Out Sick

I hate getting colds. It seemed like my immune system used to be strong enough to beat up squirrels in my back yard. I never got sick! Working in hospitals and nursing homes seemed to keep me strong and immune from almost everything. Now that I have my own business, I only see a set number of people each month. Guess I'm turning into a wimp. I seem to catch everything now! Nasty head cold this week, settled into my chest. I have very little voice left and talking makes me cough. My family loves it! I can't yell at anyone . . .

My weight watchers progress is right where it was two weeks ago. I lost the 3 pounds I had gained. My weigh in on Thursday showed that I was only 0.2 pounds below where I was the week before. I felt like I had lost more considering how poor my appetite had been and all the soup I was living on. My struggle will come when I'm feeling 100 percent again and I start eating again. Right now I'm not really watching what I'm eating.

Tracking is so important for me. If I don't track, I gain so easily. It's too easy to just eat whatever . . . never realizing how high in fat/calories/points this or that is. But when I pay attention and plan my day out, I can do so well. I just have to keep reminding myself of that as I continue in maintenance as a Lifetime Weight Watchers member.

I'm a bit worried about exercise too. I haven't been on my elliptical in over a week. So is it that I'm still sick and hate exercising because it makes me cough? Or is it that I hate exercising and am just looking for excuses? I guess if I'm feeling good enough to worry about it, it's time to get back to working out. Or at least a good walk in the afternoon.

Hugs,
Terri

Everything In Moderation

I guess I learned that the hard way. I gained 3 pounds over the weekend! I about had a fit when I got up and weighed 146.9. Then I took a few deep breaths and thought. Super Bowl Sunday was an eat fest. And everything had a TON of salt! TOM is ready for a visit soon. So I'm sure a good portion of it is simple water retention. I just felt like such a slug, lead balloon style.

So for the last two days I've kept my focus well. I got up and exercised each morning. Planned out my meals and snacks completely. Avoiding any processed snacks, I stuck exclusively to filling foods. And I snuck a peek on the scale. It looks like I am down 2 out of 3 pounds. But I'll have to wait until Thursday's weigh in to be sure.

Tonight was bowling night. I'm a lousy bowler, but I have such a good time! My mom in law talked me into joining a league with her this year and am I ever glad I did! My game has improved (very) slightly and I'm still the lowest average bowler in the league. But I'm there every Tuesday night rain or shine - on in the case of tonight's weather . . snow! I earn a couple of activity points swinging the ball around. I save them for a glass of wine and a snack when I get home. Tonight I bowled a 123 (my average is . . . sigh . . . 93) so that's pretty good for me. And I'm now enjoying my snack: 4 phyllo cups with 1/2 TBSP marshmallow fluff and 1 tsp of mini chocolate chips in the center. Baked at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Yummy little s'more's cups.

How Embarassing . . .

Super Bowl Sunday. My WW leader warned us that this is the 2nd biggest eating holiday of the year. I wasn't sure how true that was and then proved it today. We went over to our friends/old neighbors house to watch the game and have dinner. I made chili with lots of veggies and mostly low fat stuff (oops, my hamburger wasn't the leanest) and figured that would keep me happy. Nope. I grazed. All night long. And now I'm so bloated and disgusted. Plus I drank seltzer/OJ/vodka mixed.

I drank two huge glasses of water when I got home. Have no idea how many points I consumed. I guessed. Too many - that's for sure. I just completely let my guard down. There were no vegetables or fruit in sight - except for the tomatoes, onions, and peppers in my chili. I should have brought along a fruit tray. Instead I ate chips and dip, popcorn, nachos, cake, and cookies. Grazed for 3 solid hours. I finally put on my bathing suit and sank into their hot tub for a while. It was way too cold to get out and find more food, so I was safe.

One big plus, my bathing suit fit great! Last time it was very tight in the shoulders and tush. It fit nice and I really didn't mind the way I looked in it. Hooray!

Funny For the Day

Alex, my 13 year old son, is a riot. He has his Dad's sense of humor. Dry, witty, and comes out of nowhere to pull you up short. It gets him in trouble at school at least once a week. But I have one dig in particular that really gave me a laugh.

I've been eating so much fiber that I'm actually competing with the males in my household for farting records lately. The sugar free weight watchers candy isn't helping my musical backside much either. So I tooted (I thought it was going to be a quiet one. NOT)a bit during homework hour. Alex looked over at me, grinned, and said:

"Dang! No wonder your butt looks smaller!"

The last day of January

Hooray! I'm officially a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers. My meeting felt so good. Granted, I only had 27 pounds to lose. But I couldn't shift it myself. I tried - walking and riding my bike every day, eating a salad for lunch and limiting calories per day. The result of this torture? I gained and lost the same 5 pounds over and over for 3 months. I was so discouraged and angry at myself!

Knowing what I know now, my failure lay in portion control. I simply ate too much at one sitting. Then I'd hop on the scale, get frustrated, and take everyone to McDonalds for dinner. Okay, so my failure also lay in the fact that I love cheeseburgers. :p

Not until I sat in on my very first weight watchers meeting did I put it all together. My true "duh" moment came when the leader showed us newbies how to estimate portion sizes using our hands. A teaspoon and 3 ounces look so very small. Especially when you are hungry. Or you use one of my enormous plates every single meal. Little lunch size plates (I bought a huge supply of paper ones) have been a great visual tool. That way my brain doesn't yell "QUIT DEPRIVING ME" when I'm dishing up my meal.

And these were the first tiny steps into my weight loss process. I know it's not over and that's why I'm writing. But 27 pounds lighter and wiser feels great.

Day 1 - A Fresh Start

I sound so trite . . . like "today is the first day of the rest of your life." But it fits, so what the heck?

At 4pm this afternoon, I'll be on the scale in my weight watcher's meeting. Today is the 6th week of maintenance for me. Down 27 pounds from my original WW starting weight of 170. A total loss of 33 pounds.

I've always weighed around 140, (I'm 5'7") and was very happy with the way I looked and felt. I gained a few pounds about 7 or 8 years ago which came off easily with a few salads and some bike riding. And a brief foray into a "no-carb" diet plan.

But (as my fantastic but too honest nurse practitioner pointed out) I'm into my 30's now and the weight doesn't come off easy any more. That's for sure!

When I started the whole weight watchers process in July I was just looking for something solid to start with. A set plan that I could follow without too much thinking on my part. I was tired, depressed, and very discouraged with myself. I'd had a miscarriage the previous year, wound up on antidepressants, and gained weight without really caring. As my body recovered, I realized that I didn't like myself any more. And I weighed a good 30 pounds more than I wanted to.

Those thirty extra pounds are behind me now. (Bye, guys!) And so are the meds. (Bye, girls!) My psych specialist and I worked together to wean off of them. So now I have to walk a very thin line with maintaining my weight loss and my sanity without turning mindlessly to food for comfort.

It's been a journey for sure, a growing (and shrinking) process. Now I just have to maintain it. Easy to say and hard to do. So here are my goals for blogging regularly now: to be accountable for my actions because I have to post the bad and the good, to regain some of my lost sense of humor, and to never look like my "before" picture again. Wish me luck!

Just Because

I've missed my little blog. It's been too long since I took the time to make some quickpages from the kits I've been working on. So, I'm including two quickpages from my Willows kits. Thanks so much for stopping by!




To download these quickpages from my Willows and Fireflies Kit click here.

Why didn't I think of this before?

AMCE GPS TRACKING AND RENTAL
This is THE place to stop for GPS trackers and rentals.

I'm very happily married and trust my husband completely. But this wasn't always the case. I got very close to being married once before. Thankfully, a good friend warned me that my boyfriend had another girlfriend. I had been suspicious but kept making up excuses - and excepting his lies to me. He was late because he was driving around for 3 hours. Then he got lost coming to visit me, also for three hours. His pager was constantly going off at all hours of the night and he would spend an hour or more on the phone, in another room. When I confronted him and asked what was up, he just got angry at me for wondering. I should have known. It took several emails, sneaking peeks at his phone bills for a couple of months, and two nights watching him from my car to prove that this was NOT the man for me.

I wish I had a GPS tracker then

Trust is so important in a relationship. But what do you do when that trust is becoming shaky? How can you make sure that the trust you place in someone is real? Especially after they violate that trust? Personally, I like the idea of placing a discreet little tracker in their car for a few days, and then downloading where they have been. The software with my tracker is great, I can even see what parking space they were in by zooming in with google earth. I'm glad I can trust my husband so completely, but I regret the time I lost in trusting someone else who didn't deserve it.


To learn more about renting your own GPS tracker clickhere.