Bah Humbug

Bad weigh-in, and I woke up with a headache to boot. I'm 99% sure that the scale was reflecting the entire day of salt that I enjoyed yesterday -- with sushi, chips and salsa and queso, soda, and a packaged Indian food entree. I've gotta get back to fruits, veggies, and lots of water today. Not happy, cuz the scale bopped back up over that line I didn't want to cross again. I hate negative motivation.

Happy Monday!

Well, the pain of having to actually get up this morning to go back to work - aaargh! - was lessened when I stepped on the scale. I lost 1.9 pounds! Woohoo! That's a good way to start the New Year. And I've crossed a "decade mark" that I never want to see again. It's really just cuz I was eating better foods, and I haven't been in the office with all those tempting treats. Now it's back to the usual routine (though I hope those treats are gone) and I'm going to work to make this a trend.

It's a New Year!

And I'm back to the cause, mentally and I hope in action as well. I did weigh myself Monday morning and I'm proud to say that I did lose a pound over Christmas week. That's an achievement in and of itself!

I'm still in a place that I'm not happy about, and I feel the negative motivations of shame and guilt after spending all of last night going through old photos and seeing my yo-yo past. But, whatcha gonna do? It's a New Year, I'm equipping myself with new tools by learning more about nutrition, cooking, and overall food quality. And I just HAVE to make myself exercise.

I'm not making official resolutions, cuz they're way too easy to break and they hang over my head in negative ways, instead I'm just still looking at this as a positive journey of self-improvement. So, there you go... welcome to 2009, let's work to make it a good one!

How Did I Get to This Point?

Egad. Not a happy weigh-in. I'm back at that point I never wanted to be at again... what happened? Just about 8 weeks ago, I was 7 pounds lighter and enjoying a downward trend. I made it through my difficult September, but this fall has just been rough... I guess low motivation has taken its toll. I need to be more mindful of what I'm eating, and the biggest thing is I HAVE to work more exercise in. I feel like a slug. I sense a major New Year's resolution coming on -- just like I do every year -- but I'm going to try to make it through the holidays without doing too much more damage. I keep eyeing those Lean Cuisines in the freezer -- it's time they have their day.

2 Steps Back

This week was tough, and it showed on the scale this morning. I gained back about 2 pounds. This was a stressful week, and Saturday night I had my first actual Thanksgiving dinner of the season so I'm sure that has something to do with it. This is going to be another long week, but I'm bringing in my lunch for a few days and paying a little more attention to what I grab when those cravings hit. It's all about having the right things around as options....

Better, Definitely Better.

Things looked better on the scale this Monday morning, as I lost 1.3 pounds over the last week. Hooray! I did try this past week to be sure to be eating healthier things, watching portion size, and incorporating low levels of exercise into my days. Sure, I could always do more. But since I didn't really do Thanksgiving this year there was no major meal to work around -- although I have a post-Thanksgiving big meal coming next weekend to plan around. So here's the start of another week, and I'll keep at it.

A Little, But Not Enough

Today's weigh-in was more positive than last week, but still depressing. Over the past 5 days, I've been hosting my parents for a visit to DC. We walked A LOT but it meant we also ate at an average of 2 restaurants a day - big meals with sometimes appetizers and desserts. So, the scale tells me I lost .7 pounds this week. That's good. But, last week was my highest weight ever, so that's not good.

I'm going to try keeping up some of the pace of more walking from the last few days, but go back to being much better disciplined in my meals. The good news is that I have a very low-key Thanksgiving planned, so I won't be gorging on a multi-course meal. In fact, my long weekend plans include several visits to the gym. So let's hope next week's weigh-in shows even more progress.

Much Better

The scale and I are friends again this week. Phew. I think last week may have just been an anomaly, cuz now I'm back in my usual range. Thank goodness!

Urgh. Aaargh.

Bad weigh-in this morning. I've been gaining, and right now the scale is showing a terrible number. I know what the problem is. I've been eating better food, but more of it. And the last week, I've been indulging in desserts and candy. I've just plain got to cut that stuff out, and then work on my portion control of other stuff. Dang. But I'm giving myself a free pass on Election Night -- so I have 6 days this week to try and get back on track.

Ugh

I'm gonna redo my weigh-in tomorrow. Let's just say I had a bad weekend... catered food, lots of salty snacks, real soda, even on top of a 3-mile walk it all added up to a bad morning on the scale. How can we fluctuate so much??? Let's see if I can clean up some of the mess by tomorrow morning.

Good Long Weekend

I didn't exercise much (oops) but I did cook a lot of healthy, homemade, low-sodium meals. It made a difference - I lost 2.2 pounds this week! Hooray. That's great motivation as I go back to work to keep me on track this week.

Checking In

Well, the annual bad month of September is over and it's time for me to start taking things more seriously again.

Along those lines, I just picked up a copy of the newest "it's not a diet" bestseller - Eat This, Not That!

It looks like it will be a handy little reference guide in figuring out what choices to make at restaurants or in the grocery aisles, with colorful guides on restaurant chain menus and key words to watch out for in preparations or ingredient lists. I've already picked up a few new tips from it on how to interpret menus. It seems like it was worth the 15 bucks on my Target bill.

Regret, Kinda

I had a major cheat last night - very willingly. I've been pretty good all week, and yesterday I really hadn't eaten much at all. But we're right in the middle of my annual most-stressful-time-of-year at work, and I was at work until about 7 with a colleague getting a bunch of big stuff together... it had even already started to rain! So by the time I got home, I was starving, and I just had a total craving for really bad comfort food. Knowing full well what I was doing, I ordered a small pizza and some buffalo wings. Yum!!!! I really enjoyed it, accepting that I'll have to spend the weekend making up for it. So, one bad night doesn't ruin a diet and now I have to compensate.... but it pretty much was worth it.

Week One

I made it! And I've lost 2.8 pounds, hooray!

Day 3....

Still going strong. But on day 3, there's been an underlying theme... I'M HUNGRY!

I haven't been able to cut out Starbucks yet, but I did downgrade from grande to tall (it's so small!) and I'm counting the points. Today, to try and battle some of the hunger, I ate more protein than I'd been having. Let's hope that works, along with my very tall glasses of Crystal Light.

From past rounds of doing WW, I know this first-week hunger usually subsides after the first week, so this is the hard part. I've got to power through!

Day 1

I've done pretty well today, woohoo! It was tough going at a few points, but I've made it.

The biggest challenge? The saboteurs at work decided that it wasn't enough to bring in 3 different kinds of fudge, oh no. They also decided we needed a whole platter of bagels and cream cheese!!! Ack!

I resisted the fudge - even though there was peanut butter, my 2nd favorite kind (pumpkin being the 1st) - and I allowed myself 1/2 a bagel with honey walnut cream cheese. And I counted the points!

I was super-hungry by the end of the day and made my way to the grocery store. I got all good stuff, but about twice as much as normal! Note to self: next time, don't go hungry.

The important lesson I re-learned today? ***Don't waste your points on beverages.*** I used up SIX of my allowed points today on beverages - both orange juice and Starbucks. That's probably why I was so light-headed and hungry by late afternoon, I need to eat more solid food during the day and not waste it on liquids.

Okay, tomorrow's another day...!

WW as RPG?

This is a great article that Onyah found -- so true!!!

Fun Way to Lose Weight: Turn Dieting Into an RPG
wired.com — A friend of mine recently slimmed down on Weight Watchers. She joined two months ago, and in just a couple of weeks, she'd shed 10 pounds. She'd been trying for a year to lose weight, but nothing worked -- until now.

Remember Me?

Hello again..... been a bad month. After the 5-pound stomach virus lost, I've gained almost 9. Dang.

So, even though it's an incredibly stressful time at work (not bad, just very high-volume), which is usually when I combat my stress with eating, I've really got to buckle down.

Trying again, points counting and all... cuz that's really the only way it works. And, gasp!, I've gotta get back into the swing of exercising, too.

I hate being motivated by guilt, anger, shame... but it's still motivation.

Even More

Since Monday is my official WW weigh-in day.... here's the update. This little bout of the stomach flu took a total of 5.5 pounds. In 4 days. Let's hope I can keep it off now that I'm feeling better....

The Viral Effect

Well, according to the scale this morning, this little bout of the flu has lost me 4.1 pounds. Not a bad side effect, but I'd really rather have skipped the whole thing....