Catching Up Since June

Interesting... I just looked over my last blog. I didn't blog at all in July. I've been very frustrated as my weight loss has slowed down. So much so that I'm actually up since my last blog. I have been up and down and currently I'm at -69 lbs. I've gotten so frustrated that I didn't even weigh in one week. I knew it would be a gain and I just couldn't bear to see it. I was feeling motivated and I felt that I would get down on myself when I saw a '+' on my weight tracker.

Well after not weighing in last week, I weighed in on Monday and lost 0.6. Of course I would normally be excited about this but I'm frustrated because I did so incredibly well. I did so much activity!! I ran, took Zumba, Body Pump, and earned a lot of APs on my pedometer at work. I also tracked everything I ate. I even felt like I ate more than usual but that's common with so much activity. (I earned 88 APs for the week.) I even went to an extra meeting last week. Kerri wasn't there on the usual Monday meeting so I went to see her on Friday morning. I needed that meeting. According to the scale, I was up 2 lbs and I was out of ideas. I talked to Kerri about my week and she tried to analyze what's going on. After asking a few questions she felt like she figured it out. I may be eating too much fruit. It's nice having the fruit be free but I need to eat it in moderation. She suggested that I look into counting the points of fruit or cutting back. For the rest of the week I cut back and told myself I would count the points of any more than 3 servings of fruit. After Friday, I even felt like I had started losing again. So I could have possibly lost almost 2.5 lbs last week but only 0.6 since my last weigh in. I'm not frustrated enough to stop though! I'm in it to win it!

I worked out like crazy last week and I absolutely loved it!! I wish I had time to work out like that all the time. The problem is though, my running is beginning to suffer. I usually average a 9'30"-10' mile but at the end of last week, I was at13.5' miles! I need to shift my focus to running as I have 3 races coming up. Besides, I won't have the time to go to so many classes in the future. I closed every night last week so there were more classes available to me. I read Runner's World and they always talk about how important it is to take it easy during your runs, slow down, and cherish extra rest days. I always thought 'they're crazy! I wish everyday was rest day. I'm tired and lazy and it takes all I have just to get out the door to start my run.' This week I understood what they meant. I made myself take a rest day on Friday and be okay with walking during some of my runs. I ran today after 2 days of rest and I averaged a 12' mile. Looks like I'm coming back!

The races I'm preparing for are the Wine and Dine Half Marathon (10/01), Space Coast Half Marathon (11/27), and the Walt Disney World Marathon (01/08). Yes... Marathon. Not half marathon... but a full 26.2. I ran 7 miles the other day and felt like I was going to die. Of course I was running at noon and it was close to 100 degrees outside but I was just miserable. I could barely run 7 miles, how am I going to run 26.2??? I try to picture myself at mile 17... It feels impossible. But of course, just a few months ago I would have said the exact same thing about 1 mile but today I posted to Facebook that I had a great little run. That little run was 4 miles. I am a new person. I am amazing!

I have to share my new favorite recipe! It's honestly the easiest recipe ever! It's full of protein and carbs; great for an after workout meal.

Chickpea Curry

ingredients: can of chickpeas, can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, 8 small gold potatoes quartered, can of vegetable broth, 1 Tbsp of curry, 1 Tbsp of coriander, 1 Tbsp of cumin, and if you like it spicy 1 Tbsp of Cayenne otherwise just a few dashes.

directions: Add all ingredients in a med/large saucepan over med/high heat. Cook for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Serve over brown rice.

The recipe says it makes 4 servings but I only at 1/2 cup of the curry at a time which came out to 8 servings. It's 2 points for the Chickpea Curry and 2 points for brown rice. Awesome and really delicious meal!!

Yesterday Kyle and I went to Universal Studios. We had a great time! I was prepared and brought 2 meals and lots of snacks. I felt very satisfied with what I brought despite all of the temptation. I came so close to having ice cream. It started raining, I was soaked and just wanted to sit inside somewhere. I even got the okay from Kyle to have ice cream. It was raining so hard so we didn't make it to the ice cream place right away. We just sat in a restaurant for cover. After thinking for a bit, I told Kyle that I didn't want the ice cream anymore. I was proud of my decision but secretly still wanted the ice cream. Once the rain let up a bit, we started walking again and walked past the ice cream shop, it was closed. Ice cream was not meant to be. I'm so glad it was closed. We ended up going home and I survived the whole day with just the food I brought. Well, with the exception of Butterbeer. It was a planned splurge. Well, for the most part. Kyle bought me my own not knowing I just wanted to share. It was so delicious! I of course could have drank half than thrown it away but it was just so delish!! I had the whole thing, and then looked up the points. I assumed it would be 20 points. I found a recipe online that included that nutritional facts, after doing the math I found out that Butterbeer is 19 points. What a deal! lol It was a lot of points but it was planned for, so worth it, and I have a whole week to burn it off. I would do it again so that makes it worth it.

I think that's all that's been going on. I'm sick of plateauing. I'm so super motivated right now. I feel that upping my activity has helped a lot. Not just increasing my activity points but when I work out, I'm less likely to splurge. I feel like I don't want to waste my work out on crap food so I'm more likely to eat well. I WILL lose again this week!

70 pounds GONE!!!!

Fortunately I lost that 4.2 that I gained. I knew it had to have been something weird.I actually lost 4.6. I'm thinking it was because I was sick and my body was just out of wack. But, even though I lost I had a horrible week. I had absolutely no self control! I even ate ice cream right out of the carton. I tracked it all though. For the first time, I ate all of my dailies, weeklies, and even ate a few of my activity points. The only activity I got was from my run on Wednesday and from walking at work. What's weird though about my eating was I would have a great breakfast, great lunch, I would eat crap, and then have a great dinner. So it was the 4-6 o'clock time that's an issue and it's when Kyle's not here. I talked with a friend about it and we realized it's probably boredom. So on Friday after work I went grocery shopping and did stuff around the house. I didn't eat anything bad! I stayed in control. Same thing for Saturday and Sunday. I'm glad I realized where the issue is and hopefully I can work on that and keep doing well.

Well I had strep throat about 2 weeks ago and was on antibiotics for 10 days. 2 days after I finished the medicine I woke up sick again. I went to the doctor on Sunday, I have mono. :( I haven't been on the scale since Kyle hid it and I'm okay with it now. But, I had to get on the scale at the dr's office. I was up 3 pounds. I deserve it. And at least I would be prepared for my meeting on Monday. Plus, it seems like I gain when I'm sick.

Monday I woke up even more sick. I just felt miserable. I called in to work. I laid down on the couch all day and watched Cheers on NetFlix. (I can't get enough!) I debated going to the meeting because I felt so crummy. I even debated if I wanted to weigh in this week at all. But I thought about how dedicated I am and I have to go. So I did. Kyle drove me cause he's the world's greatest boyfriend. I knew I was sick cause on the way over I was thinking how I didn't care if I gained or lost, I just wanted to go back to sleep. Meetings are like Christmas to me! I'm usually so excited to go.

I went to weigh in and the receptionist says "wow! you did it! 70 pounds!" I just stood there in shock. There's no way. I asked her to check again. And she showed me, sure enough... I lost 1.2 lbs!!! I've lost 70.6 lbs! I'm still in shock as I type this. It was sweet cause the receptionist got flustered and was so excited for me. It made me realize just what a big deal this really is. Wow! 70 lbs gone! That's the average weight of a 10 year old child! Gone. 70 pounds gone! I feel so excited and determined to keep going! Now if only I could start feeling better and kick this cold!

+4.2

It’s tough to say it but, I gained 4.2 last week. And honestly, it’s for no good reason. It’s not like I can say, “well I gained 4.2 but that whole pizza was so worth it!” I didn’t splurge on anything out of my points. I got my healthy checks and ate lots of power foods. And on top of that, I ran 4 days that week. I don’t know what I did wrong. It’s incredibly frustrating when you work hard and receive the opposite results.

My WI/meeting was last Monday and I didn’t want to know how much I had gained yet. I planned on looking at my weight tracker once I got home. (I had weighed myself at home and I was up 6 pounds so I knew I had gained.) So Kerri weighed me in and I asked her to not tell me or to even make a face. I wanted to enjoy and focus on the meeting instead of thinking of the number in my head over and over. So I did enjoy the meeting. Normally I’m talkative in the meeting but I was very quiet Monday. I was there to learn and not participate. I needed the meeting, the meeting didn’t need me. After the meeting, I talked to Teresa in the parking lot like we usually do and she was so funny cause she was like “aren’t you so curious to know how you did?!” So I told her she could look but to turn around and not make a face. So she did.

I got in the car and started driving home. I was starving. If there’s a word for more than starving… that was me. I wanted anything and unfortunately I was not prepared with food in my purse. I almost always have something but I was running late to the meeting so I had no time to grab something. Well, my curiosity was growing about how I did at weigh in. I gave in. And that’s when I saw the +4.2. I had to look a few times to make sure I was seeing exactly what I thought. How could this happen?!

Well now I’m more than starving and pissed. So I went to Wendy’s. I don’t even really like Wendy’s but it was right there. So I pull in to the drive thru and order and Jr Cheeseburger and a small fries. (What I think is funny is old Eileen would have easily ordered a double cheeseburger and large fries with a Frosty and thought nothing of it. So it’s funny that I’m retaliating with a small burger and fries. I guess I am changing.) I know it wasn’t the right thing to do and it’s not going to fix the number in my weight tracker and it’s certainly not going in a positive direction to change the scale for next week but I did it anyways. What’s done is done.

I got home and just wanted to sulk. I was mad. Why is this getting harder?? I thought it was going to get easier as I went on. What changed? How can I go back to it being easier?? Kyle and I went to Chick Fil A for a late dinner. I got soup and fruit because I only had 4 points plus left over for my day thanks to Wendy’s. And then I had a meltdown. A 3-year old melt down. I was so angry and it just came out with tears and all. Kyle is the best boyfriend ever and came over to comfort me while I wailed about how stupid fruit is cause it’s cold and dumb and I hate fruit cause it’s not fries. (I do actually like fruit, I just lost my maturity a bit there. Lol) Kyle calmed me down and I hoped that I would be okay for the rest of the week now that that was out of my system.

I have not been my best this week. I have worked hard but I will do dumb things like open a bag of baked Cheetos and just eat. In all honesty, I didn’t eat that much but just that fact that I’m eating out of control isn’t good. I made a snickers pie that’s 3 points a slice, then I eat 3 slices. I’m sabotaging myself. It hasn’t been all bad though. I’ve been running and getting a lot of points on my pedometer at work. I even ran on a treadmill, I HATE treadmills, but I knew I needed the exercise. I’ve been eating lots of power foods and have only eaten 10 of my weeklies (the 3 slices of Snickers pie)

Yesterday I babysat Lucas, the world’s cutest baby, and that helped me stay in control by not being home. I only had the food I brought. This morning I feel a lot stronger. I was at work earlier and one of my peers said, “oh yum, look over there, don’t you just want a juicy cheeseburger??” and I honestly didn’t. That’s how I know I’m strong today. I didn’t even want fries. Fries are my weakness, well used to be I should say. I was excited to eat the soup and yogurt I brought.

I feel like I’ve lost this week. I’m not sure I’ll fully recover the 4.2 gain this week but I’m hoping I made at least a dent in it. I don’t know how I’m truly doing because Kyle hid the scale. I asked him to hide it last week but now he won’t give it back. So Monday will be a complete surprise to me. We’ll see…

Just Run.

Things are going well. The last 2 days I have gotten up early to run. It's been great! I didn't make it this morning as I think my sore throat is getting worse and I just don't feel good. I think I'll try to run a little later. I like getting the run out of the way in the morning though. It's nice knowing when I'm tired after a long day that I've already gotten my exercise in.

Last week I lost 1 pound. Not bad. I was hoping for 2 to make it to 70 pounds but I'm okay with a 1 pound loss. I normally track on using my iPhone and a 3 month journal. The iPhone is easiest so most of the time I'll track on that throughout the day and then write in my journal at the end of the day. I like that you can write notes and thoughts in the paper tracker which is why I like both. Well I didn't track on paper on Fri-Sun. I just now updated my paper tracker and as I'm writing what I ate, I'm realizing how lucky I am that I lost that pound! I only had 14 APs that week! I normally have 40-50! I had 2 days where I just ate crap with a little fruit every now and then. This is exactly why I double track. Because it's easy to track on the phone but writing it really makes you look at what you ate again. I will do my best to do better this week. 70 pounds is so close I can taste it!!!!

I chose the smoothie instead!

It's so weird... I've been going through this rough patch that has lasted almost 2 months and then suddenly, I'm back! I remember waking up on May 22 and I felt like I woke up from a bad dream, figuratively. I'm not sure what changed but I just felt different. Since then I've stuck to my points like I used to. I don't snack without purpose anymore. I don't crave bad things over and over anymore. In fact, Kyle and I went to Sweet Tomatoes the other night with some friends. I always get frozen yogurt when I go. It's only 3 points and such a great treat. Well, I realized that I always get the frozen yogurt just because. So I listened to my tummy, it told me it was satisfied. I made it through the night and avoided the frozen yogurt! Then as I was driving home, all I could think about was ice cream. I was really proud of myself for avoiding the treat but now it's all I want. So I decided I would stop by Walgreens on the way home and get a single serving of Skinny Cow ice cream. I thought more about how I was proud of myself for avoiding the frozen yogurt and now it's null and void if I stop for ice cream on the way home. I still needed a dairy for the day, so I decided the best idea would be to have a smoothie when I got home. That way I could have a dairy and fruit. It's a better choice then ice cream. Decision is final.

So as I get home, Kyle told me he was proud of how well I was doing and that I avoided the frozen yogurt at Sweet Tomatoes. He then surprised me with a Weight Watchers ice cream bar. (I asked him to throw away all the ice cream in the freezer the week before. It was a tough decision but I wasn't in control with all of the ice cream in the house.) He had hidden it in the freezer to give me as a treat. He's so sweet. :) Well, I thought about it but I decided to stick with my smoothie decision. That's when I knew I was back. I'm back on board! It's good to be back! :)

My leader Kerri has created a WW group for a few of us on Facebook and I'm loving it. It's a good mix of people trying to lose and people on maintenance. It's great to see that you're not alone. People that I look up to in the meeting have problems too. It's nice to see they're real. This is a lifestyle and there will always be ups and downs. We're all there for each other wether we're celebrating or need some help and motivation.

Since I've started WW, I haven't had too many events going on so it's kind of just been lose the weight as it happens. Well yesterday I got a wedding invitation in the mail. The bride is a friend of mine from high school. Last year, before starting WW I went to another wedding with the same group from high school. When I look back on those pictures I look my heaviest. I even look uncomfortable I'm so big. I'm so motivated to look fantastic at this wedding. Most of the people there haven't seen me since the last wedding. What a great debut! I'm not sure what to set my goal at though. As I get smaller, my weight loss has slowed. I would love to average 2 lbs a week but I'm not sure that's possible or realistic. I have 8 weeks until the wedding so I'm hoping for 15 lbs right now. It's nice to have an anchor, something to look forward to.

Tough... Tough... Week

I don't know what happened. My week last week was close to perfect and this week has been almost my worst. Yesterday, I couldn't even stop myself. It's weird though... I was in an all day meeting yesterday. As we walk in there are Einstein bagels and fruit and yogurt parfaits. Fortunately I already had breakfast so I wasn't starving but I can't lie that I wasn't interested in the goodies. I knew I couldn't have a bagel cause it's totally not worth the points but I was eyeing the yogurt. Fortunately there was a nutrition label on the yogurt, unfortunately it was 8 points plus. I wasn't that hungry but my eyes sure wanted the yogurt. I managed to avoid it.

Later on in the afternoon, after we came back from the lunch break, there were giant chocolate chip cookies and brownies with icing on it. O...M...G... How can I resist this?! I had a friend in the meeting next to me and I told him that I needed his help. I didn't even want a bite because I knew that it wouldn't end there. My friend wasn't much help but fortunately Kyle, the love of my life, texted me and reminded me how close I am to 70 pounds and it's not worth it for one afternoon. I can't believe it but I stayed strong and didn't even have a bite of anything!

And then I got home...

I don't know what happened...

I first ate some baked chips, then some skinny cow ice cream, then some WW ice cream, and another WW ice cream, and then some pop chips, and it kept going on from there...

I didn't even feel guilty. I knew exactly what I was doing but I wouldn't stop. I felt like a rebellious child. And after all the goodies I ate, a friend invited me to dinner. He suggested Uno. I had just gone to Uno the day before with Kyle and was sad I didn't splurge on Pizza Skins. Could I avoid it again? I know that I could have it and work it into my points but after the binge I just had, it wasn't an option.

So I met them at Uno. I debated the spanakopeta. It was just too many points for the day I've had. So I had my usual salad and veggie soup. Fortunately the boys got pizza skins and I was satisfied with a taste.

I still can't believe how out of control I got yesterday. I ended up eating 50 points plus yesterday. My daily goal is 30 so I went way over my goal. I almost never even eat my weeklies and I had already eaten 15 weeklies on Monday so now I only have 14 weeklies left. And on top of all of this, I hadn't earned any activity points. I finally went this morning. I did not want to go at all but I made it there and gave it my all. I didn't hit my pedometer goal at work today but it wasn't a good day at work so it's okay.

I know I've gained so far this week. I'm hoping that I can do well the rest of this week and at least maintain by weigh in on Monday.

The Traveling Tracker Works!

Was: 243 lbs

Is: 177 lbs

Will be: 143 lbs

Lost this week: 4.6 lbs

Total so far: 66 lbs

Left to go: 34 lbs

My leader Kerri has started a great idea with our meeting. It's called the traveling tracker. Each week, one of us takes it (a three-month tracker) home and tracks and brings it back so someone else can have a turn. What it does is gives people a peek into each others lives on what they're eating, doing for activity, and how they track. I thought it was a great idea! I wanted to wait a few weeks before getting it because I wanted to take home lots of ideas but in our meeting last Monday, no one seemed to want to take it for week 2 so I volunteered.

Well the woman who had it the first week lost 4.6lbs that week. I had it the next week and lost.... 4.6! It's crazy! I did a lot of things last week that contributed to that loss. First of all, having the traveling tracker makes you want to be so good because you know that other people area going to read it. I didn't always want to be but I was honest in my tracker. I had chocolate for breakfast on Thursday. I got my period and I was dying for it. I didn't want to track it in the traveling tracker but I did. I want people to see they can have slip ups like that and still lose.

I also went to the gym 6 days this week. I would do 30 mins of weights and 30 mins of cardio. It became a great routine for me. I actually look forward to going to the gym. It's still so bizarre to me! And last but not least, I ate really well this week. I was stricter than usual. I still enjoyed a treat here and there but I tried my best to watch stuff like late night snacking.

I know I won't do this well again next week but I love that I showed myself that I could do it. I can lose like I used to. Last night Kyle, Ryan, and I went to the movies. They have a new section of the movies where they serve food during the movie. The menu was very difficult for me. The best thing I could find was chicken quesadillas. Not the best choice but at the movies, it was. (And boy were they delish!!!) We also had a coupon for a free appetizer. The appetizers were standard wings, mozzarella sticks, queso... so not much for me to choose. Then I saw there was a veggie platter with hummus! Perfect! It came with carrots, celery, and jicama. Jicama?! What the heck is that?! I had never heard of this or had it. But I tried it. It's not bad. It's a cross between an apple and a potato. But, I also had quite a few bites of queso, pizza, and bread. I didn't know how to track it so I just charge myself 15 points for the extra snacking.

Today I've eaten more than usual and I haven't gone to the gym. Kyle has a softball game tonight and I don't know if I'll have time to go since it's getting so late. I know... excuses are like armpits, they all stink. But I guess I've chosen today as my one day "off" from working out. That means I have to go tomorrow. No excuses. I'm going to try and set my alarm in the morning and go. I'll make Kyle go with me. :)

I'm going to start adding my statistics at the top so when I go back and read these I'll know where I was.