Fourth place overall in the race going into the third week.

It surprised me, because I was discouraged Monday that I was only down about a pound and a half from the week before. And that pound and a half was a stretch too... I've never been so naked on the scale :).
I knew it wasn't going to be a very good week... we had friends staying with us all weekend, I made way too much really really good food (some of it light, some of it not so light, chips and dip and milkshakes and big breakfasts. also chinese take-out. ugh).
I was sick (not the good for weight loss kind of sick, just a monstrous cold/cough/lay around all day kind of sick) and unmotivated for three days before weigh in, and I got to top it all off with being bloated and crampy with PMS. That's not exactly a recipe for a loss on the scale.

But I've been back on track yesterday and today and I think I'm headed in the right direction again. 150lbs this morning.

I will stay under 150 for the rest of the week. Heck, how about for the rest of my life??

Hey, found a new treat I like...
these Sunsweet Plum Sweets are great! It's just the right amount of chocolate to curb a sweet tooth and it can actually be considered good for you. Dark chocolate and dried plums... double dose of antioxidents there!! A little protein, a little fiber, a little bit of carbs and saturated fat too, but they size a serving as about 14 pieces and I do fine with just four or five when I think to grab them maybe once a day. Hey, it's better than candy or cookies, right?

Labels: counting, eating, trying

Well, reflecting on my Easter Eating, I have to say I was a very good girl. The day after?... Notsomuch.

Easter Sunday we went to a friends' house for dinner after church. I kept my plate slim with just a good amount of ham, tons of salad, teeny tiny helpings of both the cheesey potatoes and green bean caseroles, and my only downfall was two dinner rolls. I finished up my plate, and although we sat around the table for quite a bit longer and I felt twinges of I should eat more, this food is so good I also was fully aware that I was satisfied and wasn't needing to eat any more food because I wasn't hungry, so I didn't. Our Easter gathering also happened to be a combination 4 year old birthday party too, and I easily turned down the cupcakes and ice cream later in the afternoon.
The kicker? I had absolutely no Easter candy all day except for two simple Peeps. (Come on... a girl cannot be expected to give up Peeps cold turkey at EASTER!). I was feeling quite happy with myself.

But Then.
Monday? I got bored, I got frustrated with the kids, I got overwhelmed with my list of things to do before I take off on Thursday, I got whatever other emotions that come along with the job of a stay at home Mom on a Monday and that Easter candy sitting around my house? It was just a little too convenient. So I ate a chocolate egg here and a Robin's egg there. And finished off the Peeps (I just wrote poop on accident) for lunch. And pretty much ate nothing but candy all day. Oh, plus the second half of SJ's PB&J sandwich. Ugh. I felt horrible. I didn't technically eat that much candy in total... but the fact that that's pretty much all I ate all day? Double Ugh.
I tried to console myself with a great Chicken Salad for dinner. Didn't exactly take away my disgust from the day, but hey-- you gotta move on.

Labels: eating

So I guess I let my disappointment with my week last week carry through to the weekend...

Friday I did okay (and even did an ab workout), but Saturday was a struggle. I'm starting to see that weekends usually are. I have to be sure that I am doing my best during the week, because the next three weekends we have major plans with friends that most likely involve major food.
Anyway, this weekend we took the kids to a movie Saturday morning. Ryan ALWAYS gets popcorn, and even though I prepped myself for that and told myself I wouldn't have any, I did. And a fruit snack. Then I went ahead and had Macaroni and Cheese for lunch with the kids. Gah!!
That evening I made myself stick to my meal bar and veggies.
Then Sunday I let myself indulge in >two< bowls of Frosted Flakes instead of my usual one cup of Special K and grapefruit. Then I really went and did it... because our lunch plans with friends were changed to dinner plans, we hit McDonald's for lunch after church. And I had a Big Mac. And a few fries. And a few more. And at least I drink Diet Coke, but at that point what's the point?!
So I was stoked about dinner because at least I knew that would be healthy... We had a bunch of friends over and I had a nice little piece of my favorite grilled lemon and basil chicken, with tons of grilled asparagus and salad and a whole heap of cherry tomatoes. BUT THEN. One of the girls went and brought two loaves of our favorite sourdough french bread. So I had plenty of that. Oh, and another? Another girl went and brought cookie dough to actually bake here... so not only did I have to try and resist cookies sitting there, but SMELL UP THE WHOLE HOUSE FRESH OUT OF THE OVEN PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!! So I didn't resist. I had two. Double ugh.

Today's been okay. I had my good breakfast, a protein bar for snack, a turkey sandwich for lunch with the leftover tomatoes and some salad and a handful of these Ranch Puffs. Dinner will be this soup, which is a freebie on the Weight Watchers core plan. And then I will eat the soup leftovers for the rest of the week...

Labels: eating

I think Saturday mornings will be my weigh in days...

Today's weight: 153lbs
Today's waist: 37"

I knew yesterday that I was hovering 153/154 but I fully expected to see those numbers back up this morning after the night we had last night. We had a bunch of friends over for a game night, complete with an Ice Cream Sundae bar. I did my best to scrimp by, but ice cream is my weakness. Plus a brownie. Plus two drinks. (Which actually, is alcohol that bad? I mean I know that beer and alcohol is usually the first on the cut-out list on a diet... but really it's not that many calories, no carbs, no fat, etc. And I drink my rum with Diet Coke.)

Speaking of the brownies... I tried a new recipe yesterday. Knowing we were doing the ice cream thing, and what goes better than ice cream than a warm gooey brownie; I decided to be proactive and try a weight watchers recipe I've had for years (but had never used) for 1 point Brownies, using applesauce and egg whites and low sugar. I had high hopes. And I was sorely disappointed. I had about 4 bites and threw the rest away. I mean, they were edible, but I really didn't care for them. The texture was like a cross between a brownie and a pan of thick fudge. Only not fudgey yummy. Just dry and thick and bleh. I told Ryan I'd rather eat celery sticks.
It was a good thing I had a box of Dunkin Hines brownies ready to go as back-up!!

Labels: counting, eating

Some of you have been asking about the Special K thing... like isn't it boring or not balanced or how can you survive on cereal and drinks??!

Here's my take on it:
For me these first couple of weeks are all about breaking my snacking habits. Being home with the kids, I don't really eat a real "lunch" or even a breakfast... I would feed them and snack on some of what they're having, or graze on leftovers in the fridge, more often just snack on junky snacks all afternoon, and usually a combination of all of the above.
Also, I already stress about meals around here. Okay, maybe stress is a strong word, but my dissatisfaction with my own eating habits, combined with the horrid pickyness of my two kids and also Sawyer's soy and dairy allergies thrown in there, I've just been completely burnt out on meal planning, which has been causing a lot of poor choices and take-out options. At this point in time I despise it. Nine times out of ten, I absolutely dread preparing and sitting down to a meal with my family. It's just no fun right now.
So for me, a short term meal replacement plan -something like Special K or Slim-Fast or the like- boils down to this; I just don't have to think about food. I don't have to think so much/stress about what I'm feeding everyone (me) all day long... During the week Ryan is gone and I can just focus on getting the kids to eat during the day and then plan one good meal every evening, so that relieves some of that stress while letting my cut back my calories but still get the protein and fiber and nutrients I need without having to count, measure, or think too hard about it. It's just simple. And also, just keeping my options simple and "planned" breaks me out of the "hmmm... what do I want for a snack/meal?..." mindset. I just don't have to think about it. Instead I grab a snack bar or a flavored water/protien mix, or from my very short list of good "real food" options (i.e. grapefruit, grapes, veggies) or a meal bar. And I've truly found the Special K products to be really quite filling and sustain me easily to the next meal/snack time.

This is not a permanent plan. This is a two week (or so) deal that I wanted to do to a) give me a break from thinking/planning/preparing meals that just frustrated everybody... a bit of time "off" and to regroup and start fresh and feel better about eating, and b) to break my habit of unhealthy snacking.
After this initial "jump start" I'm planning on hitting the conscious meal planning and stricter grocery lists and trying to stick to a lower glycemic diet.

And by the way, I'm not trying to "survive on cereal and drinks"... Those are simply options for snacks and smaller meals leaving me to still eat at least one regular meal a day (trying to keep in mind balance and nutrients and portions).

Labels: eating

I've never dieted before.
I've never been overweight before.
Growing up and all through most of my twenties, I was quite thin through no conscious effort of my own.
When I met my husband and got married, I put on almost 20 lbs in that year. You know, "the happy and comfortable" weight...
But still, I was okay with it. Friends I met after being married commented that I must have been too thin before that if I was 20lbs heavier then. Ideally, I would have liked to have dropped half of that. Then I got pregnant. Long story short, I've ended up with 10 more extra pounds after all was said and done at 2 years out from having my last baby.
Then slowly over the past year (six months?) that's crept up to almost another ten more.

I'm secretly hoping if I can just do something drastic to lose this thirty pounds, and tone up a bit, that then if I just keep up my activity level and keep my meals on the good side of "normal", I'll be able to keep things at an nice weight/shape without too much trouble. I'm hoping I still have enough of my old metabolism or hormones or whatever it is that if I can kick these extra pounds, then simply finding helpful, healthful ways of making meals for my family, being more intentional about activity, as well as finally being settled here without another relocation on the horizon, will allow me to just keep things at an even keel.

So for my first "drastic" attempt... because I'm rather wimpy and at this point I know I'm not motivated enough to read labels and count calories or even WW points and I'm definitely not desperate enough to cut out all carbs, or do a whole "lifestyle change" diet...
I'm doing the Special K "diet" for two weeks. Well, for at least two weeks. I'm giving it two weeks.
So far, it's good for me. You simply replace breakfast and lunch with Special K cereals, whole grain waffles, or their meal replacement bars. And use their protein bars, protein/fiber drink mixes for snacks, or think up a great healthy sustaining snack on your own. Then you eat one meal a day as you normally would... for me it's a good dinner.

For instance, day 1 of the "diet":
I had cereal for breakfast. But knowing that a "serving size" and my normal helpings of cereal are different, I made sure I specifically measured one cup of cereal out. And knowing that pouring that measly cup into a bowl with milk would seem like an awfully quick and piddly breakfast, so I kept the cereal dry and snacked on it like popcorn while reading blogs with a big glass of milk next to me. I also ate a grapefruit.
I didn't have a snack all morning since we were at church, and I really wasn't hungry until I was getting lunch ready for the kids at 12:30. I took my time eating a Special K Meal Replacement bar for lunch with a glass of water. Surprisingly, they really are quite filling.
I did have a late "snack" when we came in from being out all afternoon, while I was getting dinner ready, of the protein water mix. I think one mix could easily last me two snacks. And they're yummy!
Then for dinner I had a small helping of lasagna, garlic toast and salad.
And that's it.
I think I may have had three Robin's Eggs while playing cards with Ryan as well. :)
I was surprised I wasn't hungry throughout the day or bored with "not real food".

So we'll see how the rest of this two weeks goes, and what "plan" (and I use those quotation marks quite loosely!) I want to experiment with next.

Labels: eating