Tuesday, July 31, 2007

what gives?

I went to the the doctor today. I realized this was the first time I have been to the regular doctor since before I was pregnant with my baby...who is almost 22 months old! I just never go to the doctor.

Anyway. I went because after starting to feel better, I started feeling worse. I knew I was getting a sinus infection so I had to go in and get some antibiotics. I also got a tetnus shot since I hadn't had once since before I was married. And we just celebrated our 15th anniversary! So I was due for a booster.

I was not afraid of the scale...and neihter the doctor or the nurse said anything about my weight. I wanted to brag and tell them that although I am still a little overweight, I used to be REALLY overweight, technically I was obese. But they didn't bring it up. I guess being 15 pounds overweight is just not a big deal for a 37 yeal old mama to 6!

I learned something at the doctor today. i have always thought I was 5' 5.5". I AM NOT!!! I measure just over 5' 4"!!!

So do I need to update my WW stats now? I probably won't get to stop at 150...my upper weight limit will probably be lower now. I am so stressed out about this!!!

How could I only be 5' 4"??? This is important information. I have been living a deluded life for a long time now I tell ya!

I need to think....

Saturday, July 28, 2007

moving down the scale

So I didn't lose all of my big gain last week. But I did lose 2 pounds. And considering that I have eaten what was easiest (not always lowest in points) and barely moved all week, I am happy with that. Oh, and I have not done so great with water either. Just to lazy I suppose.

But I am just over 11 pounds from my WW goal. It would be sooo nice to be there by the end of August. We shall see.

Made a quick trip to Sunflower Farmer's Market on my way home from WI. It is easy to get lost in the bulk bins there. I got some of their Multigrain Pancake Mix. It's a just mix with water thing. All the ingredients were listed on the bin along with the nutrionals. It is 2 points for 1/3 cup of mix. I had some for breakfast just now. I admit that 1/3 cup didn't look like much so I did twice that. It was a TON of little pancakes. They were good, tasted a little corny. Pancakes are my FAVORITE thing for breakfast. I usually eat them plain or maybe some jam or PB or PB2. This is a nice new little just add water treat for mama! And they weren't very sweet so it didn't leave me raving more sugar. Next time I will definitely mx up a little PB2 to put on top of each one!

And WW is doing their recruitment here. The sign says, "Would you like to work for WW?" I totally would...gotta think about if that would work for me. Then I could just sit around and talk about WW (one of my MOST favorite topics) and get paid for it!

Happy day to all of you.

I am feeling better...thanks for your well wishes. Now if only I could give all my kids a little happy pill!!!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

still sick and still crabby

This cold has me soooooo freakin miserable. I haven't felt this bad in a long time. And my patience with my kids is GONE!! Not a good thing since my oldest and youngest sons are also sick. Thank God I can give Jack E tylenol and stick him in his crib. With Trey I have to wait until after dinner and give him some Nyquil then!

D and I sat down to watch TV tonight (why oh why didn't Fiona get chosen as a finalist on Last Comic Standing?) and he brought me a Mike's hard Lemonade...light of course. He told me I might feel better after I drank it. At least HE would feel better after I had it.

Yeah, I'm a little crabby! :D

And I'm calling it a night...see you all tomorrow!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

swearing off weekends

and not for the reason you would think!

Last Monday morning I woke up with a nasty tummy ache...I was miserable all day with it.

Yesterday (well Sunday really) I came down with the nastiest cold. Sunday morning I started getting a sore throat. By Sunday night I felt really punky. By Monday morning I was MISERABLE!!!

I actually spent all but about 4 hours of my day in bed yesterday. And part of that time up and about was because I had to drive a kid to drum lessons and feed my kids their healthy Burger King dinner! D was working from early afternoon till late late last night so I had to deal with the kiddos a little bit. Though honestly, Aleena was such a great help with them all yesterday. I gave her 3 of my old eyeshadows as payment. She's still pretty easy I guess! lol

I went to WI last Saturday knowing it would be bad. I had that crazy day last Saturday then thought I could just do some manipulating to make it all better. I realized I was trying to turn WW into some weird fad diet...like if I only eat these kinds of foods all day I'll be OK. I had a really low point week (for me..meaning I didn't use all my flex points) but I was eating later at night...because I was STARVING so I would justify a bowl of cereal at 10 pm. Then my bathroom scale just kept going up and up and up. By Thursday I felt gross. My scale said I was up like 8 pounds from the week before...and I just didn't care anymore! We went to dinner with the in-laws and I ate a grilled veggie quesadilla not even giving a rip about points. Then something happened on Friday. I started eating my fruit again...and drinking my water. I'm not sure what but all of a sudden I felt like ME on WW again.

So WI Saturday....up 4.4! Yes, over FOUR pounds!!! I just felt gross about myself, too. I had to run by Target on my way home. I wanted to try on some pants just to see what size I was fitting into. I was preparing myself for the worst, but still hoping for the best. I grabbed a 10 and a 12 of this style that I really liked...and that also had NO stretch to the fabric. I tried on the 12's first. And they fit me perfectly. Granted I would have loved to have the 10's look like on me but I looked really good and thin in those pants. I didn't look like I was hanging out anywhere...they just fit like a glove and I looked good. I started to put the 10's on...yeah right! I didn't buy either since we don't have the money right now. But I do think about how I looked in those pants.

On Sunday we were going to a friends' to celebrate another friend's birthday. I offered to bring something but was assured it was handled. They were doing ribs. I don't really like ribs a whole lot...and they are one of those things that if I am going to eat, I want to be at home where I don't have to worry about getting it all over myself. I was taking hot dogs for my littles. And I decided to take zucchini brownies too. I ran those through the recipe builder and found they were 5 points for a good sized one.

So I had a plan. I ended up skipping the ribs. We were also served a scalloped potato dish. I sampled it but it honestly tasted more like cream than potatoes so one bite was enough. There was a spinach salad with bacon and egg and a great dressing...but there was too much dressing for my taste so I didn't finish a lot of that. I pigged out on the fruit salad and the bowl of sweet cherries sitting by me. I guess the fact that I was still carrying around extra pounds of water or SOMETHING in my belly coupled with the fact that the pants I had on (size 12) were feeling quite tight around my waist made it easy to eat only what I felt comfortable eating. I didn't take any dessert either but I let myself eat a bite or two of my 3 little ones' leftovers.

The ironic thing is that not only did I wake up feeling miserable on Monday morning but I also woke up about 5 pounds lighter than I started the weekend. I love fruit! LOL

I should add too that the friends we were with....one of them I haven't seen in probably a year or so. The other couple I hadn't seen since April or so. They were so complimentary about how I looked...how much I have lost...all that. That's what I need to remember after a crappy WI like that. Yes I gained over 4 pounds last week...of water...salt...junk food....whateer. But I have still lost THIRTY POUNDS...and that is a huge accomplishment!

Monday, July 16, 2007

points to spare!

Yeah, who am I kidding?! LOL

Saturday got CRAZY on me-both with my kids and with the food I chose to eat. I really didn't want it to spiral out of control like it so easily does. You know, how one bad day turns into a couple then a week or two of bad food choices and weight gain.

I decided to nip it in the bud. Normally WW doesn't feel much like a "diet" to me. I count my points, but I am ALWAYS over it seems. Since I am usually going over eating fruits and veggies, I just don't care. And I have been steadily losing this summer with that mentality so it must be working OK for me. Saturday was a hard one. I really went overboard with chips and potato salad and cookies. I decided that I need to think of the rest of this week like I really am on a diet.

I did well on Sunday. It's always so hard the day AFTER a big binge day. My body just starts to crave junk...and lots of it. I just tried to eat well and drink lots of water. OK, so maybe I didn't do well with the water, but I did stay within my daily points allowance...if you let me use the activity points I earned on my 65 minute walk in the morning.

Today has been hard, too. Again, though, I ate all my points and a couple of AP's...I hadn't actually earned them yet but I realized that I wouldn't let myself end my day with a deficit so I pulled out the yoga DVD and did some of that. So I made it with a positive number still in my tally for the day!

I am hoping that I can haul my booty out of bed in the morning in enough time to get a good walk before the kiddos are up and at 'em. I know that every day I stay OP just makes it easier for the next day to be OP.

Here's hoping!

And I'm soooo totally hoping for another loss on Saturday. My bathroom scale has me up a couple of pounds, but I'm hoping they are transient and will be gone soon. I'm so pathetic that I actually weighed myself in the middle of the night last night when I got up to pee. I'm sad, I know!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

the final ten...kinda

I can't believe I am officially in the 150's!!!

I haven't weighed this little in 15 years and for many of my baby bearing years, I truly thought I would never EVER see that number again. It's very exciting let me tell you. This means that I am less than 10 pounds from my WW goal. The "kinda" in my title comes from the fact that my personal goal is 145 so I am not quite within ten pounds of that...but I am sooooo much closer than I ever thought I would be.

This week hasn't been as great for me as the past few weeks had been either. I have had a little bug and just haven't eaten well. And we were at friends for a BBQ last night and there were no fruits veggies in the offering other than the pasta salad and potato salad. But I still managed OK apparently. I am looking forward to eating better this week since I just feel better eating tons of fruit and veggies instead of bagels.

Well, I'm off to check out everyone's blogs since I didn't get to check in with you all yesterday.

Happy weekend to you all!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

look at THAT picture!

I posted yesterday with some old pics (just for you, Sonya but I posted them on my mama blog.

Click here to check them out if you dare! LOL

Sunday, July 8, 2007

good numbers

Jumped on the scale first thing this morning...like I do ever single day of my life!

It said 159.6...can't believe it. A number in the 150's?! OMG! That would be amazing. I am only about 5-6 pounds heavier than when I got married. And only about 15 pounds higher than my average weight in high school. I honestly never thought I would be this close to those numbers EVER again.

I really love weight watchers...

Saturday, July 7, 2007

updated my ticker

I finally got back down from where I was the middle of June so I thought I would finally update my ticker. I was down 2.2 today and that is with eating over my dailies AND my weeklies. But I have really eaten more fruits and veggies...hardly any baked goods...and no fast food this week. No dining out at all, honestly, which is pretty normal for us.

Oh, wait, I just remembered that I did have 2 breakfast things this week. One morning I stopped at Burger King for a burrito. It's the tortilla, some scrambled eggs, 3 hash rounds and some cheese. I can't find any nutrionals for it...so I call it 6. And yesterday I stopped at McD's and got a Fruit Yogurt parfait for breakfast since I was too wiped out to make my own. It's 3 points like the one I make, but mine has a TON more cereal/granola on it since I use nonfat yogurt instead of lowfat yogurt.

Anyway. I did eat those 2 things this week. It's been really hot so I've done well with water. And I've started drinking more herbal iced tea, too. I like iced tea, but usually have regular black teas. I made some herbal this week and count that as my water. I don't count black teas as water since they have caffeine.

So my method of not worrying so much about fruits and vegetables and their counts is working. My goal now is to be able to stay with that and keep my portions of other things in check. I have had some chips, but have tried to stop earlier rather than later. And I have tried to control my portions with meat which isn't a real problem for me anyway.

So maybe I can continue this trend and be at maintenance soon and then my personal goal.

It sure does feel good this summer to be in shorts and tanks and not feel like a beached whale!

Thursday, July 5, 2007

coleslaw

It's my new obsession this summer. I have always LOVED pasta salads and can just gorge myself on them. Even with whole wheat pasta, it gets points-costly quickly. I saw a recipe for a tex mex coleslaw in a WW magazine. I tried it and LOVED it. It had cilantro, jicama and roasted green chiles. It was still reduced fat mayo based, though, so the points could add up pretty quickly.

D was making a coleslaw last winter with a vinaigrette dressing. We also added some walnuts and gorgonzola cheese. It was really tasty, too. It didn't have much oil...like a couple tablespoons for the whole batch so not even one teaspoon per serving. And although it had cheese, it didn't have a lot since a strong cheese like that goes a long way.

Yesterday I made a greek-ish coleslaw. I added cucumber and red pepper and green onions and black olives and reduced fat feta. I used a simple mixture of olive oil and red wine vinegar to dress it. I am counting a big serving as 1 point because of the little bit of cheese and oil. But it's so yummy to grab in the fridge and just have a couple of little bites. I am loving the whole coleslaw thing...since cabbage is soooo low in points, it makes a really great basis for the other yummy ingredients.

Had to share!

I realized this afternoon that my counting is getting pretty lazy the past couple of days. I am still counting the big things (like chocolate pancakes!), but I am really lacking in my counting of all the pieces of fruit that I put into my mouth all day long. And I'm not sure I care a whole lot either. Again, my philosophy is that no one ever developed a weight problem by overdoing it on apple slices and watermelon! Yesterday we were out for a picnic lunch with the kids. I tracked my tomato and mozzarella salad and the piece of quesadilla, but I honestly have no idea how much fruit I ate. It was hot and that watermelon just HIT the spot.

I have felt like I am eating a lot lately, but I am eating good things for the most part. There has been a lot of melon and peaches and cherries. I have munched on a lot of sugar snap peas. Tonight at dinner I did eat a lot of zucchini and yellow squash (sauteed with onion, garlic and olive oil-LOVE IT!) and too many potatoes. But we did have a big morning at our farm share where we worked hard.

Tonight I wanted ice cream. We still have some of our homemade ice cream in the freezer, but I was in "that mood" and I really didn't trust myself to stop at a nice little serving. I could have eaten a pint tonight I know. Instead I opted for a Healthy Choice ice cream sandwich. It gave me my treat so I didn't feel deprived, but I kept myself from going overboard, too.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. My mom comes to town and I am planning a big roast for dinner and more potatoes and turnips and maybe beets and I still have TONS of zucchini. I also want to do some zucchini baking on Saturday. Bread and cookies. Zucchini oatmeal cookies are really good, you'd be surprised.

I am anxious to see how my weigh in goes on Saturday. I just feel really on top of the whole weight thing tonight. I guess I am feeling like these are life changes now and I really can go forward from here.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

happy 4th of July

Actually, I'm not really feeling this as a special holiday other than I got the day off from the family I nanny for. YAY!

I've had 2 extra little girls here since last night. They are really close to my 2 youngest girls, but being the ornery 3 year-old that she is, Kelli is being terrible to her friend so there is constant conflict there. And going to bed last night was an issue. They all fell asleep eventually, but Kelli and her friend Ju-Ju were up till like 10-which means Jack E was also up till almost 10. He was up early and was a WRECK!!! I put him back to bed at 9:20.

**sigh**

So I was the good mama host this morning and made chocolate pancakes...from scratch. They really are as good as they sound. Cocoa powder and chocolate chips. YUMMY! I did make them small for all the little kiddos. And I only ate 2. And a half. They are really sweet, too sweet for me. Then I also made a batch of Roni's Multigrain Pancakes to freeze for a quick breakfast for me later. I'm not sure I liked how they turned out. I put it through the WW recipe builder and it was 1 point for each small cake even if I double the amount of whole wheat flour. I think I might try them again that way.

So, I had a comment yesterday about my experience with Weight Watchers. I have truly loved the program. It has been really easy for me to follow. And for me the best part is that it's not a quick fix. I have had issues with overeating all my life. I remember coming home after school in 3rd grade and eating 3 or 4 Ho-Ho's as a snack. One just wasn't enough. And my mom wasn't home from work to monitor me, so I overindulged. I think that was the beginning of my overeatng in private. I found some strange comfort in that I guess.

I have inherited a great metabolism from my dad. He was one of those guys who ate anything he wanted and drank lots of beer and stayed totally slim...until he was about 35 or so. I have always been able to really watch my intake for a few weeks and lose a few pounds. I could do slim-fast or diet pills and do great for about a month. I even did really well with a low-carb diet. The problem for me was always maintaining. I couldn't live like that.

I remember getting pregnant with Emma after losing about 20 pounds on a low-carb plan. After I found out I was pregnant, I decided to abandon my low-carb ways. I had suffered 2 miscarriages just before that and always wondered if my eating was part of it. So I started eating carbs again...with abandon. I thought, "I will never eat muffins again...I better have one or two every day. I will never eat doughnuts again...I better have them a few times a week." And what happened? I gained 13 pounds before my first prenatal visit at 12 weeks. I gained 41 pounds with that pregnancy (my biggest pg gain) and was soooo miserable.

Weight Watchers has helped me learn how to be better balanced. I still have issues, trust me. But I am learning to balance the big slip-ups with healthier choices. After losing 15 or 20 pounds, I started going for walks a few times a week. For me, it's not so much about the exercise making me lose more weight, but it's about the way I feel after I walk in the morning. It's endorphis, yes, but it's also my time. I listen to my music and can be alone inside my head. I have time to think without being interrupted by the kids. I have time to pray and reflect.

And I know I am doing a good thing for myself. I think I am toning my legs and booty, too. But that's not my primary reason anymore.

As for cost. There are several options with WW. You can check them out online or go to a local office. Meetings have been a big help to me. But the support I have found from other bloggers has been great too. Roni has also set up an online community on her blog for others to share their stories and struggles.

I have LOVED the program. I have always followed FLEX because it allows me the FLEXibility (ha ha-sorry!) to have treats and then balance my day or week and still see losses. I have really considered CORE this summer becuase I could eat TONS of fruits and veggies and hardly any meat. Then again, I totally love my breads, too, so I have never made the switch.

Anyway, I've gone on a long time. And now I being begged to go to the water park. And I need to run to the store since we are completely out of milk-AGAIN! Dang kids! :P

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

i love my ice cream

Sorry, Kathy, I know you are having an ice cream free day, but I just put my homemade ice cream recipe through the WW recipe builder. With whole milk and a ONE CUP serving, it's only 5 points!!!

For those of you who love ice cream like I do, you know that premium ice cream can be costly, points-wise. And that a serving is typically a half cup-YEAH RIGHT!!! I estimated my small portions (yes, I had it twice on Sunday!) as 6 points, but I was overestimating! Think I'll have to have a little more of the extra in the freezer tonight...mmmmmmm!!!

BTW, I put it through the recipe builder with 2% milk and it was still 5 points for one cup, so I'll just stick with my whole milk. I don't think I would want to go much lighter on the milk. I do like it rich and creamy!

Monday, July 2, 2007

down on saturday

I don't mean my mood. But when I went to weigh in on Saturday I was down a pound. I was really glad about that since I had that big gain the week before. And I did have some issues with eating last week, too. Like eating every daily point and every flex point...and having a deficit of like 20 points. NOT GOOD, but I still lost. Go figure.


I am trying to do better this week. We had friends over on Sunday afternoon. I honestly could have done without the burger I had, but there was not really much else to eat. I should have made a coleslaw or salad or something, but I wasn't sure what our friends were bringing. Chips and dip and regular sodas and ice. Should have prepared more. D did grill some zucchini and bell peppers. Only problem is that it's early in the season so we didn't have much to grill. I couldn't very well pig out and not leave any veggies for anyone else.

Then we made homemade strawberry ice cream for dessert (actually MY idea). I really don't think it is as bad as store bought premium ice cream since it only had whole milk and no cream or half and half. If D hadn't been watching I would have used 2%. I should put my recipe through the recipe builder and see what it comes out to. I just estimated my points for that based on regular (not premium) ice cream. I also overdid it with the potato chips. They were just so salty and yummy.

Today, not feeling the greatest. Just craving junk food and lots of it! As well as having really stinky gas. Sorry for TMI, but I realize that too much fat or too much refined sugar and I am walking around in a green cloud for days!!! LOL

Hope you are all doing well. Life is so busy this summer that I don't have much time to read or post...but I am trying to check in with many of you to see how you are coping with the summer. I have started going to Saturday morning meetings and really LOVE my new leader there. It's much more enjoyable to stay for the meeting now! And I also go without my kids which is a big plus, too!!!