Thursday, January 27, 2011

Gain

Well, after a pretty out of control week of overeating and over-drinking, I have received my verdict from the official Weight Watcher scale--up 4.8.

That's a pretty scary gain. But I wasn't shocked, by any means. Yesterday, despite my good intentions, turned into a whopper of a day. I probably consumed over 200 points--not that I counted or anything ;) I ended up going out to dinner to a Cuban restaurant with a new guy Eddie, and ate half of a Cuban sandwich (so delicious) and ALL of my fried plantains. Plus a light beer.

Then, I went to my friend Brandi and Josh's house and ate the following: pork roast, mashed potatoes (with tons of butter), veggies, homemade chocolate chip cookies (so yummy) and wine.

And if that wasn't enough, I arrived home pleasantly buzzed and decided to make homemade nachos with a ton of chips and melted cheese. And, drum roll please, if that wasn't enough, I decided to eat the remainder of my Weight Watcher peanut butter bars.

So, in all, a disgusting night for food. With that said, I'm not really freaking out about the 4.8 gain. I knew it was going to be bad, but I figured I might as well weigh in and start fresh this week. In the past, I might have been too ashamed of myself to weigh in. But then the following would inevitably happen: I'd eat badly the next day and say, "I'll start fresh tomorrow" and so on and so on, and then I really wouldn't want to weigh in the following week. That, in fact, is how all of my past diets have died.

But this time, with the help of my friends on Weight Watchers, I've had the strength to face the music, weigh in, and start my week with a clean slate. I know that one disastrous night is not going to break me. On the other hand, I'd really like to limit these binge sessions that have occurred far too frequently this week.

So, I'm going to brainstorm ways to eliminate (or lessen) binges:

1. Keep all trigger food out of the house. The chips are gone and so are the Weight Watcher bars, so that's taken care of.

2. Make sure I eat substantial, hearty meals that fill me up.

3. Do something else. When I feel the urge to binge, I'm going to try to do something else instead--take a bath, go for a walk, etc...

4. Exercise. When I'm focused on taking care of my body, I feel less like destroying it with copious amounts of junk food.


On that note, here are my goals for this week:

1. Follow the plan! Track my points and stay within my allotted DPs and WPs.

2. Exercise 3 times--for real this time!

3. No binging!

4. Get enough sleep.

5. Clean house.


Wish me luck =)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Weight Loss Epiphany

I was talking to a friend and trying to describe the way I "follow" the Weight Watcher program.

The following is my side of our Gchat conversation:

"I follow the plan VERY loosely which mostly works for me. I mean, I have days when I actually track and try to hit my DP target but then I have days when I don't. Back in the day (before august) I tracked religiously...Hmm...Now that I think about it, my weight loss was much more consistent back then...shit...I just had an epiphany."

Yup, I just convinced myself to go back to following the program. Many have attempted this in the past months, but I have resisted mightily. Yet, as a result of a casual conversation, I learned the truth:

I lose weight more consistently when I follow the plan. Case in point, I lost 50 pounds from the end of March to the beginning of September (just about five months) and I followed the plan religiously until about August. From September to January (also just about five months) I have lost 15 pounds. Now, granted I went from being morbidly obese to being just overweight, but even still--my stats speak for themselves.

This isn't rocket science, after all.

Now, of course, when I follow my "plan," I eat less than my allotted points and I have weeks when I lose a great deal of weight (e.g. the last three weeks), but then I typically bounce back and eat way too much the following week. And this makes my weight bounce up and down like a yoyo. Now, I'm not going to beat myself up because I have managed to both keep off the weight (and lose more!) during the winter. In fact, I have managed to lose 65 pounds in less than a year. That's terrific, and I'm proud of myself for this.

However, it might be more efficient to actually follow the program and try to lose weight. But I'm still not going to count the cream in my coffee ;)

So, on that note here is my plan for today:

B: oatmeal, banana (3 points)

L: Homemade salad: lettuce, cucumber, beets (roasted with EVOO), carrots, 1/4 cup blue cheese, 2 hardboiled eggs, 1 packet of FF dressing, 1/2 cup pinto beans (12 points)

S: apple

D: TBD--maybe sauteed chicken with evoo (4 points), rice (5 points), asparagus with evoo (1). And a glass of wine (4 points)

Wish me luck! Also, I'm going to try to get the recommended 30 minutes of activity. Happy Hump Day everyone =)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Life Lessons

One of my favorite sayings I've learned throughout this weight loss journey is the following: What you eat in private shows in public.

On that note, I am going to share my binge from last night. But first I'd like to briefly explain the circumstances. I was tired all day at work, because I had spent the night at my parent's house (Falls Church) and had driven to Richmond early that morning. After work, I dragged myself to the grocery store to spend my limited money on some healthy food for the week. Just as I was loading my groceries into the car, I got a text from one of the guys I met a few weeks ago, W, inviting me to grab a drink at one of the local bars.

Needless to say, it was a bad night with bad decisions.

The truth of the matter is that once again I've lost sight of my goals. Being thin =/= being healthy. I've let myself engage in unhealthy and unsafe behavior because I figured that at least I wasn't getting "fat." But being fat is not the worst thing in the world. I had friends/ boyfriends when I was heavier than I am now. I had fun when I was heavier than I am now. Being heavy did not make me an unattractive person. It did not make my life bad. It just made me unhealthy and unathletic...unfortunately, exactly how I'm feeling right now.

I love hanging out with friends and enjoying a few glasses of wine. I love having fun with people I know and like. I love dating--going to drive in movies and baseball games with a boyfriend. But hanging around shady people and taking risks with my health and safety is NOT fun. It's scary. Once again, I need to strike a balance between having fun and being healthy.

On that note, I bought a bunch of vegetables at the grocery store yesterday, and I'm planning to roast some beets and asparagus after work today. I'm also going to go to straighten up my apartment and go to bed early. I will also make sure to weigh in on Thursday even though it's likely that I'll see a gain. I'm also going to get in some exercise today, by hook or by crook. I keep having this recurring dream about running on the treadmill and enjoying it. Haha, I think my body is telling me that it needs to exercise.

I want this blog to be an accurate journal of my successes and failures throughout this journey, which is why I'm writing about this here. I'm not perfect (obviously) but I'm striving to be a healthier and happier person. And this is part of my journey.

Hopefully, I will have some more successes to share in the near future =)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Random Facts About Richmond

I'm slowly but surely becoming acquainted with Richmond. Here are some of the facts I've compiled in my year and a half of living in the city:

1. You can't find a decent bagel ANYWHERE in Richmond. No matter how hard you look. This, I believe, is a good thing for my weight loss journey, but a terrible thing for the citizens of the capital of Virginia. Something must be done.

2. I finally got to check out the house with the enormous polar bear statue in the front yard. I must have walked past that house a million times because it's near some of my favorite bars/ my friend's house. And on Friday night, my friend and I struck up a conversation with a dude in a Fedora hat at Avalon (because who wouldn't strike up a conversation with a guy in a Fedora hat?) and wham all of a sudden we got an invite to the bear house. FYI--the inside of the bear house has this long creepy hallway that looks like it's taken straight out of the set of a horror movie.

3. If you go to the bar just to order water, there is a very good chance that a guy will offer to buy you a shot or a beer. For some reason, just drinking water at a bar is a total buzzkill, so guys feel like it is their PERSONAL responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen. (Not sure if this is just a Richmond thing or not...)

4. Everyone has tattoos. Richmond is the only city I have lived in where I have actually had to defend my decision not to have a tattoo.

5. Richmond is ridiculously small and everyone knows everyone. Case in point, I met up with a new friend at a different bar on Saturday afternoon. The conversation was starting to lag so I decided to tell the story about visiting the bear house on Friday night. Turns out this dude is friends with the guy in the Fedora hat, whose name, I learned, is Mike =) So maybe I'll stop calling him the dude in the Fedora hat...Maybe...

Well, that's the end of my list, for now...I'm sure I'll come up with some more ideas as time goes by.

****Clearly, this post was a means of avoiding talking about the main purpose of my blog--being healthy. Sadly, I have failed thoroughly with that goal this weekend. The good news is, I ate more so I did not have a repeat of Monday night. The bad news is, I ate more. And I didn't eat good foods either. Hamburgers and french fries, buttery croissants, apple pie with ice cream, gallons of wine, and countless gin and tonics. Ugh, the list goes on and on. The good news is--I did NOT binge. The bad news is--I gave myself permission to eat anything I wanted in order to "coat" my stomach. Today is a detox day and I'm going to stick within my points.

I'd really like to maintain at my weigh in, if that's possible. Wish me luck!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Volume Eating

At my Weight Watcher meeting last night, I met a bunch of friendly new members. They all seemed to be curious about what I was eating for breakfasts and lunches. I told them I usually stick to oatmeal for breakfast and a salad for lunch. They looked at me like I was some sort of freak, and laughingly replied that they could never exist on such light fare.

Of course, little did they know how huge my meals actually are.

I tried to explain. My oatmeal meal is not a skimpy packet of oatmeal with some hot water. My salad is not the sad small container of iceburg lettuce with a few cherry tomatoes. For lunch these days, I've been having a gigantic (unfortunately expensive) salad from the salad bar at the supermarket, containing the following: lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, black olives, a hard boiled egg, a spoonful of mixed beans, a spoonful of grilled chicken, and a spoonful of blue cheese. I top the whole thing off with FF Honey Mustard dressing. Needless to say, it's not a small meal. In fact, sometimes I get a little self conscious about just how much food I'm consuming as I tear through my salad on my lunch break. Likewise, my typical oatmeal breakfast involves a packet of oatmeal and a huge banana. Sometimes I add peanut butter. It's literally too big for a normal size bowl.

This is all an explanation for the food mishap that occurred last night. After my WWer meeting, I went out with a friend for Thai food. Unfortunately, by the time she picked me up it was 8pm and I was starving. We arrived at the restaurant and promptly ordered fried spring rolls and two(!) orders of Pad See Ew. And I ate an entire large spring roll and nearly my whole plate of Pad See Ew before I realized that I was sickeningly full.

See, the thing is--my head is bigger than my stomach. I think I want huge plates of food, so I gobble them down before my stomach has a chance to say, "Whoa, I'm full." And that is why it works so well for me to eat large portions of low point food because I satisfy my head AND my stomach. After all, it never hurts to eat a large amount of fruits and veggies. Of course, perhaps the better solution would be to train my head to desire "reasonable" portions of food. But that might be reaching for the stars, haha.

So anyway, I'm a little annoyed that I ate so much yesterday but today is a new day =) I actually don't have any plans (as of yet) for the weekend. I'm looking forward to sleeping in and relaxing a bit. Does anyone else struggle with volume eating? Have you developed any strategies for dealing with it?

Thursday, January 20, 2011

And the Verdict is...

Down 3.4 pounds =)

Beauty Lies in Imperfection

Let me preface this post by saying, I don't handle criticism very well. Nor do I take advice. Ever. Sorry, if you're disappointed. I'm very stubborn when I want to be.

And maybe it's because I'm the oldest child of four (who never had to take teasing or bullying) or maybe it's because I'm hyper sensitive, but I really don't respond well when people say things like, "You have a serious problem."

In fact, as an overweight teen, no one in my family was allowed to so much as comment on my weight gain. If one of my parents tried to start a discussion about getting healthy, I'd flip out, slam out of the house, and stomp around my neighborhood with music blasting through my iPod. To this day, people in my immediate family are legitimately afraid to comment on my weight (whether I lose or gain).

But, after my recent alcohol/ boy debacles, I have received a whirlwind of advice, judgment, and cautionary tales. I'm not sure how to take comments like this:

"You have a serious problem. But it's obvious that you don't care, because no matter how many times so many of us on this board say it, you never do anything about it."

First off, I'm a bit surprised that my posts on my blog and the WW Message Boards would inspire such a passionate response. In fact, I'll admit it--a part of me is secretly delighted. It's nice to know that people read your blog and care enough to comment.

On the other hand, as I've moved past my initial elation, I'm slightly disheartened by this person's view of my character.

Am I a total screw-up? Well, here are the facts: I have lost over 60 pounds in the past nine months, I have a decent job (in my field), I have both an undergraduate and graduate degree from good schools, I rent my own apartment, own my own car, and have two adorable cats. I also have some very good friends.

I also sometimes drink too much, occasionally smoke cigarettes and struggle with binge eating. I also struggle with low self esteem and sometimes put myself into bad situations. I am working on these things. Does that mean I have a serious problem? Well, define "serious." How many 25 year-olds occasionally drink too much? How many fellow WWers occasionally struggle with binge eating? How many other women struggle with low self esteem?

On the other hand, I don't think my blog would be nearly as interesting if I was completely perfect. In fact, I'm pretty sure people would be bored out of their minds. The beauty lies in imperfection, as the poet Wallace Stevens would say.

I'm not perfect--that's for sure. But I'm slowly but surely making my way towards being a healthier, more confident Katie. And on that note, I'd like to quickly share my success from yesterday. I tracked my points (yay!), did not drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, and went to bed at a reasonable hour. I also cleaned my apartment and took care of my car registration. I weigh in today, and once again I have absolutely no clue as to what the verdict will be. I'll let you know tomorrow.

I'm sorry!

I decided to remove my last post. As I was driving home from work yesterday, I started to have second thoughts about whether I wanted to publish such private (and embarrassing) information in a public place. I figured it probably wasn't such a good idea.

That is not to say that I didn't take everyone's comments to heart. It was really touching how many people were concerned by my last post. Thank you all for your comments and I will definitely take them into consideration as I go through this weight loss/ growing up journey.

I will post a little later about my healthy day yesterday, but I just wanted to get this out there.

Monday, January 17, 2011

New Comparison Pic







Beth (http://www.bethsjourney.com/) was kind enough to create these for me =)

Confession Post


1. I didn't track points at all this weekend.

But I did try to limit my food to two healthy-ish meals a day.

2. I drank my weight in alcohol.

But I did try to choose relatively healthy choices (gin and tonics, red wine, light beer).

3. I didn't get any exercise.

But I did walk a 1 mile "walk of shame" on Sunday morning. Does that count?

4. I smoked more cigarettes than I care to admit.

There's really nothing that I can say to make this one better.

5. I got very little sleep.

But I did stay in bed all day on Saturday.

6. I got hit on a lot at bars.

But I didn't go home with any random guys.

All in all, this weekend is a recipe for one thing--getting sick. I woke up this morning with a tight chest and cough, a bad headache, and puffy eyes. I'm not really in the mood to blog this morning--I just keep fantasizing about my cozy, warm bed. I think I'm taking this partying thing too far...Also, I'm beginning to think I have some major self esteem issues. I keep thinking that I'm the "fat girl," when I'm at the bar and I'm surprised when random guys come up to me...I need to work on this, but I don't think it's easy or fast to change one's self image...

On the plus side, I had yet another binge free weekend. So I guess that's good...Anyway, it's time to regroup, get back to eating healthy, throw away the cigarettes and booze, and focus on being healthy. Which is, after all, the purpose of this blog. Sorry I've fallen a little off the wagon.

Friday, January 14, 2011

The Secret to Weight Loss

Down 2.2 this week, putting me back in the 170s, yay!

After losing weight this week, I can only conclude one thing: The secret to weight loss must be drinking more alcohol. In particular, Gin and Tonics, red wine, and Heinekens seem to be the keys to weight loss. Shots of cheap whiskey don't seem to hurt either. The verdict is still out, however, on tequila. I'll have to experiment with that this coming week and keep you updated ;)

Just kidding. In all due seriousness, I'm happy that my unique blend of following Weight Watchers 80% of the time--making somewhat healthy decisions and socializing--resulted in a loss this week. For the first time in a long time, I did not weigh myself midweek (probably because I hadn't been to the gym, oops) and so when I stepped on the scale I told the receptionist that I had no idea what the scale would show--it could be a big gain, a big loss, or a maintain. And it's also that time of the month, so I really didn't know what to expect. The receptionist, knowing my habit of slightly overreacting to gains, tried to steel me for the worst. Most women gain during that time of the month, she told me. And then I saw a loss. That was a good moment.

Now before you hate me for losing weight, let me put this into perspective: I gained 11 pounds two weeks ago and I'm still not down to my low weight, pre-holiday madness. So, in essence, I'm basically throwing around a ridiculous amount of water weight. At the same time, it's nice to see the scale moving in the right direction.

Now, for the not so great news. I only exercised once this past week. Frankly, that's unacceptable. I know that exercise (for me) doesn't seem to have much of an impact on my weight loss, but I really want to become a stronger and healthier person. And there's the Monument Avenue 10K on April 2 that I'm determined to run. So, I need to step up my game and actually follow through on my fitness goals. Which means that I may need to cut down on the drinking so that I don't have the "I'm too hungover and sleep deprived" excuse to get out of going to the gym. Which, in turn, might slow down my weight loss, haha. Again, just kidding...or am I?

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Or am I totally crazy?

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Problem With Counting Points (Part 2)

So as you can tell, I fluctuate between two extremes: agonizing over every point/ thing I eat and breaking down and stuffing as much junk food into my body as I possibly can. I do best (I think) when I reach a happy medium of being aware of my food choices but not being so stringent with my diet that I feel deprived.

This is my way of justifying my somewhat lax points counting this past week, haha. I started the week off with my steak lunch, and last night I had pizza for dinner. I also drank my weight in gin and tonics (seriously, the best drink ever) on Friday, Saturday, and Monday night. So yes, I might not see an awesome number on the scale this week. And yes, I only worked out one time, but I've been crazy busy so it's been hard to fit in workouts. I'm definitely going to work out tonight though.

But here's something that I did do. I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies and only had one. I ordered a pizza and limited my portion to two slices. I shared part of a cheesy appetizer and only had one half of a piece. I ate fruits and vegetables. I chose salads or healthy sandwiches for lunch. I have been binge free for two weeks now, and that feels fantastic. Yes, I could have made better choices but, on the other hand, maybe the fact that I was not overly restrictive has helped me to stay sane. If that makes any sense?

Now, many people would tell me, yes, yes Katie. This is the Weight Watcher way--you're basically just splurging with your WPs and that's exactly what Weight Watchers is intended for. And they would have a point. Weight Watchers does allow you to splurge--it just insists that you keep track of all your points.

And the only problem is the following: how do you count a bite of an appetizer? How do you count a holiday drink at a Christmas party? In some ways, the counting system encourages you to finish your entire serving of food. For instance, I know that the Chipotle burrito bowl is 11 points for the whole serving, but what if you leave a fourth of the serving because you're full? What about an eighth? At that point, my counting likely gets a little screwy and my math skills reach their (admittedly pathetic) limits. And the other problem is--sometimes I only drink a half of a glass of my wine and the gin and tonics at Banditios are way bigger than the gin and tonics at The Republic. And sometimes I forget how many drinks I have (embarrassing, I know). So when it comes to partying and socializing, I don't really count points. I just try to watch what I'm doing.

The thing is, even though I'm not completely following Weight Watchers perfectly, I'm not surrendering my common sense. I know that an apple is healthier than an ice cream cone. I know that one bite of an appetizer is not going to do much damage, but five slices of pizza might. And that, my friends, is my number one complaint with the points system. It encourages me to swap my 25 years of knowledge about food to blindly follow a system where all foods are assigned a numerical value. Why is an English muffin healthier than a bagel--because it has less points, silly! But I didn't need Weight Watchers to tell me that. Anyone in their right mind knows that a bagel is a delicious, robust treat and an English muffin is paltry in comparison (not trying to diss the muffins, as they are quite yummy too).

On the other hand, Weight Watchers themselves say that losing weight is pretty straightforward--eat less, move more. The points system was only invented as a means to losing weight and making healthier choices. And I think as long as I keep that in mind, it's okay to follow the program religiously 80% of the time =)

What do you guys think? Do you ever struggle with this problem when following Weight Watchers (or any other type of eating plan)?

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Attack of the Ex-Boyfriends

***Disclaimer: I know this blog is supposed to be about health, but occasionally I'll stray from that topic***

I've honestly never been much of a dater. In high school, I had one boyfriend and it lasted for about two months. We watched movies together and made out in the back of his car. I didn't like him all that much but I liked the idea of a boyfriend--someone who brought me flowers, picked me up, and bought me dinner. Needless to say, it wasn't a very deep relationship. In college, I dated a few people during my freshmen year and those relationships were also short-lived and fairly superficial. And then I went on a long dating hiatus all the way from my sophomore year until graduate school. 3 years of nearly no dating.

I felt a little unattractive during that time and I didn't think anyone could like me. I weighed more than I ever had in my entire life and none of my clothes fit "right," and well frankly I felt like all of my friends were prettier and skinnier than me. I went to parties feeling self conscious and out of place and wouldn't talk to any guys. My friends would tell me that I was pretty, but I never believed them and would prefer to spend a night watching a movie with pizza rather than dressing up and hitting the bars.

Gradually, I got over this and started dating more in graduate school, even though I weighed more than I had in college. In retrospect, my weight wasn't really the issue that was holding me back from meeting guys; it was my perception of my weight problem. Then I moved to Richmond and developed a crush on an anti-social alcoholic who lived in my building (I know, I have awesome taste). He didn't like me "that way," but for some reason I craved his approval. I figured that if he liked me, I would be pretty/ cool/ etc...

I joined Weight Watchers in March totally randomly. Honestly, to this day, I can't explain what compelled me to join. The best thing I can come up with is this: I felt pretty good about my body and I had just spent an absurd amount of money on some new spring outfits at Lane Bryant. I think I felt good about myself and finally felt like I had the power to tackle my weight problem once and for all. And as soon as I joined, my life was transformed. I started spending my evenings at the gym as opposed to watching tv. I made friends with gym buddies. I stopped seeing the loser from my building, joined okcupid and started going on a million dates. I started to feel good about myself and made random friends everywhere I went--the gym, walking to my car, the coffee shop, the bookstore. I rekindled relationships with old friends and started going out to bars, concerts, movies, parties.

And that's when it happened...I became a serial dater. At one point last summer I was dating five guys at the same time. I eventually stopped using okcupid because I was finding enough people to date on my own. At nearly 200 pounds, I felt pretty and voluptuous--even though that was my same weight from my freshmen year of college. I learned how to flirt (gasp!) and I had many fun filled nights. I started dating a guy I really liked, and I realized how awesome relationships can be.

However, all this is an explanation for the punishment that I'm currently suffering. See, there is a problem with dating so many people in a small city--you can't escape them. Inevitably you'll run into ex-boyfriends everywhere--supermarkets, bars, friend's houses. And the worst case is when you date mutual friends. Which I stupidly have done. So, this weekend I attended two social events where I had to interact with two ex-boyfriends and their/ my friends. In one case, I was the pitied party and in the other I was the villain--not fun in either situation. And of course, I had to drink my weight in alcohol to combat the awkwardness =) Not to mention, I had two other ex-boyfriends drunk text me inappropriate messages. In other words, I'm under attack from the ex-boyfriends. And I just hope that I survive it.

Monday, January 10, 2011

The Good and the Bad

Hello everyone--I hope you had a nice weekend. It was so awful waking up this morning at 6:15am. I think I've gotten used to sleeping in =) I really did not want to leave my warm covers but here I am at work. Drinking my second cup of black tea.

So, my weekend was good. Health wise, it wasn't perfect but as always it could have been much worse. On Friday, I went to the gym after work and did an interesting workout with my friend Kerrianne--10 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes on the treadmill (at 5.0-5.5) and 10 hard minutes on the bike, followed my some sit-ups. Sadly, that was my only workout of the weekend--I need to get better about this. Then on Friday night, I went to a bar in Richmond with B and ended up indulging in light beer, gin and tonics (my new favorite drink, by the way) and part of an enormous soft pretzel with queso. It was a lot of fun.

On Saturday, I had a potluck at my friend Tamurlaine's house, and I made my old stand-by--chocolate chip cookies. The cookies were a huge hit and they were completely consumed before dinner was even prepared, see I'm not the only one who has trouble resisting them ;) I tried to watch what I ate at the potluck and I completely avoided the cookies, but at the end of the night I succumbed to a slice of cheese pizza and a breadstick =) And then yesterday, I vowed to track my points and I was doing really well until last night when I was watching my all-time favorite movie with B, Funny Girl, and I just had to taste one of my chocolate chip cookies. And drink a light beer. But the good news is, I sent B home with the rest of the cookies and they are officially out of my house.

I'm pretty sure that my combination of eating/ drinking has completely used up all my WPs, if not exceeded them. So, for the rest of the week I'm going to try to only use my DPs. Social engagements might be my downfall, however, haha. Tonight, my friend Adriane's boyfriend's band is playing a show at the Camel in Richmond and I definitely want to go. And let's face it, I'm probably going to at least have a few drinks. But I've already planned out my day and I'm going to save 5-6 points for a few light beers. I know that I might go over, but hopefully it won't be by too much. I might also try to earn some APs before the show, if I have the time...

Oh, and more good news. I have ice cream bars in my fridge that (drum roll please) have been there for over a week and I've only eaten one. That's a huge accomplishment for me because I usually plow through those things. I'm also fitting comfortably into a new pair of size 12 work pants, yay. All right, time to get back to work. I hope that everyone has a good Monday.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Blowing Through My Points

The only downside to losing 7 pounds this week is that my new Daily Points target is 29. For some reason, I really enjoyed having 30 points to play with =) Yesterday, and today apparently, I have blown through my points at lunch. Yesterday my lunch was 20 points and today it was 14 points, which is kind of messing me up, since I like to spend the majority of my points at dinner. Maybe you guys can offer me some suggestions?

Here's my menu thus far today:

B: 1 packet of oatmeal, banana, 1 tbsp RF peanut butter (6)

S: apple

L: Big salad from the grocery store salad bar--lettuce, cucumber, radishes, black olives, 1 hard boiled egg (2 points), some grilled chicken (roughly 3 points), a good sized spoonful of blue cheese (3 points), a spoonful of red beans (1 point) and a packet of ff dressing (2 points). I also had a heavenly piece of Godiva milk chocolate on the side (2 points). All together, 14 points. Yikes! (By the way, no I didn't weigh and measure my food at the salad bar, but I can't get too fanatic about this. I estimated the portions to the best of my ability, and I think that's good enough.)

Now I've only got 10 points for dinner and I'm going out for drinks tonight, so I'm most likely going to use some of my WPs. And yes, I know that using WPs is not a bad thing, I just hate not saving 12-13 points for dinner. I also have a gym "date" after work with my friend Kerrianne, so I'll be earning some APs. But still, I need to lighten up my pre-dinner food...

Anyway, enough food analysis. On to the good stuff, I lost 7 pounds this week. I'm so glad that the huge gain from last week was mostly water weight. I actually have been feeling more confident this week and I'm glad that my re-dedication to WW gave me a nice SV! And the other factor is that I changed my meeting time. I used to fast every Thursday morning and then weigh in. And I completely stopped that. Instead, I ate normally on Thursday (haha, actually a little bit more than normal yesterday) and weighed myself at the end of the day. So, while I am 4 pounds heavier than my lightest weight from a few weeks ago, I think, in reality, I'm only about 2 pounds heavier. Which is not so bad after two weeks filled with cookies, pizza, and booze.

At my WW meeting last night (and I'm sure at every WW meeting this week) my leader talked about how much progress someone can make in one year if you consistently lose one pound a week. In a year, that's 52 pounds, which is no chump change =) She told our group these words of advice--The year's going to go by anyway, probably faster than you expect. But think of how great it will be if this time next year you'll have lost X amount of weight?

Sometimes it can be daunting to think that if I lose weight at a reasonable pace (read 0.5 to 2 pounds a week), it will take me X weeks to get to goal. In my case, that's a little over 30 weeks. But those 30 weeks are going to go by anyway, and I might as well stick with the program and be smaller at the end of it, rather than starting from where I am now (or bigger, as is often the case).

So, I'm going to take things slow, follow the program, have a good time, and hopefully by this time next year, I'll have reached my goal. Anyway, I'm leaving work early to take care of some car issues--I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

And the Verdict is...

Down 7 pounds for my first weigh in, despite the steak lunch and weighing in at a later time. I need to drink my coffee before I write a real blog post, but I just wanted to share the good news =)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Choosing the Steak

I wanted to wait to post until after my weigh in this morning, but once again I failed to make it to my 11:30am meeting. Instead, I opted to go out to lunch for grilled steak and a baked potato. Haha, I guess I didn't pick the healthiest choice. But what would you do if you had to decide between a free steak lunch versus a WW meeting?

If you would choose the meeting, my hat goes off to you =)

Anyway, after eating 7 ounces of perfectly cooked steak with a baked potato and sour cream, I decided to go to the 5:30pm meeting instead. I guess I might not see the best loss ever this week as a result of my heavy lunch/ my drinking last night, but I'm not that concerned, because overall I did a pretty good job following my goals this past week.

1. I ate (mostly) within my points and I made a wholehearted attempt to track my food. I didn't track points over the weekend, but I tried to remain conscious of my food decisions--i.e. I stayed away from chocolate chip cookies and didn't eat a whole platter of cheese and crackers.

2. I exercised twice. Yes, I did say twice not three times. Unfortunately, life (i.e. being hungover and sleep deprived) got in the way of my gym time. But I'm still glad that I got in some exercise. And I honestly wouldn't trade my nights of much needed fun for that extra time at the gym.

3. I was extremely social. In fact, I overshot my target on that one =)

4. As for cleaning and laundry, I soundly failed on that goal. But I'm going to fit that in over the weekend.

So, to sum up, I did pretty well with my goals last week. Not perfect, but a huge improvement from the previous week. I actually feel good about myself these days, even though I know that I'm not at a perfect weight or in perfect shape.

I had fun with friends and I was able to not obsess about the points of each appetizer/ each drink. The thing is social/ eating drinking is NOT what caused me to gain weight, although I recognize that it may be other people's problem. Nope, for me, I gain weight when I start to eat in private, secretly gorging on junk food. And those binges can sometimes be brought on when I feel too deprived. So, it's very important for me to be social and indulge in a moderate way. Which I think that I accomplished this past week =)

Anyway, moving on with some goals for this coming week.

1. Track points every day, including alcohol (bah!). Stay within allotted points.

2. Exercise 3 times, for real this time!

3. Get enough sleep. I'm running on empty right now, and I really need to get 8 hours a night.

4. Clean the house and do laundry, for real this time!

5. Continue to be social, but don't go crazy with it.

Anyway, I have to get back to work. I'll let you know what the verdict is tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Following Through

I am happy to report that I'm following through on some the weekly goals I set for myself--although granted it's only been a few days.

The results: I'm sore and sleep deprived, haha. As I recall, my goals were to exercise, eat within my points, be more social, and oh yeah, take care of my house chores. So far, I have eaten within my points every day (except for a 1/2 of a bud light last night), and I worked out yesterday evening. I have also been social every single night of the week, which might be a bit overkill, haha ;)

I'm not going to lie, the gym was a madhouse yesterday. It's nice that people are trying to get healthier this time of year, but it's so annoying when you can't find a treadmill or elliptical at all; I'm sure it's annoying for the newcomers too. I met my friend Kerrianne at the gym and we almost opted to go for a run outside in the dark/ cold because we couldn't find a treadmill, but we ended up finding a few bikes so we did that instead. Then, miraculously, I did find an empty treadmill and got in some time on that as well. So my workout consisted of 20 minutes on the bike (at a pretty easy program), 1 mile of jogging at 5.0 on the treadmill (12ish minutes) and some situps and pushups. I'm not quite in as good shape as I was prior to my holiday meltdown, but it felt good to get in some exercise.

I made my old stand-by chicken taco salad for dinner and it was delicious.

Some lettuce

1 orange bell pepper

Some finely sliced radishes

1 cup grilled chicken (5 points)

1/4 cup pinto beans (1 point)

1/4 cup RF cheese (2 points)

1 serving of baked lays tortilla chips (3 points)

2 tablespoons of dressing (2 points)

Total Points: 13

So yes, a pretty pointy salad, but as always you can cut the points by cutting the chicken, cheese, chips, dressing, etc... I had the points to spare and was really craving a yummy salad so I just went for it. But you can easily modify it to make it a 7-10 point dish.

Anyway, my plan today is to eat well and get in a nap after work. I can't believe it's only Wednesday...I miss those short holiday weeks =) What are some of your favorite quick go-to meals?

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Clothes Don't Lie

I put on my gray dress pants for the first time since my vacation, and they feel tight. I thought that the 11 pounds I gained over the holidays was mostly water weight, but apparently that's not the case--my tummy and butt have definitely gotten bigger.

And I have no one to blame but myself.

Now, I'm not freaking out and I've been (mostly) on track since my weigh in on Thursday, but geez, it's annoying to know that 2.5 weeks of bad eating means that you actually can gain weight. Since the start of my diet in March, the scale has consistently moved downward, and I kind of got used to shrinking. In fact, I started to believe I was just on a downward trend and I'd never get big again. But now I know that's not true--it's really really easy for me to put on weight. So in some ways this is a good wake-up call for me.

Moving on, yesterday was a success at counting points/ staying within points but I failed to get any exercise in and I didn't hit many of my GHGs. I also spent too much money on food--Subway for lunch and Chipotle for dinner. By the way, the burrito bowl (sans sour cream and cheese) is only 11 points under the new system and you get a ton of food! By comparison, my subway combo--turkey sandwich (with light mayo and cheese) with baked chips--is 12 points and not nearly as much food or as filling.

Today, I'm going to try to get in at least one serving of milk and eat more fruits and vegetables. I'm also headed to the gym after work, come hell or high water ;) I packed my gym bag in the car and I'm forcing myself to go. How do you all meet your GHGs? What strategies do you have for fitting in your workouts?

Monday, January 3, 2011

Back on Track

Good morning everyone and happy New Year! So, before I go into my post, I'd like to update you about my weigh in on Thursday. I gained 11 pounds. Now, granted I weighed in during the evening as opposed to the morning and I had a very salty dinner the night before, but let's face it, I put on some weight over the holidays. However, all is not lost. I'm relieved that I weighed in before I gained too much weight and I don't really feel like I gained a true 11 pounds. After all, my clothes still fit. So, I think there was some water bloat going on. On the other hand, I really don't want to put on weight and I'd like to get to my goal of being 150 pounds.

Weighing in really helped me to stop overeating and get back in control of my diet. Prior to my weigh in, I felt like I was 240 pounds again and huge. Weighing in helped put me back in perspective and realize that I'm still 50+ pounds lighter than my start weight. It also helped me to get back to reasonable eating. Unfortunately, I didn't feel compelled to stick to reasonable drinking, haha. But then again, what are the holidays for?

Speaking of drinking and partying, I went out three times over the weekend and I socialized a lot with friends and family. It felt great to be more social, especially after living like a hermit for the last couple of weeks. I think, for me, it's important to socialize in order to be happy. Especially since I live alone and can easily get stuck in a rut with watching a season of Gray's Anatomy and eating microwave pizza and ice cream.

So, in light of the new year and my new weigh in, I'd like to copy Beth (from Beth's Journey) and set some weekly goals. Beth makes a great point in her post--a goal without a plan is just a wish. Therefore, I'm going to attempt to create detailed, manageable goals for this week.

1. Exercise 3 times. It doesn't matter what I do--as long as I break a sweat and exercise for at least 30 minutes. I already exercised on Thursday evening, so I have 2 more workouts to go.

2. Track my points and eat within my points. Now that I get 30 points a day (there is a silver lining to gaining weight), hopefully that won't be too difficult. I didn't track during New Years weekend, but I'm going to start today.

3. Be more social. I'm going to schedule more activities with friends and make an attempt to be more social throughout the week.

4. Clean the house and do laundry...ugh my least favorite activities. But oh so necessary.

Anyway, it feels good to get back on track, and I'll keep you updated of my progress. Happy Monday!