It's That Time of The End of The Year

Today's Weight: 181.4 Pounds
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This Week's Weight Loss: 1 Pound

Well, I'm almost through the holiday season which I seem to have gottten through fairly successfully. As you can see above, I've lost another pound. So, not only did I lose the weight I put on (though, really .2 pounds isn't really gain...it's more of a "refused to leave"), I continue to make the scale indicator move more and more to the left!

Because of the holidays this week, I couldn't attend my regular WW meeting, instead I went a day later, and the topic du jour was "Resolutions That Work"...a very timely topic given that we're less than a week away from a new year, and tis the season to make resolutions. I'm the type of person, though, who refuses to make resolutions, because I always, always break them. I prefer to think of ways to go through the year and come out even the slightest bit better for it. The leader had some great concrete ways to make these "resolutions", which to me, made sense:

• Set your goal with a positive, winning outcome;
• Set a specific goal;
• Set a goal that's within your control;
• Set a goal that fits your life;
• The goal should be a habit - not a resolution;

With these tips in mind, here's my goal for 2010:

• Work towards healthier numbers for my annual physical in June;
• Get off my blood pressure medication;
• Continue to exercise and continue to make better food choices;

I'm not going to set a number goal for my weight this year, as I don't want to set myself up for failure. If I reach my target weight this year that will be fantastic and I'll be thrilled though. Also, I believe that the goals I've set for myself are attainable and achievable. The rest will come one day at a time.

On Thursday, as hubby and I do every year, we will go to his brother's place to bring in the new year with his wife. We will be ordering Chinese food (as we do every year). This year, though I think I'll change things up a bit, and instead of ordering the foods that will sabotage my hard work, I'll order a bunch of veggie dishes that will fill me up. I've already sat down with my WW Food Companion and have worked out what I could have that, while they're not the greatest choices during the year, they will do for this occasion. I also made the conscious decision to save my points allowance for this time. I'll let you know if it was a decision I do or don't regret in my next entry.

Until next time, Happy New Year everyone!

I Shall Persevere!

Today's Weight: 182.4 Pounds
(December 19, 2009)

Weight Lost: .2 Pounds


Well, another week gone by and I've lost the .2 pounds I put on last week. Not the best news, but certainly not the worst (a loss is a loss...right????)

Because of the frigid weather outside, it was impossible for me to get the walking in that I wanted to. On the positive, I did go to my exercise class both days, and worked my tushy off.

Also, this week, I had another holiday function to attend - the departmental lunch at an Italian cafe with a very limited selection of healthy choices (either a salad, sandwich or pasta!). There was five of us, and we decided to order 2 large (different) salads, and share them. Each of us then ordered a chicken, mozza, mushroom sandwich, on a panini bread - it was delicious but I bet it cost me a fortune in WW points - again, I had to guestimate.

One of the things that seems to be waivering a bit now is my perseverance. Again, since the pounds aren't flying off me like they used to, I'm starting to get a bit depressed about it. Today, there was a WW member at the meeting who hit the 100 pounds lost mark (she's been at it since March), and while I'm absolutely thrilled for her, I'm wondering why the pounds aren't flying off me too. I really would have liked to be farther along in my journey than I am - though I shouldn't sneeze at having lost 25 pounds. I like to think of it in terms of 50 1/2 pound tubs of margarine (just picture Oprah and her wagon of fat when she lost all of her weight!). Yet, I wonder if I'm hitting a plateau (again). Only way to know for sure is to go back and read the material that was given to me in the early days of my WW membership.

I plan to make the best of the coming week. I will be only working on Monday and Tuesday, and then be off until January 4th. On Tuesday, I'll go to exercise class as planned, then while I'm off, my plan is to get some major power walking in - preferably every day that I'm home. In short, my plan is to persevere and continue on in my journey to a healthier, fitter me.

That Cost Me How Many Points????

Note (December 19, 2009): I started to write this entry last week but never finished, so I'll do that and immediately following, I'll do the entry for this week...

Today's Weight: 182.6
(Sunday, December 13, 2009)

Total Weight Gain: .2 Pounds

Here I am a week later and .2 pounds heavier, which to my estimation is nothing and I could lose it simply by going to the bathroom and giving it the old college try. The problem with that, is I would like do some serious damage to my insides - not a very good idea since that hurts and if there's anything I hate more than a very minor weight gain is major pain!

This past week was not without major challenges. First, the weather did not cooperate in the slightest. It was freezing cold, windy, snowy and/or raining, making going out for a major walk, impossible. Then, despite my best efforts (packing my sweats, and t-shirt), I forgot to pack my running shoes for my Thursday exercise class. This was disastrous for me since I had a holiday lunch at my boss's home the following day.

The holiday lunch was a huge challenge for me since the planned menu was only finger foods. When I found out that it was going to be finger foods this sent me into huge panic mode. It made me wish that my boss had repeated her menu from several years ago, where she served a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings. That's far more manageable than unknown finger food. At least I can calculate the value of turkey, stuffing, etc. Not something I could do with mushroom in a puff pastry cup!

Anyway, I made mental notes on what I ate and then went home and wrote it all down...what an eye-opening exercise that was!!!! And because I really had no idea what the point values were I had to guestimate. Here's what I ate and the point totals I assigned:

4 Triscuit triangles - 1 Point
Melted Brie Cheese on 2 very small slices of french bread - 3 Points
3 Grilled Shrimp - 2 Points
1 Piece of Salmon on a Skewer - 2 Points
3 Gingered Slivered Carrots in Rice Paper - 3 Points
2 Stuffed Mushroom Appetizers - 4 Points
1 Mini Roast Beef Sandwich - 4 Points
1 Cheesecake Lolipop - 2 Points

For a total consumption of 20 points!!! Unbelievable, considering that my daily allowance is 22 points! What's worse is that in a matter of 2 hours, I blew through my daily allotment (save 2 points)! I was completely dumbfounded after the fact, but I learned a very valuable lesson - be very, very careful about what goes into your mouth and think about what it may cost you in the end.

The sad thing was that in the end, in spite of my vigilance, I ended up putting on the .2 pounds mentioned above. On the up-side, the topic for discussion at my WW meeting for the week was "Stress". When the leader introduced the topic, I was the first to pipe up that I had a very stressful week, and went on to tell my story. She commended me for my vigilance and said that it was great that I was mindful of everything that went into my mouth and that I documented it. I imagine that had I not written it down, I could've gone down an extremely slippery slope and who knows what further damage I could've done to myself.

Challenge for the Coming Week:

Departmental Lunch at an Italian cafe with few selections;
Hospital Doctor Holiday Party;

Am I in a Rut?

Today's Weight (Saturday, December 5, 2009): 182.4 Pounds

This Week's Weight Loss: 1.2 Pounds

Well, this is now my third entry in my blog, and it appears that I seem to be having a degree of success in my quest for a leaner, healthier me.

While I'm thrilled that the number on my bathroom scale is going down, I wonder if I'm doing enough to maximize my efforts. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that the number is going down, but somehow, I can't help but think I could be doing more or something different to increase my weekly weight loss to somewhere in the recommended 2 pounds per week weight loss. Today, I went to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting and the topic for discussion was "Are you in a rut?"

This got me thinking...am I in a rut? Well, I eat the same breakfast 5 days per week (light cream cheese on a1/2 a whole wheat bagel). For lunch, Mr. Cutey makes that and doesn't change things up much...10 baby carrots, a cold cut sandwich on whole wheat bread, a zero fat yogourt, a apple (or orange), and a granola bar. These are all quite healthy choices, but somehow I feel like I could use some more variety to avoid the "lunchbag letdown" I seem to be experiencing. I may have to teach Mr. Cutey about keeping lunch interesting (that my readers, is a huge challenge, and a whole other topic for another day.) On the positive, at least I have control over the dinner menu and I try to vary that on a nightly basis. I typically have a green salad with carefully measured salad dressing, a protein (chicken, veal, fish, pork, and on occasion, beef), a carb (usually rice with a veggie thrown in), and a steamed vegetable. Even with the control I have with the dinner menu, I still feel like I want to try different things to keep me interested and motivated to keep going. So, to that end, I'll be checking out a whole bunch of other websites geared towards healthy eating choices to see how I can get out of my eating rut. I think I'll start with the Weight Watchers website, and even check out Hungrygirl.com or Rachael Ray's website. I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to find something to add to my dining repertoire. When I do, I promise to share my findings here.

The other thing that I'm feeling that I'm in a rut with is part of my exercise routine. When I started out, I was only doing my 1 mile walk every evening from the subway. Well, now that winter weather is really only days away (or so the meterologist says!), that will severely limit the days I'll be able to do this walk. Also, I'm starting to get bored with walking the same route. Perhaps I should change that a bit, and maybe try using some side streets to change things up a bit. Also, I do have my twice weekly exercise class, which I must say is truly amazing - the instructor really works all of us. I don't recall the last time I sweated so much! But again, that only takes care of 2 days. For the other five days, I'll need to find something else. I know that my parents have a stationary bicycle at their place, which they never use (right now, it's in their den acting as a laundry depository!). I've been told that I could have it anytime I want to come over and pick it up. Very soon, I think I'll be taking them up on the offerand make good use of a great peice of equipment.

This Week's Challenge:

I don't have many challenges this week, except that my boss is hosting the annual departmental holiday luch get together this coming Friday. I'm really worried about what will be served. When I spoke with her assistant and asked her what was being planned, she told me that the plan was to go with all hors d'oevres. Anyone who's been on a weight loss plan knows that hors d'oevres are the proverbial kiss of death and can quickly undo a week's hard work in a few nibbles of piggies in a blanket or mini quiches. I desperately don't want that to happen, as the next day I have to get on the scale and don't want to face disaster. I brought up my concerns about this gathering at last week's Weight Watchers meeting, and the group had some suggestions on how to handle this. Some ideas were okay but others were simply not practical. One woman suggested that I bring something I can eat. That's a great idea, except, when your boss is having the gathering catered, the last thing I want to do is bring my own food - it's different if it were pot luck - then that would be a great idea. Another woman suggested that I keep something in both hands thereby making it impossible to eat anything. Again, an interesting idea, but this is a lunch thing, and I don't want to pass out from hunger into the veggie dip (that is, if there will be any). So, the way it was left was "try to plan for the worst, and hope for the best". Next Saturday, I'm supposed to report back to the meeting how I made out. So, my fingers (on both hands) are crossed, and let's hope for the best. I'll let you know what happened next week.