Day 28-- Weigh in

Forgot to post my stats last week... real life got in the way:

Starting weight: 229.4
Last week's weight: 216.8
Current weight: 213.2
Weight lost this week: -3.6
Total weight lost: -16.2

And here's my stats from today's weigh in:

Starting weight: 229.4
Last week's weight: 213.2
Current weight: 211.6
Weight lost this week: -1.6
Total weight lost: -17.8

So, yea... still losing. But as you can see, it has slowed down quite a bit. The ww Leader said not to worry, anything more than 2 pounds a week isn't healthy, but I'm a girl who likes to see immediate results. It's time to kick it up a notch.

That's why it was really fitting that the meeting topic this week was about exercise. I do not exercise. I know it's important, I know I should, I just don't want to. I wake up at 6, get myself and the kids ready, go to work. I usually run errands on my lunch hour (my ww meeting being one of them). Then after work, I pick up the kids, get them fed, bathed, and in bed. It's after 8 pm before I have any time for me, and that's if I don't even clean the house at all. I really don't see how I can fit a workout in to my already busy schedule.

The leader said I need to get up earlier. Ugh. I am not a morning person.

But, I am dedicated to this, so I vowed to working out at least three times this week. I don't know if will be in the morning, at night, or maybe I'll get some time in during the weekend. But Hopefully I'll be able to lose 2.2 pounds and I can be 20 pounds down next week!

When do you get your work outs in?

Day 22-- It's getting hard

I've been doing this for three weeks now.

For three weeks, I've been watching what I've ate. No cheese or mayo on my sandwiches, no ranch on my salads, no chocolate at all. Measuring, calculating, counting to the point of obsession.

And it's working. In only three weeks, I've already lost 16 pounds. I haven't even started exercising yet, that's all diet change. I hate exercising, I'll do it when I stop losing each week.

But I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up. I need a cheeseburger in the worse way. There was a potluck at my work today and kept all the food at an empty desk, which happens to be only 5 feet away from where I sit. It was all I could do not to grab a brownie. Or twenty.

My husband and daughter are away for the weekend. My son is fast asleep.

There is a bag of m&m's in the kitchen, calling my name.

I need to go to bed before I devour them.

Day 18 Those dream squashers

This week’s WW was about how to deal with the negative people in your life. You know who I’m talking about. Those people who make the little snide comments. Your mother in law. The girl you sit next to at work. Your best friend.

My husband.

I’m sure that these people don’t MEAN to be rude. Take Hubby, for example.

Him: “So, on this system, can you eat pizza?”

Me: “Sure. I just have to be smart about it. Like we can get a Veggie De-Lite from Papa Murphy’s, and each slice is worth 4 points, so I could probably have two pieces, and then a side salad.”

Him: “But who dictates how big a slice is?”

Me: “I already looked up the nutrition value on the website. One slice is a tenth of the pizza.”

Him: (laughing) “You can’t cut a pizza into 10 slices!”

Grrr. First of all, what, are you retarded? Of course you can cut a circle into 10 equal slices! 5 cuts across the diameter Dear, it’s not that difficult. But, even it was something harder to figure out, like 9 slices or 11 slices, who are you to laugh? It’s not my fault a serving is 1/10 of a pizza. You need to voice your grievances to Mr. Murphy if you have a problem. Or his papa.

I silently stewed and wished I was eating peanut butter m&m’s. But what I SHOULD have said was, “Honey, I’m doing this because I want to feel good about myself, and I want to like my reflection when I look in the mirror. I wish you would respect that and support me.”

Sheesh. You would think that Hubby would want to have sex with the lights on again someday, and that’s going to happen for at least another 20 pounds!



________________________________________________

Oh, and here's what I ate today:

8 am - yogurt
bran
coffee with cream and sugar.

12 pm- 3 oz chicken
1 piece of cheese
1 hard boiled egg
1 serving reduced cal wheat thins

6 pm
1 serving (10 fluid ounces) corn chowder soup (it wasn't very good. I didn't finish it)
1 slice garlic bread

Total for today: 26 points

Day 14- weigh in

Another good week!

Starting weight: 229.4
Last week's weight: 221.0
Current weight: 216.8
Weight lost this week: -4.2
Total weight lost: -12.6

I've been busy at work and at home, so I haven't had time to get online. But as you can tell from my weight loss, I've been staying with my points each day. And I've lost 5% of my total weight! Whoo hoo!

I really need to start incorporating some kind of activity into my lifestyle... but that probably won't happen this week, either. I'm working on it.

Here's what I ate today:

8 am- coffee with cream and sugar
ww banana nut muffin

1 pm- smart ones meal

I ate pretty light today because Hubby was going to pick up a pizza for dinner. But at the last minute, he decided to go to Subway instead:

6 pm- 6" turkey on wheat (no cheese or mayo)
1 serving baked Lays

So now I'm WAY low on points. I'll probably get some kind of snack later tonight.

Day 11

Ugh, I don't think this was a good day.

I'm full, but I'm way low on my points. 8 points, that's a whole meal. I thought maybe I even forgot something, but I keep going over my day, over and over again, and nope, that's all I ate.

Maybe I'm getting sick.

And even though I'm low on points today, and I've been close to my points every day, never going over, I am not losing weight. I weighed myself this evening, and I haven't lost anything (the scale actually says I GAINED 3 pounds, but I'm not stressing too much about that. It's the end of the day, I'm wearing a sweatshirt, that's got to account for something. Not much, but something).

8 am- 1 cup blueberries- 1 pt (28)
1 cup strawberries- 1 pt (27)
coffee with cream and sugar- 3 pts (24)

12 pm- mac and cheese smart ones meal- 6 pts (18)

6 pm- hot link sausage- 6 pts (12)
turkey and mashed potatoes from smart ones- 4 pts (8)

What's wrong? Too much processed food? Hubby and the kids had lefts overs from Mother's Day. None of that was healthy, so I had to have a little meal. I've been eating at least one every day, they're so much easier that having to think about a healthy home cooked meal.

Maybe I need to start exercising.

Day 10

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was a little difficult because we went to my dad's house for a bbq and there was nothing there that was even remotely healthy. But I stayed in my point range and I'm full right now, so it's all good!

8 am- Egg and cheese burrito from Smart Ones- 4 pts (25)
coffee with cream and sugar- 3 pts (22)
(sweet Hubby brought me breakfast in bed-- 2 minutes in the microwave, it's probably the easiest thing he ever made!)

1 pm- 1 hot link sausage, no bun- 6 pts (16)
1 cup potato salad- 14 pts (2)
Dessert-- My stepmother made 2 desserts, and I didn't take a plate. But then she asked me what I thought of them, so Hubby gave me a bite of each one. I'm completely guessing on the points, but it can't be more than 1 point per bite, right? 2 pts (0)

7 pm- I was out of points, but I needed a little something. Luckily, some foods are free.
1 tomato
1 cup carrots

Still at 29 points! Go me!

I don't think I'm losing as much weight as I did last week. I might have to add in some exercise sooner than I thought.

How to survive dining out

I'm glad that this week's meeting topic was about dining out, because I go out a lot. I go to lunch with my girlfriends at least once a week, Hubby and I like to go out on the weekends, and there's some days during the week that we just can't bring ourselves to cook. But when you're trying to diet, a restaurant can destroy all your best intentions. Here's how to survive:

* Plan ahead. I knew my girlfriends and I were going to Outback for lunch today, so I went online ahead of time to look at the menu. After I stopped crying over all the delicious stuff I used to get, I realized pretty quick that I was going to have the house salad and a side of fries.
* Eat before you go. If you have a little snack before you even go out, you won't be that hungry when it's time to order.
* Look for restaurant buzz words. Descriptions like poached, grilled, roasted, and steamed are good. Descriptions such as fried, battered, creamed, and scampi are generally not so good.
* Restaurants notoriously give you way too much than the recommended serving size. As soon as your plate arrives, put half in a take out box, or on another plate and remove it from the table.
* Don't feel guilty about leaving food on your plate. If you think your spouse or kids might want it, fine. Take it. But otherwise, leave it. You might think you're wasting food and money by throwing it away, but what good is doing you being stored in your butt?
* Limit the amount of times you go out. Before I joined WW, I was getting Starbucks in the morning before work, or sometimes McDonalds, and going out to grab a quick bite on my lunch hour, and then eating whatever I wanted when I got home. Those days are over, but I still go out with my besties every Friday. That way, I'm not completely depriving myself.
* Make it a dry party. No alcohol! Who wants to waste their calories drinking? Not me!

What works for you when you go out?

Day 8

(I forgot to put in what I ate yesterday, but it was fine. I stayed within my points. Here's what I ate today)

8 am- Egg and cheese burrito (from Smart Ones) 4 pts (25)
Coffee with cream and sugar 3 pts (22)

1 pm- house salad- no dressing, no croutons 5 pts (17) I'm mad that I forgot to say no cheese and it was shredded in there. I could have had 0 points. I'm sure it was less than 5, but I'm all about overestimating.
French fries 4 pts (13) HUGE victory. I went to Outback with my girlfriends for lunch. I ordered a house salad with no croutons or dressing and a side of french fries. I put half the fries on a separate plate and then put the plate on another table that needed to be cleaned. And I didn't even eat all the fries that I gave myself. Go me!

But, bad news... I was starving by 3 pm. And I knew we were having hotdogs for dinner tonight. So I resisted.

6 pm- 2 hotdogs (no buns) 10 pts (3)
More asparagus than anyone should be allowed to eat 0 pts (3)

8 pm- I'm still hungry
1 serving reduced fat wheat thins 2 pts (1)

Total: 28 points

Today was the first day that I was not satisfied. I think I way overestimated the points on my lunch, but if I want this to work, I need to be honest about the points.

I hope tomorrow is better.

Weigh in Day

It's a good day, my friends.

Starting weight: 229.4
Last week's weight: 229.4
Current weight: 221.0
Weight lost this week: -8.4
Total weight lost: -8.4

Boo yah.

The meeting was cool. I lost more than 5 pounds, so I got a little sticker reward for that, and I got a bunch of little bravo stickers for saying what I did differently this week. I get off on stuff like that.

The topic was interesting, too (more on that later). But the other people at the meeting.... well, I didn't really connect with any of them.

The average age was probably 72.

I went at 12:30, and I expected a lot of working stiffs, coming in on their lunch. This did not seem to be the case. They were all retired women. I think there was one girl that was my age (she appeared to be there with her mother). Everyone else was at least my mother's age or older.

There's another 12:30 meeting on Wednesdays, I think I'll go there next week to see if there's anyone my age. I don't mind it if there's no one there I can talk to, but it would be an added extra bonus.

Day 6

Of course I would go over my points on the day before my weigh in. 'Cause that's how I roll.

10 am: yogurt (I had to go to the dentist this morning, so I didn't get to eat sooner) 4 pts (25)

12:30 pm: beef nachos (cinco de mayo, so of course the office provided nachos. I can only hope I am overestimating the serving size) 13 pts (12)
1 sugar cookie-- 3 pts (9) Ugh!

6 pm: instead of going out to dinner, we went to big boss's house for dinner. He grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. I had....
1 hamburger patty-- 3 pts (6)
1 hot link sausage-- 6 pts (0)
1 serving potato chips-- 4 pts (+4)

I went 4 points over on my points today. Boo. This wouldn't be an issue (I'm allowed to go over 35 points a week), if I didn't have my first week weigh in tomorrow!

Way to sabotage, Heifer.

Day 5

8 am - Weight Watchers blueberry muffin-- 3 points (26)
Coffee with cream and sugar-- 3 points (23)

1 pm - 5 oz boneless skinless chicken breast (grilled)-- 5 points (18)
2 slices low cal wheat bread-- 1 point (17)
1 serving reduced fat wheat thins-- 2 points (15)

6 pm - 1 smart ones meal (chicken and broccoli)-- 5 points (10)
1 slice low cal wheat bread (my daughter at the other piece)-- 1 point (9)

8 pm- 2 chicken and mushroom roll up.... things (also from Smart Ones. I really stocked up on the frozen meals. I know, it's more expensive, and it's probably not as healthy, but it takes a lot of the thinking out of the process.)-- 4 points (5)

Total for the day: 24

Hubby just informed me that we are going out to dinner tomorrow night, with some clients from his company. I normally love going out to dinner, but on the night before my first weigh in... I'm scared.

I think I've been losing weight. I hope I've been losing weight. Even going out to eat on Sunday, I think I've been doing ok.

I hope I don't blow it tomorrow.

Day 4

8 am Ham and cheese scramble—5 points -- 24
Coffee with cream and sugar—3 points – 21

(I had 5.8 ounces of chicken breast that I was intending to have for lunch today… but I left it at home. Drats. Luckily, there’s a Subway near by)

1 pm: 6” turkey on wheat with all the veggies (no cheese or mayo) – 5 points – 16
1 oz bag baked lays – 2 points – 14

6 pm: round steak, 4 oz -- 5 points-- 9
1 cup broccoli-- 0 points-- 9
1 T soy sauce-- 0 points-- 9

(we made beef and broccoli from scratch at home, and I just mixed cornstarch with the soy sauce to thicken it up. My husband had his over rice so he didn’t feel deprived. I don’t love rice, and I thought I was going to need a beer later after my bad day at work, so I decided not to waste the points.)

8 pm: 1 serving reduced fat wheat thins-- 2 points-- 7

And no beer!

Total for today: 22

I’m going to a meeting on Thursday to weigh in. I’m sure I’ve lost weight, although I don’t know how much. I’m worried that the instructor is going to say I’m not eating enough, but damn! I want this to work and I don’t want to go over.

Day 3

Here's what I ate today:

* 2 pieces low cal bread-- 1 point (no butter!)
* 1 egg-- 2 points
* 1 tsp oil-- 1 point
* 1 cup blueberries-- 1 point
* 2 pieces low cal bread (again)-- 1 point (no mayo or mustard!)
* 2 oz turkey breast lunch meat-- 1 point
* 1 cheese stick-- 2 points

I really watched my points because I knew I going out to dinner tonight. I took my mother out to dinner as an early Mother's Day present. We went to a mom and pop Mexican restaurant. I ordered the chicken tacos: Delicious! I ate the tacos, and then 2 or 3 bites each of the rice and beans, and maybe a total of 10 tortilla chips with salsa. No alcohol.

There wasn't any nutritional information, so I had to guess on the calories and the amounts. I tried to over-estimate.

* 2 chicken tacos-- 10 points
* 1/4 cup refried beans-- 1 point
* 1/4 cup spanish rice-- 2 points
* tortilla chips-- 3 points
* salsa-- 1 point

TOTAL FOR TODAY-- 26
.. and I drank 3 24-oz bottles of water!

How to figure out your daily point value

If you can’t join weight watchers, but want to follow along, this is how you figure out how many points you can have each day:

First, take the first two numbers of your weight. I weight 229, so my starting number is 22.

Add 2 points if you’re female, 8 points if you’re male.

Now, for your age.
17-26………….. 4 points
27-37………….. 3 points
38-47………….. 2 points
48-58………….. 1 point
no points if you’re older than 58.

I’m 36, so I add 3 points.

Now, add in your Height:
Under 5’1” ………….. No points
5’1”- 5”10………….. 1 point
Over 5’10” ………….. 2 points

I’m 5’11”, so I add 2 points.

And now for your work day. Do you spend your day….
Mostly sitting ………….. No points
Mostly standing, but sitting sometimes ………….. 2 points
Mostly walking………….. 4 points
Hard manual labor ………….. 6 points

I work in an office, sitting at a desk all day. No points for me.

So, if your math skills are as bad as mine, you’ll have to break out your calculator and see that I am allowed 29 points a day. Of course, as you lose weight or get older or if you get a different job, your daily point value will change.

Every food has a point value. Some foods are 0 points. Yea for broccoli! Some foods are high in points, like pizza or potato chips. Boo to those foods. But if you want to eat those, rock on with your bad self, as long as you stay within your points total. That means if you want to have two slices of pizza and a beer at dinner, you’re not going to be able to eat anything all day before then, or else you’ll go over your points. Who wants to do that? Not fun!

You’re also allowed 35 “bonus points” each week. That means if you want to eat a piece of cake at a birthday party, or go out to a nice dinner for your anniversary, you can. You just dip into your special going out reserve points. The Weight Watchers people say that you will still lose weight even if you dip into your reserve, just not as quickly as if you don’t.

I prefer quicker, thank you.

Day 2

Here's what I've had to eat today...

Starting points: 29

8 am- a smart ones breakfast meal. I ate the cheesy scramble with hash browns-- 4 points (25 left)
coffee with cream and sugar-- 3 points (22)

10:45 am- yogurt-- 4 points (18)
bran sprinklies to go over the yogurt-- 1 point (17)
(I've also had 48 ounces of water so far today-- go me!)

1:30 pm- a smart ones entree. This time is was salisbury steak with mac and cheese-- 6 points (11)
I think I'm on my 5th 24-oz bottle of water. I've been peeing all day. But I feel very full.

5:30 pm- 6" turkey sub on wheat (with no mayo or cheese)-- 5 points (6)
Baked Lays potato chips-- 2 points (4)
caffeine free diet pepsi-- 0 points

8 pm-- sugar free chocolate pudding-- 1 point (3)

Total for the day: 26 points

I think this is pretty awesome. Now, this was a special day-- I worked in my office most of the day, and then my husband was gone in the evening so the kids and I went out for sandwiches-- but I still count it as a win! Now, the real test will be when I'm with my husband all day and I have to deal with his cravings!

Why Weight Watchers?

The secret to losing weight is not all that complex. Eat less, move more. It’s not rocket science. And yet, very few people are able to do it. My theory is that food tastes too good and the couch feels too good. So, we need help. So we join Jenny Craig, Nutrasystem, Weight Watchers.

So, why Weight Watchers? Well, there’s a couple reasons. I really like the meeting aspect of it. You go to the meeting each week, you weigh in, you get rewarded if you do well. You get to hear what’s working for everyone else, and you get to hear if something isn’t working, and hear suggestions for how to do better. And then you get a lesson on the life change we’re all making.

I like the structure that the system provides. I need someone to tell me exactly what to do, and exactly when to do it. But at the same time, I like the flexibility of the program. If I want to eat a cheeseburger, I can.

But the main reason I chose Weight Watchers was because I’ve had friends lose with it. If they can do it, I can do it.

And if I can’t do it, I’ll pray every night for my friends to become fat.