Now is the time for FAIL

Yesterday I had not one, but two Pumpkin Pie milkshakes from Jack in the Box. I better jive a lot tomorrow night at the Zombie Ball or I'm gonna be up on Monday, I know it!

Jeez...I almost forgot about this blog!

I thought I was going to have to title this blog "FAIL" but when I got to my meeting last night, I was surprised to see I was down 2 pounds! I didn't quite lose the 6 pounds put on during the "month of death," but almost!


So, I'm only down 5 pounds since I went back to Weight Watchers in August, but this is what dealing with a plateau is all about. Patience. I missed the meeting last week, which was good since I'd spent 4 days with Raul eating Breakfast Burritos, Roscoe's and midnight runs to Del Taco (actually 4 AM runs). With Weight Watchers, you just have to keep going, even when you don't have a major success. I found out the hard way that if you stop going to the meetings, the old habits creep back and 2 years later, you will step on the scale and 40 of the 60 pounds you lost will be back on you.


My current weight is 187, my goal is to get to my goal weight SOMEDAY, and to not gain massive amounts of weight ever again. My wardrobe is WAY to good to get fat again.

Ugh....not good...

I haven't blogged here in a few weeks. For those of you that follow my other blog (I think you all do?) you know I had 2 deaths in the family last month. One, my Tutu, but also my father-in-law. My husband, being an only child, and his mother, really needed me to help with everything. I spent the night at the hospital with my mother-in-law, cleaned her house, directed her to make the funeral arrangements, wrote and delivered the Eulogy, and arranged for the food for the wake. In addition to not counting points, I was eating convenient food from the fast food places around the hospital and not cooking. I also wasn't home a lot.


My Weight Watcher's meetings are on Mondays. My father-in-law passed away early Monday Morning (Sept 20), his funeral was Monday (Sept 27), and since I was eating whatever anyway, I skipped my WW meetings those weeks.


I have dreaded going last night, but I did. I have to stop the damage before it gets out of control. I was up 6 pounds! That averages to 2 pounds a week. That's how fast I can put it on. I could probably put it on faster, but this wasn't a contest.


This means I won't be at my birthday or Rhythm Rocker goal of 175, because there is no way I can lose 15 pounds in 2 weeks. But I am optimistic I will get it off again, and pretty quickly if I stick with my tracking and eating right. So Far today I've used 9 points and I have 15 left for after work.


Now, I need to out myself on something else. With all this stress, I started smoking again. I know Rachelle will be so disappointed in me. So are a lot of people. I just have no other stress reliever in my life, except maybe shopping, but I don't want to bankrupt my family and I have no more room in my closet. I plan on quitting again after the Rhythm Rocker weekender. No use setting myself up for failure and quitting before then.


Now, I'll go back to point counting, weighing food, and not eating out, life. Soon the not smoking life, too.

I know, I know...this post is late

I should have posted this earlier this week, and I should have made a post last week, but I have been slammed with social activities, in addition to my full time job. I'll be blogging in the Kim Show about all my business as soon as I get some of the pictures from people.


Labor day, there was no Weight Watcher's meeting, so I didn't weigh in that week. I was a bit relieved because I went "HOG WILD" over Labor Day. We had 2 parties, both with great cake, BBQ, chips, all of it and I didn't hold back. Two pieces of cake at both parties and I pretty much ate what I wanted. I had already used my grandmother's death as an excuse to eat 2 eclairs that same week. For obvious reasons I was glad there was no weight in.


I improved my food intake and choices over the following week, but wasn't tracking. When I went to weight watchers I was down 6 tenths of a pound, making my total weight loss 66.4 pounds, I think. I was quite surprised I wasn't up, but our leader talked about what happens when we get significant weight loss off. We have little "binges" but know how to get right back on track to keep our weight in the range we want it to be. Her talk about gaining 5 pounds in a weekend and getting it off by Friday once, and then it taking her 6 weeks to get the 5 pounds off another time, made me feel not guilty about my little Labor Day binge.


I am back to tracking, but kind of slacking off in the evening...maybe indulging in an extra low cal ice cream bar, etc.


Last night I was dancing my ass off and I just found out that there will be a regular Friday Night record hop again...YAY! Jiving really is the best thing to help me lose weight and get in shape.

Progress...yes, progress...

I went to my meeting yesterday and at my initial weigh in I was 185 exactly, giving me a loss of 1.2 pounds. After the meeting, I had to pee, and since I had a 20 oz coffee prior to the meeting, I wasn't surprised. What did surprise me was the -.6 pounds! That makes a total loss of 1.8 pounds!  

Is that cheating? I don't know....Do I care and does it make me feel better? Yes, so I will consider it a 1.8 pound loss last week. 


Let's look at the totals so far...
August 1 I weighed 191
August 30, I weighed 184.4. 


Total weight lost the month of August: 6.6 Pounds. 


Last year, when I rejoined WW and was making mad progress I started jiving at a record hop every Friday night. I think that jiving contributed at least half pound a week to my weight loss. Not only was the jiving fun, helped me loose weight faster, but it trimmed my waist down! My waist was more than 2 inches smaller at 190 than it was the last time I was 190 in 2007. 


Here is something that has helped me stay in my points and track this week:

Frank BBQ'd tri-tip steak on Sunday night. I was a little worried about having it, even with 14 points left for dinner. When he was done cooking it, I programed strip steak into the scale, threw on some meat and saw that it was 9 points. With the potato at 1, the light butter on the potato at 1 and vegis that were grilled on the BBQ at 0, Dinner was 11 points! 3 were left over for my weight watcher's ice cream snack. 


With the help of the scale to be accurate, it helps me not over eat. I already know, not guess, how many points I'm eating which then stops me from telling myself "maybe I over calculated? I can have another slice!" That rationalization has cost me at the scale many times! 

Yesterday's weigh in and adventures in shopping

Yesterday's meeting was good and bad. 

I will start with the bad. I was up 8 tenths of a pound, but I will blame my dress. I wasn't wearing my usual light weigh in dress. I will also blame the tub of buttered movie popcorn I ate on Sunday with peanut M&Ms. I think my biggest mistake and what I can blame the most, is that I ate when I wasn't hungry on Friday. I ate when I felt full, even. Why I did that? I'm not sure, but it is a mistake I paid for by not losing anything last week. I won't beat myself up too much, though. Often times after a big loss like I had last week, I will not lose and sometimes gain the following week. It usually isn't a significant gain, like yesterdays, so I'm not sweating it.


Now...time for the good. Yesterday our leader told us that if we are repeat WW members, who have a different original start weigh in total than what is currently on our cards, we can reset our start weights. Well, after resetting my start weight to what it was when I joined in 2005, I was thrilled to realize I have lost 65 pounds!

Now for another big thrill I got. I went shopping Friday at Kohls for some work clothes. That was not the thrill, trust me, I don't like to shop for square clothes. Since almost everything I have purchased in the last few years has been vintage or custom made, I couldn't believe it when I tried on a skirt in a size 12 and it fit!  I know sizes may have changed in the last 20 years, but I honestly haven't put on anything in a size 12 since 1986. 


Now for a little treaty tip:

2 point bagel and cream cheese...perfect breakfast or morning snack!

Tracking makes the difference! Plus an easy breakfast solution.

Yesterday's meeting was a huge success. I lost 4 pounds last week, and I know it is due to my diligent tracking. I have just 5.4 pounds left to get to my low point, post Viva, 10 pounds to get to my birthday goal October 9, 20 to go to get to my weight watchers goal and 25 to get to my goal of 160.


Thursday was my husband and my anniversary. We had plans to eat out and I saved all my bonus points for that dinner out. I ate light during the day, with yogurt, fresh strawberries (2 servings) and a a couple of hummus sandwiches. I went to dinner with 14 points, plus my 35 bonus.
I ate:
bread with olive oil and wine vinegar
salad with Gorgonzola and light dressing
Soft Polenta with fire roasted vegitables
Tirimisu for dessert.


I may not have used all my bonus points, but I counted that I used all but maybe 5, to keep me in check over the weekend.


Friday night Frank BBQ'd Filet Mignon, which was 7 points, and I balanced it out with fire roasted veggies from the BBQ. Saturday I was with the girls and we went out for Mexican. I had used 3 points for the day, so I ordered chicken fajitas which are 4 points per fajita. I added a couple points for the guac and the few chips I ate. Later we went to Cold Stone Creamery and I had watermelon sorbet.


With all that eating...I still lost 4 pounds! The calculator tracker really works! 


Here is a tip for a filling breakfast on the weekends if you want to avoid eating out during the day, which I did on Sunday, when I went to a car show:
1 and 1/3 cup potatoes O'Brien (frozen)
additional chopped up red bell pepper and onion
1 egg
salsa
1/4 avocado sliced


Spray pan with non stick cooking spray. Saute the pepper and onion then add the potatoes O'Brien. When browned, add the egg, beaten. Cook until eggs not runny. Top with salsa and avacado.


Total points: 5


For an extra point, you can throw a broken up piece of bacon into the potatoes. To lose a point, remove the Avocado.

Week 1

Week one of being back on weight watchers...


I did pretty well until Friday...well, Thursday night. I still lost 2.6 pounds, but I could have done a lot better on week one, as I usually loose a minimum of 4 pounds the first week I go back.


I'll share with you why I know I did not do as well as I could have and what I'm going to do to remedy it.


1. I did not track beyond day 2!!! I am pretty good at math, but no matter how good someone is at math it won't make them able to track points in their head! That was biggest downfall for week one.
Solution: I bought a points calculator that is so much easier to use and not conspicuous to track the points. Weight Watchers has this cute calculator that will calculate points on items for you (no need for a slider point calculator!) and it will track the points you use, counting down, as you use them.

It is small and looks like a cell phone, and is so simple to use. I didn't even have to read the directions.


2. Starbucks and their pesky cold drink for $2 after 2 P.M. promotion they are doing. If you buy a drink in the morning, they will stamp your receipt and you can get a cold drink for $2 bucks after 2. I took advantage and even though I ordered Caramel Light Frappicinos, it is still 3 points! So with those added points every day, it is no wonder I didn't do as well.
Solution: I am throwing away the receipt in the morning! I know I will eventually have to either switch to coffee or cut out Starbucks completely. I think I will wait until I go down one more point level. It might motivate me to join the gym and be able to add activity points onto my daily points.


3. Going into Bonus points on Thursday and not tracking the bonus points either!
Solution: Save bonus points for Friday or later! I will have to make an exception this week because it is our anniversary on Thursday and we'll go out to eat.


4. Knowing I was going over my points and doing it anyway. It's one thing to to over the points when you aren't quite aware, but I KNEW I was over and still ordered a Crispy Chicken Ranch Sandwich instead of a salad at Chilis.
SOLUTION: With my trusty points finder, I will be more aware with the number in my face before reaching for that more fattening choice. 


I hope that writing this down and telling on myself will help me to do better next week. I don't want this to be a blog of failure, but more a blog to encourage people. Besides, even with my screw ups I still lost 2.6 pounds!

Quick one...what I need

I was reading the Blog   of Ms. Bitchcakes, and she talks about snacks, in particular the artificial sugary 100 calorie snack packs and how they distorted her taste buds.  She now eats almonds and fruit as snacks. She had the problem of binging and over eating those 100 cal snacks. I can relate because I've been guilty of that, too. She's given up all the artificially sweet snacks and I think that's all well and good...more power to her. I know for myself I HAVE to have something sweet. Not naturally sweet, like fruit, but artificially sweet. I can't deny myself completely some of the things that I really love, like ice cream or candy. One reason I know I have binged on those 100 calorie snack cakes, etc., is because the portion is so small. It just isn't satisfying. I have attached 3 of my FAVORITE sweet snacks that I have yet to binge on since one seems to be enough.


I'm going to show you some of my favorite low points treats that I can't live without:

Jello Sugar Free Mousse 1 point! ( I think it would be ok to have 2...but I haven't felt the need to have more than one at a time yet!)

Bryers Ice Cream bars 3 points

Weight Watchers Ice Cream Candy Bars 3 points

I also have other snacks I can't live without. For 2 points, I will snack on a 2 point sandwich made with Sandwich thins and 2 Tablespoons of Garlic Hummus...mmmmmmm

Sandwich Thins 1 point

Two Tablespoons of Tribe Garlic Hummus 1 point

As I discover other snacks and treats that are Weight Watcher friendly, I will post them here.


Day 3 of strict adherence to my points and feeling stronger and stronger. I will be back to my post viva weight and then on to my goal!

A new start...

I am going to try to write in this blog at least one a week from now on. I didn't get a chance to go to WW the night I wrote my last blog, but I did go the next day and was 186, which is up 6 pounds from my low of 180.

I went on Vacation last week, as evidenced in my other blog and as I stated, it was an orgy of food. It was, as my weight watchers leader described it "A Last Supper" vacation. Any of you who has made a commitment to lose weight, knows what she was talking about. We have one last binge before we head to that meeting and step on the scale. Well, my last supper cost me 5 POUNDS! The fried twinkie, Claim Jumpers and buffets took their toll.

I returned to Weight Watchers tonight. I started a new job today, so it seemed to make sense to me to restart Weight Watchers. I returned to the meeting I attended in 2005-2006 and to my old leader who I totally relate to.

Today's meeting was encouraging. I am confident that if I follow the program, I will successfully lose and get to my goal weight. I have stuck to my points today and am really committed. I'm relieved that there are not people selling fried twinkies anywhere close, because those things were tasty!

8/2/10
weight: 191
goal: 160

31 Pounds to go!

Well it's time to start...I've been procrastinating.

My weight has been a yo yo for most of my life. As a teenager, I had a very nice figure, but of course thought I was fat. My measurements were 36-27-38. I could wear a vintage 12, most of the time. My big weight troubles began when I had my first child. Seems pregnancy has been a huge contributing factor to my weight problem.

I went from 135 pounds at 5'8" to 180 pounds after I gave birth. I worked hard and got down to about 155, but would never again be 135. My weight gradually climbed up to my post pregnancy weight and by the time my daughter was 2 and a half, I was over 200 pounds. This was in my early 20s. In 1989 I went to work at a pre school and all the running around helped me lose about 30-35 pounds. I didn't have a scale so I have no idea how much I lost. I just know I could wear a size 14.

When I went back to work at an office, the weight came back on. For me, activity and diet are THE ONLY reason I lose or gain weight. Working in an office I was eating more and sitting on my butt. I also was drinking a lot of beer then. I put the weight back on and then some.

Well, I decided, in 1992, after meeting my husband and getting sober, to start exercising and watching what I ate. I quickly lost about 45 pounds and got myself back down to about 170 pounds. Again, I didn't use a scale, so I am guessing by how many sizes I'd gone down. I went from about a size 22 to a 14.

When Frank and I moved in together, we started eating out a lot, I was working in an office, and of course the weight came back on once I gave up the exercise and proper eating. We got engaged and the eating continued. Then I managed to put on another 20 pounds after we were married. I was at that point 233 pounds. This I know because I went to my doctor to get "Redux" medication. The medication worked (this was in 1996) and I got down to about 180. I was looking better and stopped taking the medication. Within a few months, I was pregnant and of course, my weight was over 200 after her birth. I didn't lose any weight after she was born and after Mason's birth I was HUGE.

My friend recently sent this photo:

I know I weigh about 265 pounds in that photo because I went to Weight Watchers on 9/11/01...that's right, 9/11. I think the trauma of that day made me want to change my life for the better.

My first Weight Watchers meeting was great. I realized that I could follow this plan because it wasn't really a "diet." I lost 43 pounds within 6 months. I was breast feeding at the time and that helped.

I was still committed to losing weight when my oldest daughter who was 14 was diagnosed with Anorexia and Bulimia. I had noticed her weight dropping and her not eating. When she was below 115 I confronted her, and she tried to play it off that she was being careful and following my example, but there wasn't a problem. About a week later, her father phoned me and told me he caught her inducing vomiting. He hadn't talked to her about it so when I picked her up, I initiated the discussion and it was confirmed that she was doing it herself and she believed she had a problem.

One of the first things her therapist told me was I could no longer count points, write down what I ate, etc. where she might see it. I had to stop the Weight Watchers. This was in 2002.

In 2004 I broke my foot and was told I could not walk for 8 weeks. All I could do was lay on the couch. This picture was taken shortly after it healed:

I think it was pictures from the Hollywood Showdown in 2005 that made me go back to Weight Watchers. I looked so huge and the photos made me cringe. I knew WW worked from before, so I gave it another shot. I was over 250 pounds again, and within a year I lost over 60 and was about 190 in early 2007.

I had a bit of personal drama in 2007. My husband and I separated and after reconciliation, we did a lot of eating and comforting ourselves. I put back on 40 pounds, almost over night, it seemed.

Last summer I got tired of not being able to wear cute clothes. I went back to weight watchers and I'm happy to say I lost 50 pounds. I have been plateaued since I quit smoking in April. Part of the problem is I wasn't that committed to quitting. I continued to bum a smoke here and there. Last week I told myself I don't want to be weak and the urge to buy cigarettes was getting stronger with each cigarette I bummed. Also, the urge to eat junk when I didn't smoke was stronger and I was giving into temptation more and more. I don't want to go back to how I looked just last year, so I have started this blog as a therapeutic deterrent. Maybe others will be inspired. I hope so. Last year I know a few people, including my good friend Jessica was inspired by me and lost over 35 pounds. I must say she and I were rocking it at Viva this year.

I have not been to a weight watchers meeting in almost a month. I am going to go to one tonight. Wish me luck and lets hope this "plateau" hasn't been too damaging.

I want to wear cute vintage!

OK...just started this blog to document my many failures and some successes in the world of weight watchers. In my other blog you can see the drastic ups and downs I have had in the last 5 years. I no longer want to be seduced by bacon cheeseburgers with avocado or chocolate eclairs. I want to wear cute vintage!

Vanity has been the only reason I have lost weight again. I won't bore you with BS about my improved health, heart rate. etc. I will instead bore you with how I just got the cutest dress, has a 29 inch waist and fits!

I apologize for the smug picture title on this new blog...I thought I would be able to edit that but, no, it is part of the lay out.