

**********************************************************

So I started this on Friday & then totally forgot I even had this blog. Sheesh! I did NOT try to make up for my disappointing lunch - it was filling so I just went from there.

Yesterday I tried something different (that I used to do EVERY DAY back when I was losing weight successfully) - oatmeal for breakfast. It was pretty good & meant that I drank water instead of diet Sundrop. Which meant that I drank more water yesterday than I have been. I think it's a good strategy - & I'll soon get over the muzzy feeling I had at not getting caffiene until lunchtime. We'll see how it goes.

Day I Don't Care Anymore...

You may have noticed a lack of updates for the last couple of days. It isn't because I've eaten any differently (no cookie dough!). I just don't feel like it's really accomplishing what I had hoped. I'm still going to write down what I eat for my own self, but I'll use this space as more of a journal. So I might not write every day. And I might end up making this a private journal. We'll see!

So, I feel EXTRA fat today! My jeans are really tight and I feel quite cow-like. But I did manage to gazelle for 15 minutes last night (I gazelled like the wind tortoise!). I'm hoping that the button of my jeans pressing into my belly all day will make me consider before eating something when I'm not actually hungry. I'll let you know how it went tomorrow.

Day 13

OK, I'm officially tired of writing down all my food. Nobody but me really needs to know how many funsize snickers I ate today. But... ok, I'll at least sort of write what I ate today - again I didn't keep track of times.

JD Turkey Sausage muffin
cranberry juice
apple
the same lunch as yesterday (minus the salad)
small bag of bridge mix
pistachios
yogurt
rice, turkey meatballs, green beans
Halloween candy

Notes: I'm too sleepy to write any notes. :)

Day 12

7:40  JDTM
9:30  Cranberry Juice (I got Ocean Spray 100% juice - no HFCS!)
11:00  Salad (I know - a vegetable!): lettuce, banana peppers, almonds & sunflower seeds, FF italian dressing
11:50 grilled chicken strips, multi-grain medley (brown rice, wheat, quinoa, rye, barley & oats - what am I, a horse?), garden veggie medley (potatoes, sugar snap peas & red peppers - I think I would have skipped the grain medley if I had remembered that this veggie mix has potatoes)

And then I ate a bunch of random things where I didn't track the time (in no particular order): three WW lemon cake thingies, one WW brownie (meh), baked cheetos, pistachios

6:00 Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich
6:30 - 9:00 Milk Duds

Notes: Except for the fact that I ate two too many lemon thingies I think work went well. Oh and I didn't eat my apple. Dinner was not a great choice. And then of course I had to eat the milk duds since it's Halloween :)

Day 11

Another day of not recording my food as I ate it. So I'm not even going to try to pin down the times. I do remember everything though, which is the point of this journal.

Morning
JDCBM
apple slices at coffee hour

Afternoon
BBQ riblets, mashed potatoes, green beans & corn
milkshake
pistachios

Evening
one slice of pizza
four pieces of halloween candy

Late evening
peanut butter & banana sandwich

Notes: I got some things at the store yesterday that I think will help me make it through the work day a little easier. Tomorrow night is Beggar's Night & we'll give away all our candy so I don't have to worry about that!

Day 10

I slept late today & have basically done nothing of note - except go to Walmart with Dr. M to get groceries. I don't even remember when I ate what, so the times are approximate.

9:30  egg, turkey bacon & laughing cow cheese on slimwich
12:15  pizza
12:45  pie
3:00  more pie
5:45 chicken bacon ranch sub from subway with baked cheetos
6:15  Weight Watchers lemon cake thingy

Notes: I bought some WW snacks to hopefully curb my afternoon sweet tooth at work next week. We'll see how it goes. Also - FRUITS - VEGETABLES! Where are these things in my diet? Hmm?

Weather: cold & dreary - intermittent rain & sun. 20s to 40s

Day 9

Frosty & foggy this morning - in the 30s. Brrr!

7:30  JDTM
8:45  Cranberry juice (I'll look for a better substitute this weekend)
12:00 Healthy Choice Sundried Tomato Chicken (why, yes, I DID  have a coupon for healthy choice dinners this week!)
12:15  cookies
12:50  KFC drumstick & wedges
3:45  banana
6:30  pizza
7:00 pie

Notes: well, what in the world was I doing getting KFC right after lunch? Apparently I just want to sabotage myself. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

Weather - cold & dreary. It's 36 degrees at almost 11:00 tonight.

Day 8

Weighed in this morning - 205.8. So my week long party made me gain .2 pounds. If only that were really true! I'm sure there's some hormonal glitch that kept the gain lower than it should have been. And I'll blame hormones in the future if I don't lose as much as I think I should too :)

7:30  JDTM
9:00  Cranberry juice. Gonna have to stop this - it has high fructose corn syrup in it. VERY bad for my health! Not to mention the extra calories.
10:50  Banana
11:45  Healthy Choice Portabella Spinach Parmesan - yum!
12:30 Big ole' piece of bakery cake - it was Rita's retirement party!
2:15  Goldfish
6:15  Campbell's Tuscan White Bean & Chicken Soup
6:45  Apple pie

Note: So, not such an auspicious start. And the sad thing is the cake wasn't really very good at all. Sigh. I need to start thinking about what the thing I think I love will really taste like - & do I really want it after all? A lot of the time the answer is no. And, you know - this wouldn't have been the last time I could ever have bakery cake. I could wait until I really wanted some. AND if I didn't like it as much as I thought I would - I don't have to eat the whole thing. There isn't a law. I know! I never knew either!

On the other hand - apple pie? Oh yum!

Weather: dreary rainy day in the 40s & 50s. I saw a rainbow on my way home!

Day 7

OK, Mother Nature is schizophrenic. Yesterday morning it was in the 30s when I left for work - today it was close to 60.

7:45  JDTM
9:00  Cranberry juice
11:50  Healthy Choice Asian Potstickers - tasty but my mouth is on fire!
12:15  Milky Way bar
2:30  apple
3:25  Goldfish
5:30  KFC Mashed Potato Bowl
6:00  Cupcakes

Notes: OK, this ends my week of writing down everything I eat without trying to modify my behavior. I've been paying attention to when I'm really hungry & when I just crave something. Tomorrow starts my attempt to try to start eating in a more healthy way. I'm sure I'll slip up, but I'll keep track of the "wrong" food too. Wish me luck!

Day 6

7:30  sandwich thin with fried egg, turkey bacon & laughing cow cheese
9:00  cranberry juice
11:30  apple
12:15  leftover rice & veggies from yesterday (I picked out the carrots) & grilled chicken strips
2:30  Cookie dough. And that's all I have to say about that.
6:00  General Tsao (sp?) chicken stir fry (this is a a bag meal we get at the grocery store)

Note: Sigh.

Weather: GORGEOUS day! Up into the 60s (although it was 36 when I left for work this morning).

Day 5

Well that was rude! It was bad enough that it was pouring rain when I got out of the car this morning, but then the big ole clap of thunder was just rubbing my face in Monday. Grrr.

7:30  Jimmy Dean light Canadian Bacon english muffin (hereinafter referred to as JDCBM)
9:50  Apple
11:18  leftover bbq brisket, tomato slices, wild & brown rice mixed with cream of mushroom soup, Green Giant "antioxident blend" veggies - broccoli, carrots, red & yellow sweet peppers. I feel lied to - it's mostly carrots. Blech!
12:20  Milky Way bar
2:00  Yogurt
3:00  sandwich thin with light cream cheese (I always think I want this & then I'm disappointed in it)
5:00  Subway tuna sub
5:30  Ice cream

Notes: BBQ brisket & rice with cream of mushroom soup is not so fabulous. My afternoon snacks were mostly a waste of calories. Thank goodness I vacuumed tonight to use some of them up (I know, it's sad when vacuuming is exercise).

Weather: After the storm this morning the sun came out & it was gorgeous. 40-63 degrees in Xenia.

Positive Thought: I can probably ride a bicycle now that I've had surgery! We'll explore the idea in the spring...

Day 4

Busy day! I had church this morning & then a diocesan meeting this afternoon with the bishop about our upcoming convention. I'm an alternate delegate so I only had to pay half attention. Then I got groceries on my way home. Anyway, I'm just now writing this after 8:00 at night - let's see how well I do remembering what I ate, when. I do remember that there were a lot of snacks involved.

8:15  Grits & fried egg
11:00  Bell peppers with a little dip, mini chocolate chip cookies, brownie (coffee hour after church)
12:00  Egg salad sandwich (I know this is a lot of eggs for one day, but I wanted to use them up before getting groceries)
2:00:  Three bite-size pieces of candy at meeting (2 Snickers, 1 Twix)
3:45  150 calorie bag of tiny oreos after meeting (I was starving!)
6:00  BBQ beef brisket, mashed potatoes, peas
8:00  Peanut butter & honey

Notes: I should have planned to eat a pack of crackers or something after my meeting - I wasn't thinking that the egg salad sandwich wouldn't last very long.

Remember - this week I'm just being brutally honest about what I eat - I'm not trying to modify my behavior yet.

Day 3

I had to get up at 7:30 today so I could attend Lay Eucharistic training at church (I'll be helping take communion to shut-ins). AND I have to get up at 7:30 tomorrow because we have choir practice at 9:00 before church. So I might be a little cranky. Just a warning.

8:15  Fried egg sandwich with laughing cow cheese (have you tried laughing cow? you must!)
9:30  1/2 chocolate chip muffin & and indeterminate number of Tim Hortons Bits (donut holes).
1:30  Healthy Choice meatloaf with mashed potatoes & corn
4:00  One scoop chocolate peanut butter ice cream in a waffle cone
5:00  Black bean chips
6:30  spaghetti
8:30  peanut butter & honey

Notes: Why didn't I move the box of donut holes to the other end of the table?

Weather: Gorgeous! 38 - 59 degrees in Xenia

Day 2

I'm already bored with this keeping track business. Do you really need to know every evil thing I eat (keeping in mind that M&Ms don't kill people, people who want M&Ms kill people)? The thing is that every successful weight loss program involves some form of writing down what you eat. So, continuing on...

7:30  Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage English Muffin (hereinafter referred to as JDTM)
9:30  Cranberry Juice & Pumpkin Shaped Reese's Cup
11:40 Same lunch as yesterday (with less rice & more green beans - I had my proportions off)
12:20 Apple (oh Jonathan!)

                  ****DO NOT GET CANDY OR COOKIES. YOU HAVE CUPCAKES AT HOME****

1:50  Some goldfish (I'm not counting them anymore, but it's usually the same amount each day - total of 45 or so)
3:00  Chobani Black Cherry Nonfat Greek Yogurt (merciful heavens this is good stuff!)
6:30  Grilled tilapia sandwich & fries at Smokin Aces (where Dr. M & Amy ate ribs that one time)
7:30  Finished off the mini cupcakes!


Notes: Unless otherwise indicated (hello cranberry juice!) my beverages are sugar free or water. I usually drink a Diet Sundrop with breakfast & lunch, & Crystal Light Pink Lemonade or some other caffiene free sugar free beverage (diet 7Up) with dinner. Did you know that mixing the lemonade & the 7Up gives you punch?

Weather Report (just because): blue skies, fluffy clouds, 34-55 in Xenia

Day 1

I wonder if that's how I'll name all these posts? I don't know - it might get discouraging & intimidating. On the other hand it's even MORE intimidating to try to think up clever post names. Hmmm. We'll see what happens tomorrow!

My plan is to work on the posts throughout the day & then publish them at night after I've eaten my evening meal. So, right now it's 9:31 and I've had breakfast. I weighed myself this morning (205.6). Back when I was doing WW the first time & lost almost 50 pounds I weighed myself religiously every day. It was a way to hold myself accountable. I haven't found anything else that's worked as well, so I'm going to do that again this time around. I probably won't post a daily weight on here - just weekly.

7:30    Jimmy Dean Delight Canadian Bacon & Egg English Muffin
10:00  Small apple (Jonathan - my new boyfriend - yum!)
10:26:  Arrgghh! Apples always make me feel hungry. (gnawing on my elbow to avoid eating lunch at 10:30)
10:42:  20 whole grain goldfish
11:45  Grilled chicken fajita strips; green beans with almonds; wild & brown rice mixed with light cream of mushroom soup
12:20  Three very mediocre chocolate chip cookies (blech. sigh.)
2:50:    Remaining goldfish (24 pieces) & Kroger Strawberry Banana Carbmaster Yogurt (I stole it from Dr. M) I have to be careful - I almost stuck my hand in the yogurt instead of the goldfish container.
3:15:    Peanut M&Ms. Sigh. Coworker was thirsty & on a conference call & said she'd get me candy if I went to the cafe to get her a drink.
6:45   Spaghetti & turkey meatballs; 2 mini cupcakes

Thoughts:

• Obviously I need to plan to eat a more substantial snack when I have the canadian bacon muffins for breakfast - they don't last very long.
• I wanted something sweet after lunch, as per usual. The cookies were lousy - a waste of calories.
• Is there a particular reason I had to eat the M&Ms today?

beginning nonetheless...

Here I am trying again. We'll see how it goes this time. For now I'm going to use this space to record everything I eat and to write down my feelings for the day. I'm not going to try to change how I eat - I'm just going to examine what is and why it is.

I'm starting tomorrow. I know it's not the beginning of a week or the beginning of a month. But it's the beginning nonetheless...

Bad Day...

Well it started out just fine. But really I have such a problem with the afternoons at work. I'm not even going to list everything I ate. Sigh. Ok, I will - maybe that will help me think twice next time!

Breakfast: Livermush & Egg sandwich (yum!)

Lunch: Lean Cuisine Sweet & Sour Ginger Chicken with extra broccoli pieces (they're almost gone - yay!)

Afternoon Meltdown (over the course of three hours): Heath bar, soft pretzel with cheese, Reese's Cups.

Dinner:  Cereal with banana

Now I'm feeling kind of hungry (cereal was 3 1/2 hours ago) but of course feel no right to eat anything this late.

I've changed my WI day to Thursday because Tuesday conflicts with my Bible Study group. So I'll be facing the music in a couple of days. Grrr!

Monday Monday...

Back at work after nearly 2 weeks off - busy!! I wish I was this busy all the time because it definitely distracts me from food. I didn't get enough veggies today - couldn't figure out what to take to eat with my enchiladas. A salad would have been good, but I never crave one in the winter (except for the one I ate in NC after Christmas - that was just pure self-defense).

Tomorrow is my WI day - or as I mentioned on the WW site just now - a come to Jesus meeting. This is a number I don't want to see, but then I know I'll be moving away from it fairly quickly. I'll just get it over with & then get on with it :)


Monday, January 03, 2011

Morning
1  serving(s) Aunt Millie's 5-grain	2
1/2 serving(s) Jenkins Livermush	1
1  item(s) egg	2
Subtotal	5
Midday
1  item(s) Smart Ones Chicken Enchiladas Suiza	8
Subtotal	8
Evening
1 1/8 serving(s) Honeysuckle White Creamy Dijon Mustard Turkey	4
1/4 cup(s) cooked kidney beans	1
green beans - Quick-added food	0
Subtotal	5
Anytime
3/4 large apple(s)	0
1/2 large banana(s)	0
corn flakes & cheerios	3
Subtotal	3
Food PointsPlus values total used	21
Food PointsPlus values remaining	8
Activity
No entries for activity.
Activity PointsPlus values earned	0
Check off these important items daily:
Liquids          Milk & Milk Products     Fruit & vegetables          Multivitamin/Mineral   Healthy Oil     Activity

Notes

No Counting Today!

I just didn't feel like it - I will, however, list everything I ate here:

Breakfast:  Jimmy Dean Delight turkey sausage croissant

Lunch: Applebee's - 1/2 Cowboy burger, about 15 french fries, chocolate mousse shooter (which is smaller than a regular dessert, but still pretty outrageous)

Dinner: The Bug's Fake Monte Cristo: peanut butter, sugar free black raspberry jam, 1/2 banana, ham & cheese on light bread, grilled in a pan. HEAVENLY! I'm going to go figure out the points for that sucker because I'm definitely having it again :)

Snack: 1/4 of a large apple while I was packing my lunch for tomorrow. It was pretty yummy too.

I've already entered my food for tomorrow, so my week will be off to a good start. I'm kind of excited about it, actually - ready to go back to work after being gone so long & ready to have a more normal diet.

I'm Back!

I kind of sort of celebrated my anniversary (December 15) for two weeks, and I just didn't have the heart to post all that. Of course, if I had made myself post I'll bet I would have reined in some of that wild eating, wouldn't I?

So my New Year's Resolution (one of them) is to at least post something here every day. It might just be a list of the food, & it might be my actual journal from the day. And it might just say, "I abstain, courteously."

Here's today's. Not fabulous, but not two kinds of pie and one (large) slice of cake either. Heh. I wonder if a chicken burrito counts as black eyed peas or greens?

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Morning
1  sandwich(es) D-Lights Turkey sausage reduced fat croissant sandwich	8
Subtotal	8
Midday
Healthy Choice Chicken Romano Fresca - Quick-added food	6
Subtotal	6
Evening
1  serving(s) Nachos Pintos 'N Cheese	4
1  item(s) Fresco Style Burritos Burrito Supreme® - Chicken Fresco Style	8
1  item(s) Desserts & Shakes Baked Apple Pie	7
Subtotal	19
Anytime
1  large banana(s)	0
Leslie's Snack Mix - Quick-added food	5
corn flakes & cheerios	3
Subtotal	8
Food PointsPlus values total used	41
Food PointsPlus values remaining	-12
Activity
No entries for activity.
Activity PointsPlus values earned	0
Check off these important items daily:
Liquids          Milk & Milk Products     Fruit & vegetables          Multivitamin/Mineral   Healthy Oil     Activity

Notes I was fine this morning (how could I not be when I slept until nearly 10:00? But in the afternoon I got the munchies. If I hadn't spent 8 points on snack stuff when I WASN'T hungry, then the fast food dinner wouldn't have set me back so much.