This week was a good week, food wise. The key for me is planning, so when I do my grocery shopping for the week I figure out what my meals and snacks are going to be for the week. Breakfast is usually oatmeal and coffee with a snack of yogurt and a piece of fruit mid morning. Lunch lately has been salad with grilled chicken and a granola bar of some type. Dinner is something I've made Sunday evening and plan to eat for most of the week. I also toss in a salad and some corn or green beans. There are times though when something interferes with that. For example on Thursday a co-worker and I spontaneously decided to go to Olive Garden. We always get the Soup & Salad lunch. Two bowls of the soup I get are about 8 points. Not bad for an Olive Garden meal. I don't generally eat salad out, so I don't eat the salad at Olive Garden. Which is probably good since it comes drenched in dressing. I know I can ask for it without, but I don't bother because my dining companion is the only one eating it so I let her order whatever she wants. I did have two breadsticks though. I should have had one but had a second and as soon as I finished I knew I had eaten too much. That's the new part I need to get a better handle on. I actually do a pretty good job of not overeating, but occasionally when I am out to lunch or dinner I push it too far. I wasn't so worried about the points per se, as I had some weeklies left and I didn't go that far over my daily allowance. I modified my dinner a little bit so my lunch became my big meal of the day.
I did get in a decent amount of exercise. I was able to work out four days last week. I'm hoping to stretch it to five this week, but if I can keep it to at least four, I'll be happy with that.
I didn't weigh myself this week at all so was unsure what the scale at WW would say when I weighed in this week. I was hoping for 1.2 pounds so I would hit my 5 pound mark. It was 0.8. I was tempted to write "only 0.8", but 0.8 is almost a pound and if I keep tracking and working out I'll hit 5 pounds next week. More importantly was that this was my third week in a row with a loss. That means more to me than the 0.8 frankly. I spent the last few months gaining and losing the same 2 pounds. It was my own fault. I was counting points kind of but not really and working out occasionally. I was going to meetings but not really working the program. At the beginning of this month I recommitted to really doing the program and making this a lifestyle change. Since doing that I've lost every week.
Weekly Stats:
Current Weight: 255.4
Lost: 0.8
Total Lost: 4.6
26 February 2012
18 February 2012
Bluegrass State
This was a good week. The Kentucky trip was nice. The conference was great - I got to attend some excellent sessions and have a list of ideas to bring back to campus. The food options weren't great, we were kind of limited, but there was a Subway next to my hotel. I also made use of the gym at my hotel every day. Seriously. I would get up, go to the gym, head down to the breakfast buffet and have something to eat. I was very conscientious about what I got to eat. It would have been so easy to go overboard. Coffee, two pancakes (normal size, nothing enormous), two slices of bacon, fruit, and 4 oz of yogurt. I also would have 4 oz of apple juice. It's a little more than my usual for breakfast, but I usually have a snack between breakfast and lunch and I knew that I wouldn't be able to do that during the sessions, and I didn't want to be ravenous at lunch time.
The rest of my meals were all over the place but I tried to keep everything in check. One of my lunch meals I ate at a restaurant at the hotel. I ordered a turkey sandwich, light on the mayo. It came with sweet potato fries. The turkey sandwich was HUGE. Way too much, so I only ate about a third of the sandwich and most of the fries. Another night I had a sandwich from Subway with Baked Lays. Another night I had two slices of pizza. I also drank a lot of water. For once in all of my travels, the water at the hotel didn't have a weird taste to it. So I kept refilling my water bottles. I'm a Hilton Honors Gold member, so got 2 free bottles of water when I checked in. Perfect. I refilled those at least three times a day.
At this conference there is a vendor area and the vendors host breaks twice a day. The afternoon break on day one was an ice cream break. Ice cream is a huge weakness of mine and this was Graeter's ice cream. For those of you not in the know, Graeter's is an Ohio company and they make the best ice cream. Seriously, the best ice cream I've ever had. I haven't had Graeter's since I was in grad school at Ohio State. So I got one scoop. One scoop of Black Raspberry Chip was all I needed. I got my taste in and didn't overindulge. It was the perfect afternoon pick me up.
The morning after I got back from Kentucky I got on the scale just to see how I did while I was away. I was hoping to maintain. I was down! So exciting. The exercise helped I'm sure of it. I weighed in this morning officially at my meeting and I was down 2 pounds! I haven't had a week like that in a long time. It felt so good and was so so motivating. I'm definitely going to try to keep up the exercising 4 times a week. I know that's what pushed me over from a good week to a great week.
Weekly stats:
Current weight: 256.2
Lost: 2.0
Total Lost: 3.8
The rest of my meals were all over the place but I tried to keep everything in check. One of my lunch meals I ate at a restaurant at the hotel. I ordered a turkey sandwich, light on the mayo. It came with sweet potato fries. The turkey sandwich was HUGE. Way too much, so I only ate about a third of the sandwich and most of the fries. Another night I had a sandwich from Subway with Baked Lays. Another night I had two slices of pizza. I also drank a lot of water. For once in all of my travels, the water at the hotel didn't have a weird taste to it. So I kept refilling my water bottles. I'm a Hilton Honors Gold member, so got 2 free bottles of water when I checked in. Perfect. I refilled those at least three times a day.
At this conference there is a vendor area and the vendors host breaks twice a day. The afternoon break on day one was an ice cream break. Ice cream is a huge weakness of mine and this was Graeter's ice cream. For those of you not in the know, Graeter's is an Ohio company and they make the best ice cream. Seriously, the best ice cream I've ever had. I haven't had Graeter's since I was in grad school at Ohio State. So I got one scoop. One scoop of Black Raspberry Chip was all I needed. I got my taste in and didn't overindulge. It was the perfect afternoon pick me up.
The morning after I got back from Kentucky I got on the scale just to see how I did while I was away. I was hoping to maintain. I was down! So exciting. The exercise helped I'm sure of it. I weighed in this morning officially at my meeting and I was down 2 pounds! I haven't had a week like that in a long time. It felt so good and was so so motivating. I'm definitely going to try to keep up the exercising 4 times a week. I know that's what pushed me over from a good week to a great week.
Weekly stats:
Current weight: 256.2
Lost: 2.0
Total Lost: 3.8
11 February 2012
Off to Kentucky
No WW meeting for me this week. I am leaving shortly for the airport. I have a conference in Kentucky until Wednesday. This week was okay. The beginning of the week was easier, it gets progressively more difficult as the week goes on. Let's backtrack to Super Bowl Sunday. I made a crock pot dish - buffalo chicken. Very points friendly. Instead of putting the shredded buffalo chicken on a big sub roll, I used the Orowheat (that's Arnold brand for you East Coasters) sandwich thins and instead of blue cheese, I spread laughing cow cheese on the bread. Seriously, it was so so tasty. I paired that with a salad and had that for dinner every night until Thursday, when sadly the chicken was all gone.
Lunches - I discovered the best salad at Walmart of all places. I never shop at Walmart. Someone I work with though told me about the premade salads they have in the deli/produce area. I tried the southwest salad. Dressing included, it's very points friendly and there's a ton of lettuce so it's very filling. I pair that with some fruit and a granola bar for lunch.
The end of the week though is when the snack monster knocks on my door. Especially when I'm reading, I like to crunch on something. So I invested in an air popper. Air popped popcorn with no oil. All natural. I get nervous eating so much microwave popcorn, there's a decent amount of chemicals in those bags. When I get back from Kentucky I'm going to try out the popper.
I didn't get as much exercise in this week as I would have liked. I came home from work with a headache a few nights this week so all I really wanted to do was eat dinner, take some motrin pm, and crawl into bed. So that's what I did. I did pack my work out gear to take on my trip though. I'd like to get a work out in at least 3 of the 5 days I'm there.
No meeting this week, so my weigh in this morning was on the home scale. It's pretty close to the scale at my WW meeting, so I'm pretty confident in the readout. I was down 1.3 pounds this week. Definitely exciting and definitely motivating to stick to my tracking, try to exercise more, and see what results I can get.
Weekly stats:
Current weight: 258.2
Lost: 1.3
Total Lost: 1.8
Lunches - I discovered the best salad at Walmart of all places. I never shop at Walmart. Someone I work with though told me about the premade salads they have in the deli/produce area. I tried the southwest salad. Dressing included, it's very points friendly and there's a ton of lettuce so it's very filling. I pair that with some fruit and a granola bar for lunch.
The end of the week though is when the snack monster knocks on my door. Especially when I'm reading, I like to crunch on something. So I invested in an air popper. Air popped popcorn with no oil. All natural. I get nervous eating so much microwave popcorn, there's a decent amount of chemicals in those bags. When I get back from Kentucky I'm going to try out the popper.
I didn't get as much exercise in this week as I would have liked. I came home from work with a headache a few nights this week so all I really wanted to do was eat dinner, take some motrin pm, and crawl into bed. So that's what I did. I did pack my work out gear to take on my trip though. I'd like to get a work out in at least 3 of the 5 days I'm there.
No meeting this week, so my weigh in this morning was on the home scale. It's pretty close to the scale at my WW meeting, so I'm pretty confident in the readout. I was down 1.3 pounds this week. Definitely exciting and definitely motivating to stick to my tracking, try to exercise more, and see what results I can get.
Weekly stats:
Current weight: 258.2
Lost: 1.3
Total Lost: 1.8
05 February 2012
A Loss is a Loss
Growing up in the Northeast, fast food wasn't really a thing. Kind of like how college football isn't really a thing. You don't realize what's out there until you move away. We had your typical McDonald's and Burger King, Dunkin Donuts of course, the occasional Wendy's, KFC, and Taco Bell. Here in the South they have all that and more. Not just Taco Bell but Taco Bueno, Taco Casa, and Taco Cabana. Not just KFC, but Chick-fil-a, Church's, and Popeye's. Not just McDonald's and BK, but Sonic, Jack in the Box, and Whataburger too. There are just a lot of options and it's too easy to stop and grab something on the go. And it's so tasty. I've never seen such a proliferation of fast food and restaurants as I have since I moved South. As someone who loves food and loves to eat, it's like a Mecca. When I eat at these places though, I need to make better choices. I need to think long term about how the choices I make at a particular meal impact my weight loss.
I'm heading to Kentucky in a week for a conference and I'm already thinking about how I can manage what I'm eating. If I was driving, I'd bring my own snacks, fruit, and breakfast. Since I'm flying, I'll pack breakfast bars so I don't have to eat breakfast out every morning. Some of the meals are through the actual conference, so I'll be limited in my options there. I'm also packing my work out gear so I can get some activity points in to balance out what I'm eating.
This last week was good. I had weigh in yesterday and since Wednesday I lost a half a pound. Not a great number, but a loss is a loss. My meeting this week was great. The topic was about snacking and the Super Bowl. The topic wasn't super exciting to me since I had already planned out what I was going to make for the Super Bowl. It's nothing out of the ordinary - buffalo chicken in the crockpot. What I find so compelling about meetings are the people. It always is. It's so inspiring to go and hear about the progress people have made. Someone I am friendly with at the meeting hit the 100 pound mark this week. She's a little older than I am and she reminds me a bit of my Auntie Jo - not just in her looks, but in her demeanor. I was so so thrilled for her. Hearing these stories of progress keep me motivated. I can do this.
Weekly Stats:
Current Weight: 259.5
Lost: .5
Total Lost: .5
I'm heading to Kentucky in a week for a conference and I'm already thinking about how I can manage what I'm eating. If I was driving, I'd bring my own snacks, fruit, and breakfast. Since I'm flying, I'll pack breakfast bars so I don't have to eat breakfast out every morning. Some of the meals are through the actual conference, so I'll be limited in my options there. I'm also packing my work out gear so I can get some activity points in to balance out what I'm eating.
This last week was good. I had weigh in yesterday and since Wednesday I lost a half a pound. Not a great number, but a loss is a loss. My meeting this week was great. The topic was about snacking and the Super Bowl. The topic wasn't super exciting to me since I had already planned out what I was going to make for the Super Bowl. It's nothing out of the ordinary - buffalo chicken in the crockpot. What I find so compelling about meetings are the people. It always is. It's so inspiring to go and hear about the progress people have made. Someone I am friendly with at the meeting hit the 100 pound mark this week. She's a little older than I am and she reminds me a bit of my Auntie Jo - not just in her looks, but in her demeanor. I was so so thrilled for her. Hearing these stories of progress keep me motivated. I can do this.
Weekly Stats:
Current Weight: 259.5
Lost: .5
Total Lost: .5
02 February 2012
Groundhog Day
I never remember about it being Groundhog Day until the day of. Six more weeks of winter, but Spring is 7 weeks away anyway...
Anyhow, yesterday was a good day. I had a minor deviation from plan but that's the good thing about WW. I had a cupcake at work so was able to make up for it by a) getting in activity points by exercising after work and b) rearranging my evening snack to account for the extra points.
I planned out today last night. I'm in Denton today at the main campus and needed to plan out the day since I'll work up here and then go right into my law class. So for breakfast it was the usual coffee. When I work in Dallas I take my oatmeal with me but I don't do that when I go to the main campus so before I left this morning I had a glass of Trop 50 and a whole grain English muffin with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. For lunch I'll have water to drink and a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread and some baked lays. I'll have dinner when I get home from class tonight, the remainder of the leftover rice and chicken. I still have some points to play with so I may grab a snack before class so I'm not ravenous when I get home.
Weigh In is on Saturday morning. WW encourages you to only weigh yourself once a week. I weigh myself a little more often than that, just to keep myself in check. No exercise tonight, but I plan on getting some in tomorrow.
Anyhow, yesterday was a good day. I had a minor deviation from plan but that's the good thing about WW. I had a cupcake at work so was able to make up for it by a) getting in activity points by exercising after work and b) rearranging my evening snack to account for the extra points.
I planned out today last night. I'm in Denton today at the main campus and needed to plan out the day since I'll work up here and then go right into my law class. So for breakfast it was the usual coffee. When I work in Dallas I take my oatmeal with me but I don't do that when I go to the main campus so before I left this morning I had a glass of Trop 50 and a whole grain English muffin with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. For lunch I'll have water to drink and a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread and some baked lays. I'll have dinner when I get home from class tonight, the remainder of the leftover rice and chicken. I still have some points to play with so I may grab a snack before class so I'm not ravenous when I get home.
Weigh In is on Saturday morning. WW encourages you to only weigh yourself once a week. I weigh myself a little more often than that, just to keep myself in check. No exercise tonight, but I plan on getting some in tomorrow.
01 February 2012
Step One
I have struggled with my weight my entire adult life. From the age of 13 and onward - that's more than 20 years. I'm tired and unhappy about it. My outside doesn't match my inside. I love who I am and what I've accomplished in my life. Why can't I get a handle on this? I've been toying with this idea of blogging about my weight for awhile. One of my friends from Ohio State took the leap and started her own blog about her weight loss journey. That was the push I needed. That and the fact that I'm tired of losing weight, gaining it back, but gaining back more than I had lost. It ends today.
How did it start? I'm not entirely sure. I've always been tall and when I gain weight I gain it all over. I'm not faulting my parents for what I ate growing up. A lot of it was pretty standard fare - fishsticks and mac & cheese, meatloaf, chicken pot pie. Everything in moderation though. And I didn't gain the bulk of my weight until I was out of my parents' house. This is on me, not them. What I didn't get though was an appreciation for different foods. My fruit and vegetable palate is pretty limited and there are more things I don't like than I do.
So while in high school I was a little overweight, it wasn't incredibly noticeable. Most of my late teens and early 20s I was a size 14. I wasn't thrilled about it. I stayed pretty much the same size throughout college and grad school, gaining and losing the same 10 pounds. The bulk of the weight has crept on the last 10 years. It only got worse every time I moved. When I would start a new job I would slack off on the exercise and not make the best food choices. I'd average a gain of 15-20 pounds every time I moved. I've lived in 4 states in the last 5 years alone. Y'all can do the math.
The really hard part is that I love food. And unfortunately a lot of what I love is not necessarily what's good for you. On the flip side though, the things I dislike about being overweight are starting to outweigh my love of food. I hate how I look in pictures and avoid having my picture taken at all costs. I love clothes and fashion and while there are some great plus size options out there, I'd love to be able to shop in the regular sizes. There's just better variety and more options, especially in the high end stores. I have high cholesterol. That I believe is genetic. I have high blood pressure too. That is not genetic. I've always had low blood pressure until recently. I'm not keen about being on blood pressure meds and would love to get off them. To get off them I need to lose weight and exercise more. I can do that. I just need to commit to doing that. I am committing to doing that. I work full time and I'm also in school. It's very easy to find a reason to not make good choices and to skip 30 minutes or so on the exercise bike. I need to make it just as easy to say "yes" to those things as I do to saying "no".
It took me 10 years to get to this point. I know losing the weight is not going to happen overnight or in 1-2 months. I've tried slim-fast, weight watchers, jenny craig, doing it on my own. This time around I'm sticking with Weight Watchers. I know it works. I've seen how it works for people I know. I'm a monthly pass member which means I get everything. Online support, meetings, etc. I love my WW meetings. I've found a location and time that fits my schedule. More importantly, I big puffy heart Cassie, the leader of the meetings I've attended. She's lost 100 pounds. Twice. She did it once, then again after she had twins. She's energetic, fun, enthusiastic, and realistic. When I eventually leave Texas someday, I will miss going to that meeting on Saturday mornings. WW also makes it easy. All the online support for tracking, the moble apps..the mobile apps! The newest is a scanner app that lets you scan barcodes and get the points values. It links to your account so you can then automatically track the food if you're going to eat it then. Seriously, short of having a personal assistant to do all of this for you, it doesn't get much easier than this.
So what is my goal? WW says to shoot for a loss of .5 - 2.0 pounds per week. My goal is to lose 100 pounds. Yes, I'm putting it out there for everyone to see. I'm going to post what I eat and the results of my weigh-ins, including my actual weight. What's the point of doing this and using this as motivation if I'm not going to be brutally honest with myself and with you.
My scale is pretty close to the scale at WW so I weighed myself this morning. 260 on the nose. Ugh. So not happy with that. There are bagels this morning to celebrate something at work. I brought oatmeal. I'm going to stick to my oatmeal.
Today's plans:
Early morning - coffee with sugar and half and half. I'm trying to wean myself off of so much sugar. But I rely on the coffee in the morning, so I'll take the 3 point hit for my cup of coffee for now. I also have oatmeal which I am going to have in a few minutes. I have light yogurt and some freeze dried apples and pears for snacking. For lunch today I'm relying on a special k protein shake and a granola bar. For dinner I have left over chicken tikka with a little bit of basmati rice and a salad with chickpeas, lettuce, and light Caesar dressing. I'll have a few points left over for some light microwave popcorn and a glass of wine while I watch Top Chef. I also plan on riding the exercise bike for at least 30 minutes tonight. That's the plan, let's see how it goes.
How did it start? I'm not entirely sure. I've always been tall and when I gain weight I gain it all over. I'm not faulting my parents for what I ate growing up. A lot of it was pretty standard fare - fishsticks and mac & cheese, meatloaf, chicken pot pie. Everything in moderation though. And I didn't gain the bulk of my weight until I was out of my parents' house. This is on me, not them. What I didn't get though was an appreciation for different foods. My fruit and vegetable palate is pretty limited and there are more things I don't like than I do.
So while in high school I was a little overweight, it wasn't incredibly noticeable. Most of my late teens and early 20s I was a size 14. I wasn't thrilled about it. I stayed pretty much the same size throughout college and grad school, gaining and losing the same 10 pounds. The bulk of the weight has crept on the last 10 years. It only got worse every time I moved. When I would start a new job I would slack off on the exercise and not make the best food choices. I'd average a gain of 15-20 pounds every time I moved. I've lived in 4 states in the last 5 years alone. Y'all can do the math.
The really hard part is that I love food. And unfortunately a lot of what I love is not necessarily what's good for you. On the flip side though, the things I dislike about being overweight are starting to outweigh my love of food. I hate how I look in pictures and avoid having my picture taken at all costs. I love clothes and fashion and while there are some great plus size options out there, I'd love to be able to shop in the regular sizes. There's just better variety and more options, especially in the high end stores. I have high cholesterol. That I believe is genetic. I have high blood pressure too. That is not genetic. I've always had low blood pressure until recently. I'm not keen about being on blood pressure meds and would love to get off them. To get off them I need to lose weight and exercise more. I can do that. I just need to commit to doing that. I am committing to doing that. I work full time and I'm also in school. It's very easy to find a reason to not make good choices and to skip 30 minutes or so on the exercise bike. I need to make it just as easy to say "yes" to those things as I do to saying "no".
It took me 10 years to get to this point. I know losing the weight is not going to happen overnight or in 1-2 months. I've tried slim-fast, weight watchers, jenny craig, doing it on my own. This time around I'm sticking with Weight Watchers. I know it works. I've seen how it works for people I know. I'm a monthly pass member which means I get everything. Online support, meetings, etc. I love my WW meetings. I've found a location and time that fits my schedule. More importantly, I big puffy heart Cassie, the leader of the meetings I've attended. She's lost 100 pounds. Twice. She did it once, then again after she had twins. She's energetic, fun, enthusiastic, and realistic. When I eventually leave Texas someday, I will miss going to that meeting on Saturday mornings. WW also makes it easy. All the online support for tracking, the moble apps..the mobile apps! The newest is a scanner app that lets you scan barcodes and get the points values. It links to your account so you can then automatically track the food if you're going to eat it then. Seriously, short of having a personal assistant to do all of this for you, it doesn't get much easier than this.
So what is my goal? WW says to shoot for a loss of .5 - 2.0 pounds per week. My goal is to lose 100 pounds. Yes, I'm putting it out there for everyone to see. I'm going to post what I eat and the results of my weigh-ins, including my actual weight. What's the point of doing this and using this as motivation if I'm not going to be brutally honest with myself and with you.
My scale is pretty close to the scale at WW so I weighed myself this morning. 260 on the nose. Ugh. So not happy with that. There are bagels this morning to celebrate something at work. I brought oatmeal. I'm going to stick to my oatmeal.
Today's plans:
Early morning - coffee with sugar and half and half. I'm trying to wean myself off of so much sugar. But I rely on the coffee in the morning, so I'll take the 3 point hit for my cup of coffee for now. I also have oatmeal which I am going to have in a few minutes. I have light yogurt and some freeze dried apples and pears for snacking. For lunch today I'm relying on a special k protein shake and a granola bar. For dinner I have left over chicken tikka with a little bit of basmati rice and a salad with chickpeas, lettuce, and light Caesar dressing. I'll have a few points left over for some light microwave popcorn and a glass of wine while I watch Top Chef. I also plan on riding the exercise bike for at least 30 minutes tonight. That's the plan, let's see how it goes.
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