I'm here I'm here!

Wow, 2 weeks without a post, that's soooo not like me! It's been busy and sucky and I just haven't had time or felt like it but lets play catch up.

Week 10 WI: up 1.8lb, not a super big surprise. We had a formal dinner event the night before for hubby's work, and while I had the points and planned ahead we did not have enough fluids that evening. There was 1 pitcher of water for the table which was never refilled. Needless to say, we had to stop for a diet soda on the way home because I was PARCHED! I could tell that I was retaining water from the dinner (and 1 cocktail I indulged in) because my feet were quite swollen after the hour long car ride home. I did however, look smoking hot lol. Would you like to see?



So, the following week I watched closely and after about 2 days the extra weight slid right off plus some. I watched and counted and stayed on track know that the following weekend would be spent on the road and out of town for a friends wedding. I had unrealistic high hopes that since the bride to be was also doing WW, as well as a good friend driving with me, that food choices would be made keeping that in mind.  I had also planned to weigh in early but the meeting times didn't work out for me and I missed it :(  I was very sad about that.

The drive there and back was quite successful, Erin and I made smart choices, packed wisely and made sure to have plenty of water and diet soda on hand to keep hydrated.  It all sort of crashed and burned when we arrived Thursday night.  Do to an hour time difference, we ended up eating dinner around 7:30 Missouri time which was 8:30 our time, we were starving.  The bride to be lives in a itsy bitsy teensy weensy little town that had very limited options for eating at that time of day.  The place we went was super cute and the food was great but being exhausted and starving and a lack of healthy options on the menu I fell into bad habits (as did Erin I'm afraid) and got an appetizer sampler.  I wrote it all down, each and every bite, but haven't been brave enough to figure out that meals points yet lol.

Friday was an incredibly busy and stressful day.  McDonald's breakfast (need i say more?), a higher point lunch (there WAS a grilled chicken on the menu but it didn't sound appetizing so I got fried shrimp...slaps head) followed by rehearsal dinner.  Now I at a SUPER HUGE TON of fresh veggies at dinner and removed the crunchy fried skin from my piece of chicken breast, but I couldn't quite say no to that delicious looking brownie.  SIGH  At this point I was just thoroughly disgusted with myself.  I vowed to not throw it all away just because I was on a trip and things would be hectic.  I blew it.  Lesson learned though, I haven't come as far as I thought I had and realize now that outside of my comfort zone I still need a little work.

Saturday could have been much much worse but because of circumstances out of my control (we weren't given a chance to eat lunch in all the disasters that happened leading up to the walk down the aisle) I only had eaten 4pts worth of food by the time we finally got to eat dinner.  The groom is Korean and his dad is friends with the owner of a local Chinese restaurant, so they served sweet and sour chicken, beef and broccoli, rice, egg rolls and crab rangoons.  GRRROOOOOAAAAANNNNNN!  Ah!!  Chinese food is like kryptonite to me!  I could eat sweet and sour chicken until the cows flew over the moon and not get tired of it.  I was very impressed with myself though.  I had equally smallish amounts of both choices, about a cup of white rice and 3, YES 3, crab rangoons.  I shudder to think of how many more than could have been if they hadn't run out.  By the time I helped cut and serve the cake though, I had absolutely no desire for it and ate about 2 bites of my super skinny piece that I had soooo been looking forward to and saving my points for.  Again, I looked good though :)

My body had reached its 'crap' limit after that and took its revenge with a 3 day long disgustingly horrible stomach and intestinal revolt.  I'm telling you, I felt SICK SICK SICK!  So, now you know.  Do not fall off the wagon like that or the gas and cramps you feel for days after may well kill you, lol.

Since Sunday morning though, and our return home, I've done great.  Keeping right on track, used about 1/2 of my weeklies trying to real myself back in, but feeling much better.  I've been drinking water like a camel, hoping to flush out the salt and ick from my system and feel like I'm back where I should be.  The scale is kindly telling me that I'm at least where I was before leaving so that's excellent.  I have my fingers crossed and my carrots cleaned and cut and ready to eat.  Next time I'm in a situation out of my normal routine I will fare much better.  I was so close to that 20lb I could just cry for not keeping that goal in mind.

I'm not at all in danger of quitting or giving up.  This just makes me more determined to lose the weight and keep going.  Check back Saturday as I will once again be at weigh in and here to share the results of this 2 week roller coaster ride!

Who's In Your Stands?

Do you have a support system set up? A cheerleader or entire cheer section? Who's sitting in the stands of your weight loss and cheering you on? Cheesy? Maybe, but in my opinion its extremely important.

Maybe meetings aren't for you, maybe you are confident in your ability to do it alone, that is awesome but you should still have someone you can turn to when you've hit a bump in the road. In my opinion anyway. I've been reminded a few times today alone what an awesome group of friends and family I have that are helping me through this long long journey. They are there when I need to vent or bitch or share my excitement, helping me pick out new clothes or sending me links to blogs and articles that I might find interesting. I could not be as successful without my cheering section (you know who you are!!) so I just wanted to send out a great big........

blah blah blah

I don't have much to say today, not feeling super witty or charming. I had a 'hungry day' yesterday and used about 11 of my extra weekly points. That's fine, its why we have them, BUT, I am only 3 pounds away from my 20lbs and was hoping to be super diligent this week and MAYBE hit that milestone on Saturday. I have to miss my very first meeting the following week since I'll be out of town for a wedding (I'm going to try and find a meeting that friday to weigh in at) and it would be awesome to go knowing I'd hit 20lb.

Realistically though, 3lb is a lot for a typical week so I'll take whatever comes my way. I feel kind of pooey though with this allergy/sinus crap that hit me with this wonky weather this week and just wanna munch. So I'm keeping busy with my business orders and napping! I am totally planning on taking a nap with the kids here in a bit.

So thats all really, I just needed to confess to my munchies and be done with it.

Week 9 Weigh In

Chalk another one up to the losing (winning) side! I'm down another 1.6lb this week for a total of 17lb :) I'm so excited and loving how the weight is just melting away. I've really been getting a ton of comments on how people can see a difference already and not just in one area but all over. I've noticed my hips and butt, sides/waist and pooch the most. Oh and my face, my lovely face is coming to the surface as the pudge disappears. I look younger, not as tired. I look awesome!

My plan for this week is to follow plan to the letter, get in my water as this is always a struggle for me, and limit my weeklies that I use. I want to hit it hard and if I'm lucky maybe lose that 3lb I need to hit my 20lb! Oh I can't wait to see that number on my card :)

Oooooh I Wanna Eat Like Yoooouuuuu

hummed to the tune of 'I Wanna Be Like You' from the Jungle Book :)

So, I'm always curious about what other people eat when on WW so I thought I'd take a minute to walk you through a typical day for me. Now keep in mind, I have 40pts a day currently so I get a bit more food than say, someone who is 10lb from their goal.

BREAKFAST: usually consists of a WW yogurt (I love the amaretto cheesecake and strawberry ones) with a 1/2 serving of lowfat granola w/o raisins. Yummy and only 5pts!
Or, another fav is poached eggs over light toast. I'll make 2 pieces of toast and 2 poached eggs and have a yummy breakfast for just 6pts!



LUNCH : this has been a favorite lunch for me this week. A HUGE salad of romaine lettuce, light italian dressing (2tbsps is 2pts) and 7g or crunchy bacon bits (1pt), 12 Old Wisconsin Turkey Bites (4pts), a Babybel Light Cheese (1pt) and a clementine (0pts) Total pts = 8



DINNER: A big family favorite (even the kids) is this WW Baked Ziti. It's 7pts a serving and makes 12 servings. We love it because Steve and I both have leftovers for 1 or 2 days lunch. It's always a plus when a meal is delicious and stretches! I usually pair this with broccoli or green beans for 0pts. I skip the butter and use the spray butter and a bit of salt, yummy and free!



So there you go. We have the ziti usually every week, along with the Parmesan chicken tenders I blogged about and the baked chicken. We try new recipes whenever possible but these are out staples, the ones I always have the ingredients on hand for and the kids love them. I usually have points leftover at the end of the day and can use those for a splurge like angel food cake with cool whip topping (4pts) or like tonight, 2 girl scout tagalongs (4pts!)

Feel free to ask questions! This is just for entertainment purposes and maybe to give someone a food option they hadn't thought of before.

Week 8 Weigh In

That's right my lovelies! I kicked WW ass this week and took names! Down 3.4lbs!!! I was not about to let last weeks teeny gain effect me in any way but a positive one. I stuck to my points, only used about half of my weeklies and got lots of water in. There was more 'junk' eating out this week than I'd planned on but you know what? That's life and it happens, you just have to learn to roll with it.



So as a little 'gift' of encouragement to myself I've decided to make a bracelet. For every 5 lbs I get to add a bead to it and so far it has 3 little beads but they are BEAUTIFUL! I wore it to a good friends baby shower today and a reminder to myself that if I was careful with what I ate I could enjoy a piece of cake without going nuts. I had a big plate of fresh fruit...0pts! I didn't feel at all guilty about the delisciously yummy chocolate cupcake with buttercreme icing either.

Here in a bit when the natives fall asleep I'm going to get my measurements again. I'm loving this point in my journey because people are starting to comment on noticing a difference, especially through my sides/hips and chin gobble. Yay!!! I'm thinking of posting that as well as my weight loss each week. I have nothing to hide and I know for others following their own journey to thin, it might be helpful to see that even if some weeks the scale isn't nice you could still be shrinking right out of your pants.

I'm also doing something incredibly brave on this post and if you have a weak stomach, small children in the room or are eating dinner you may want to stop right here.....because I'm going to post a picture of my stomach in its current condition! Laproscopy scars and stretch marks included. It's certainly not pretty and I'm not doing it for any reason other than...I've got 'fat pictures' galore but I've never taken a picture of my actual belly because, well lets be honest, its GROSS. I think though that I can tuck it away in a drawer and when I'm struggling I can use it for motivation. When my weight is gone I can use it with my 'before' pictures. I just need to do it. So..................................................deep breath............................here goes nothing!