If I don't lose it this week... there's always next week.

The past couple weeks I have had ups and downs with my weight loss. I've been running a lot more and I've been doing great with it! I am up to 25 minutes of straight running now! It's incredible! It's just a little more than 2 miles. I NEVER thought I would be doing this but I love it!

So I had been craving cookies and cream ice cream lately. It's not even my favorite ice cream but I sure have been craving it. So I went out and got Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and Publix Splenda cookies and cream ice cream. They didn't even last a week and I still had my cravings. I was running around the Boardwalk the other day and I just had negative thoughts running through my head. I'm not sure why because things were going great. I had lost 4.6 lbs at my last weigh in and I was running everyday. I think I was just getting kinda down on myself as to how I look. I can see myself in the reflection of the store windows and I feel like an oxymoron, a fat girl running. So as I'm running, I see this man and he has a triple scoop cone of... you guessed it... cookies and cream ice cream. I seriously had a thought in my mind about how easy it would be to just stop my run and go in the ice cream shop and get some deliciously cold ice cream. At that point I was sweating, out of breath, my heart was pounding, and I had a stitch on my side. I could stop all of that pain and go in and get ice cream. I really thought about it. I don't know what made me keep going but I did. I finished my run. I think it's because I just want to be healthy so badly. Also because I would much rather say "Oh I just went for a 25-minute run" instead of "Oh well, I started my run but then I got a triple scoop ice cream cone so I didn't finish my run." I like being proud of what I do and eat. So I kept going.

But one thing I did learn from that run is that I think I need to give myself a little bit of a cheat. I have been so incredibly strict with everything I eat. I barely go in to my weekly points if at all. And I think the substitutes like low fat ice cream and black bean brownies have only got me so far. So I decided that I would go easy on myself this weekend. (My weekend is Tues/Wed.) Monday was Valentine's Day and I surprised Kyle with 2 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I decided that I would treat both of us to Papa John's pizza for dinner. I ordered a pepperoni pizza and garlic breadsticks. I indulged and had 3 slices of pizza, 2 breadsticks, and used cheese dipping sauce and the garlic dipping sauce. I felt incredibly full afterwards. I felt like I wanted to stick my finger down my throat and throw up. Not cause I was mad I ate all those points but because I just felt so uncomfortably full. So I went to sleep that night before tracking my points... I'll do it in the morning.

Well the next morning I wake up and Kyle and I went downstairs to Boma for breakfast. I was nervous that the cheat the night before would creep to the next day and then the next and then I would lose control as to when to end my cheats. But I did really well! I had an egg white omelette filled with veggies, a plate full of fruit, and just a small serving of potatoes. It was delicious and a 5 Point breakfast. I was glad to be back on track and it was nice to feel satisfied instead of stuffed.

So we went back to the room and I started to track what I ate the night before. O...M...G.... I honestly just about had a heart attack when I saw what I had done to myself. 73 Points... I ate 73 Points on Monday... I broke down hardcore. It was bad. Poor Kyle had to deal with me but he's so wonderful and tried to talk to me and tell me that I'll move on from it. The kicker was the pizza. Each slice was 9 points! Wow!

Today's Wednesday and I'm doing much better now. I did what I did. I ate what I ate. I'll move on. I don't regret anything. I think I really needed this weekend to show myself that I don't want to be the way that I was. I'm so happy being healthy. It was nice visiting old Eileen but I'm so over her. I've moved on.

I also realized that just because I don't lose this week doesn't mean I won't ever get there. I'll lose next week. There is not a time line on my weight loss. I will get there. There is no doubt. In Monday's meeting, I weighed in and I gained 0.2. I took it in stride because I lost 4.6 the week before. That's a huge loss for week 21 and I think it was too much so my body was just regulating. I'm hoping to lose next week but I understand how poorly I ate and that might affect me. But it's okay. There's always next week. I am 0.6 lbs away from losing 50 pounds and I will get there.

I finally made it to 40 lbs!

Yesterday was WI for me and I lost 1.6 which put me at a total of 40.8! I am excited! That's how much weight I lost total the last time I lost a lot of weight. I did Atkins when I was 20, discovered booze when I was 21, and after countless nights of bar food/hang over food I gained it all plus more. I've grown up since then and realize that this is going to be lifetime for me and I can't wait to get to 50lbs! That will be huge for me! I feel with the numbers being so big now that I'm going to get more and more excited with each loss!

I haven't been awesome with my eating since WI yesterday. I didn't make wise choices for dinner last night and I ate too much. I still stayed within my points but it was more than a normal night for me. I need to put a stop to this eating after WI just cause I have a whole week ahead. That's one of my goals for this week, to have a regular, on point meal Monday night.

So one really exciting thing that happened this week is I'm going to be offered a promotion at work. (The official call hasn't come through but it will this week.) This means that I will be wearing my own clothes now. (The job I currently have provides a uniform for me.) I've done this job before but it was always temporary so I have professional attire already. I went through my closet to see what I have and realized... the clothes haven't been worn since August when I was 40 pounds heavier. I went through my entire professional wardrobe and the only thing I can still wear is 1 top and 1 pair of pants! That's it! I don't have tons of money to buy a whole new wardrobe but I need clothes to wear to work at least!

I went shopping today with a budget in mind. The clothes I bought today are transition clothes so I need them to last as long as they can. But I'm prepared for them to be too big soon. Kyle went with me because I love his opinion. Usually when I go clothes shopping I just look for the biggest size they have, try it on and hope something fits. There's not much of a variety or style but I got used to that. I've always been overweight. This shopping trip was different. Very different.

Because I had a budget, I was planning on some clothing items to not work out after trying them on in the dressing room. I went to New York & Company as my first stop. I brought a lot of options with me to the dressing room and guess what, everything but one item fit and looked great! This never happens to me! Honestly, I can't think of a time that I had such luck in a dressing room. I got a lot of tops and sweaters and a pair of pants. One of the shirts is slightly too small but I know that it will soon fit and then soon after that be too big so I'm hoping to get a lot of wear out of these clothes before having to get new ones.

I really only needed more pants and then I would be done so I went to Target because I love the way the Mossimo pants fit. I ended up getting 2 pair of pants, another sweater, top, and a dress at Target and they all look great! It's hard to not buy things when I'm so excited everything looks great! What motivation! :)

My friend Ryan got a promotion too so we went out with our boyfriends for dinner and celebrations. I chose the restaurant, a Japanese restaurant named Aji. It's close to our house and delicious! I absolutely LOVE their cheese rangoons! Of course they're fried and not great for you but this is the only place I eat them so I did! :) I also had edamame (If I had to choose one food to live off of for the rest of my life it would be edamame!), miso soup, and cucumber roll maki style with brown rice! This is my absolute favorite meal! And not too bad points wise! My whole meal was 9 points plus. So after a tough night last night and morning this morning (points wise) I turned it around and had a great lunch and dinner. I know I'll do great the rest of the week too!

Oh! And I got Just Dance in the mail today! I did a few dances. I like it and will enjoy playing it but I like Just Dance 2 much better. And then... I think I'm going to join a gym! It's not a regular gym with equipment everywhere, they just have classes. It's expensive but I'm CRAZY excited to do all of them so I think my motivation will make it worth it! The classes they have are pole dancing classes, hoola hoop classes, chair dancing classes, belly dancing classes, and TONS more! I think it sounds so fun! They just moved their location 5 days ago and it's close enough to my house that I'd actually drive out there. Maybe I'll try a class Thursday evening! Woo Hoo!

And then came three o'clock...

Today was another great on point day. I had to get to work early this morning and I'm never hungry that early so I just grabbed some fruit and a string cheese. Lunch was good too. I had lentil soup and more fruit. Then three o'clock came. That's the time that I get hungry for anything and everything. I am usually still at work at 3:00 so I can control the hunger with the food I brought from home. But today I left work early and was out and about at 3:00. I was dying for fast food. I thought I was over these cravings... What happened to being a strong healthy eater?

I was in Celebration so there were lots of options around. Of course I could always just drive home and eat something healthy and cheaper but what's the fun in that? So I decided that I still wanted to make wise choices with my food selection so I chose Chick Fil A. I know I've talked about Chick Fil A before and I felt safe going there. I know the points plus values of the food. Today I got a medium bowl of chicken soup, 4 piece nuggets, fruit cup, and a small diet coke. It was a great filling meal for just 7 points! Not bad for fast food!

Now I'm off to play more Just Dance 2! I am so sore from playing it the last 3 days but I actually look forward to getting up and moving!

Just Dance 2 for the Wii

O...M...G... Have you tried Just Dance 2 for the Wii?! Cause I'm obsessed! I had 2 really great friends recommend the game to me so I figured I'd give it a try. It is fantastic! I can't stop playing it! Yesterday we went to a friends house and I brought the game with me. We ended up playing for over 2 hours! I forget that I'm working out because it's so fun! They have different styles of dance and even duets. I just played it again today for another 30 mins. I consider it high intensity because it makes me sweat and I'm out of breath right away so I'm earning a million activity points this week! Well, maybe not a million but so far I've earned 41. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who's looking for a really fun workout!

Have I ever mentioned that I love Weight Watchers?!

I'm still doing really well this week. I have been making DELICIOUS smoothies lately! They're so thick you have to eat them with a spoon which makes it seem like even more of a treat, almost like ice cream. I've been using 1/2 cup of frozen fruit, (I use Yoplait Smoothie strawberry, mango, and pineapple but of course any frozen fruit will work) 1/2 cup of milk, and I add Weight Watchers Smoothie Mix (French Vanilla Flavor). I blend it all in my fake Magic Bullet and it's soooo delicious!! I might just be obsessed with it.

For dinner tonight I'm making my mom's lentil soup which I think is to die for! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2c uncooked lentils

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 small onions

1 med. carrot

2 stalks celery

4c Fat Free Beef Broth

3 c water

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1.5 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp paprika

pinch of thyme

salt to taste

1 bay leaf

Directions:

In a large pot, combine lentils, garlic, onion, celery, and carrots. Stir in beef broth, tomato paste, vinegar, paprika, pepper, bay leaf, and thyme. Cook until lentils are cooked. Puree soup in blender until smooth. Salt to taste.

** the original recipe called for hot italian sausage to be added but of course it's omitted for the points. I like spicy food so I will add spicy spices to the soup before it cooks for a nice kick.

The recipe yields about 8 servings at about 1c a serving for only 2 points a serving!!

I love this soup because it's healthy, filling, and it's flavorful. I like to make it in a big pot so I will have lots on hand. If I come home starving I can have dinner ready in a minute or it's a quick easy way to pack a lunch. I like to have it with pretzel thins but tonight I'm going to have it with a corn muffin VitaTop. (They were buy one get one free at Publix this week so Kyle and I really stocked up!)

I'm loving this positive attitude I'm having this week. It's so funny to me that it's coming after just a 0.2 weight loss but I think I'm really seeing how important it is that I eat healthy. At my meeting on Monday, Theresa and I were talking about our weight loss. I said I thought I had such a small weight loss because of eating too much and going in to my weekly points. Then she asked me if I got all of my healthy checks everyday. I didn't. She said she doesn't think it was a small weight loss because I went in to my weekly points, it's cause I didn't get all of my healthy checks. It really made me think. I don't know why it's not obvious to me but I know she's right. I ate weekly points cause I wasn't eating low point value foods. When I eat healthy, I automatically eat less points because I eat a lot of fruit and veggies. Funny how Weight Watchers actually works... :)

"I just ate 15- Points in chocolate!"

I didn't blog at all last week. I guess it's because I didn't do so well last week. On Wednesday I got my period and I was dying for chocolate. I mean, really really wanted chocolate. So I did. I have Ghirardelli dark chocolate baking bars in the pantry to make fudge. Well, forget the fudge, I ate the entire bar. One bar is 2.5 servings and 15 Points Plus! Can you believe this?! Kyle came downstairs and all I could say was "I just ate 15 Points in chocolate." Even though it was crazy high in points and very irresponsible of me to eat the entire thing in one sitting, I had no regrets. I enjoyed every bite of that chocolate. I still don't regret it and it was one week ago.j

The rest of the week also included many other versions of chocolate but in better portions and Points Plus values. I had heard of a recipe for black bean brownies. It seemed a little bizarre to me. I make Diet Coke cake which is delicious but Diet Coke is sweet so it kind of makes sense. Well I gave the black bean brownies a try and they were delicious! They're easy to make too! Just take a 14.5 oz can of black beans and rinse them in a colander. After making sure the beans are rinsed really well, put the beans back in the can. Fill the rest of the can with water and put the beans and water in a food processor. Puree. Then put a boxed brownie mix in the food processor and blend. Put the brownie mix into a baking pan and follow the directions on the back of the brownie box for baking times and heat. I used Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix. I cooked the brownies in an 8x8 pan and 1/16th of the pan was a serving. They were 4 Points Plus each and delicious.

Well after a tough week, Monday was not so much a Christmas morning for me. I was excited cause I always love meetings but I was nervous about the scale. I was expecting a gain but hoping for nothing more than 1.2 lbs. I was extra careful to eat light yesterday hoping to at least achieve a maintain instead of a gain. Well to my surprise, I lost 0.2! I had never been so proud! :) Usually a -0.2 loss would discourage me but I was thrilled after the week I had. Of course 75% of my meeting just finished their first week on WW and they were all losing 5-8 lbs but that still didn't make me feel bad about my 0.2 loss.

After the week I had last week, I knew I had to be better this week. Yesterday I had my favorite breakfast, egg white scrambled eggs. I use Pam, 3 egg whites, onion, bell pepper, and a slice of american cheese. I put them all in a pan and scramble them up. I also had a bagel thin with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter light and a banana. It's a great meal because it's so nutritious and only 6 Points Plus!

For lunch I had my staple, delicious lunch, a veggie burger wrap. I put 2 tsp of olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Once the pan is hot, I put a frozen veggie burger in. (I use Boca Bruschetta patties.) I also add onion and bell peppers. After 4 mis I flip the patties. Then after another 4 minutes I use a spatula to break up the patty like ground beef. I mix the veggies and veggie burger together. I put the veggie mix on a tortilla that has Laughing Cow cheese spread on it. This wrap is good on its own but I like to put some Frank's Red Hot on it. I had grapes on the side of this meal. With this meal I got a protien, 1 fruit, 1 veggie, 1 whole grain, 1 dairy, and both of my healthy oils and all of that is for just 7 Points Plus! That's healthy eating and it's so delicious!!

For dinner Kyle and I went to Thaty and Gio's. We had stir-fried veggies (with Pam, not oil), grilled chicken with a little soy sauce, and brown rice. We also had a caesar salad, lots of lettuce and very little dressing. Oh and dessert... let me tell you about this delicious dessert... fruit salad. Not just ordinary fruit salad though. This fruit salad was cut up in to small bite size pieces. The fruits were banana, papaya, apple, and pineapple. They were mixed up so well and I scooped a big helping into my dish. Then Thaty brought out something I've never had before, sweet condensed milk. I have never had this before. I have heard Thaty talk about it before but I had never had it. Thaty said it is very common in latin communities. So I put a tbsp of it over my fruit and mixed it in. WOW! Soooo delicious!! I'm actually craving it right now. One serving of sweet condensed milk is 2 Tbsp and only 3 points plus. I used half of a serving and could probably use less next time. It's a perfect dessert.

I'm glad to be back on the healthy wagon after a tough week. I am 0.8 lbs away from losing 40 pounds and I'm going to be there on Monday!

Happy

So yesterday was AMAZING!! I did work extra hard this week and it sure paid off. I didn’t have half of the amount of sugar and carbs I have been having in the past few weeks. I did have some in moderation which was the key, moderation. I figured yesterday’s meeting would be crazy busy. I take the meetings seriously and I wanted to make sure that I had a good seat so I got there early. I got there a little before 5:30 (the meeting starts at 6) and there were only 2 other people there. I was in shock, this is the first Monday of the new year, I figured the line would be out the door! Well so I go in to weigh, I was nervous but really hoping that I did well. I step on the scale and immediately Kerri makes a face like she’s super impressed. She’s so funny though cause she won’t tell you the number until it’s printed on the sticker. (I don’t blame her. Could you imagine she was like, “Oh wow you lost 4 lbs!” You’re all excited and then you look at the sticker and it says that you only lost 0.4. That’s a difference!) Anyways, so my sticker gets put in my book and I go to sit down in the meeting room.
I slowly pulled out the weight tracker and it said -4.8!!!!! WHAT?!!! I couldn’t believe it!! I was praying it would be -0.8 or -2 at the most but almost -5lbs this week! Incredible!! I’m still in shock as I write it this morning. I am now just 4 pounds away from getting out of the 200’s. I think that will be the biggest feat for me since I started WW. It’s crazy that I think I could be there in 2-3 weeks!! I’m so happy!
So sure enough, I was right and the meeting ended up being packed. It was SRO. One great surprise was seeing someone new in the meeting. Shirley was one of my Cast Members when I was a Showkeeping Manager and she came in to the meeting. I had no clue but Shirley is a Lifetime Member of WW. I’m so happy to have someone to talk about the program with at work.
Best of all of course was getting to see Thaty and Lucas! I missed them so much! More than I even thought I would. I’m so happy they’re back!!!
Except for Kyle, Sara, and Thaty, I haven’t told too many people about my blog. Last night I told Teresa about my blog. Hi Teresa if you’re reading this. I’ve decided that I’ll talk more about what I eat and share some good recipes. Hopefully they’ll help!