Weigh In & No Drama!!!

I was sooo grateful that today was drama free!  Let me start at the beginning.  You know how there are some days where you just feel heavy?  Today was one of those days.  Not that eating taffy for dinner was a factor or anything......

Anyway, I was worried that I would have a huge weight gain today.  I was so grateful that it was only .6 of a pound!  I was so tired this morning and I almost hit snooze and said forget weighing in.  I'm proud of myself that I got my butt up and headed in.  Going to the meetings really does help you be accountable.  It was a good meeting.  The discussion was about things you would recommend to a new member.  The first thing was keep coming back after an event, a hard week, anything - just come back to your meeting.  That was very helpful.

After the meeting, which ran long, I realized that I left my phone at home.  I didn't really want to go back to get it, but because traffic is a bit crazy this weekend with the bay bridge closure.  I thought I really needed it so back I went.  I'm glad I stopped.  It took me an additional 20 minutes, but it took me almost 90 minutes to get from my house to the golden gate.  It normally takes about 20, so I was running a late for the party.  Once I got to the bridge, things opened up and I made fairly good time.  After the stop at Safeway to get the cake and some veggies, I made it to Larry's right at 11.  So much for making in there early to help set up!

The reunion was nice.  It was really nice to see my cousins (I think they are second cousins, but anyway...).  After a quick toast of all the family events the grilling got started and we had burgers and hot dogs.  There were also lots of salads to balance things out.  We decided that we needed to do this more than once ever decade.  Hopefully we can make this an annual event!

I was worried about meeting my brother's new fiancee.  She was very nice and straight forward.  I think I will like her as I get to know her more.  That's where I thought the drama might be, so I was glad that there wasn't any!

I did fall off the wagon today.   Someone made some homemade salsa with homegrown tomatoes.  I can't tell you how good it was!  Needless to say, chips were the delivery method.  I had a hamburger with a bun as well as part of a hot dog.  They were gourmet dogs so I had to try.  I also didn't have breakfast so I was starving by the time we got to the food. 

Where I'm feeling slightly guilty is the cake.  Doughy food is my downfall.  The cake was white with lemon filling and butter cream frosting.  I had a small piece which wasn't to bad, but the cake was right in front of me and I picked off the bits of icing that was around the tray that didn't make it to the plates.  It was so fresh and yummy.  One of the other things that was mentioned was to forgive yourself and let things go. 

So that's my plan for the rest of this week.  I'm going to let today go and start fresh tomorrow.

Here's to a better week that's on track!  Hopefully I can make it to the farmers market to get some fresh veggies for the week!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

xxoo 

Deb

Weigh in Nerves

I'm really nervous about tomorrow.  I'm going to the 9am weigh in and then heading to our family reunion.

First, I played hooky today.  We generally cut out of work around before a holiday.  Because of everything go on and my birthday yesterday my friend and I went whale watching today.  I had saved my extra points plus to go out to lunch.  We went for seafood afterwords.  I had a wonderful crab melt. 

One of my downfalls is salt water taffy - peppermint flavor.  Nothing fancy, but so yummy.  Of course one of the only places you can get taffy separated by flavor is at fisherman's wharf.  Needless to say, that's what I had for dinner. 

At least I earned activity points today!  I stood a lot on the boat.  We saw lots of sea lions, harbor seals, pelicans, other birds, porpoises, and a few humpback whales.  It was a great day.  The water is so relaxing.  I'm so glad I don't get motion sickness!  The only downside was that my face is really sunburned!

I'm not only worried about tomorrow's weigh in, but its our family reunion.  It started out as a surprise 50th anniversary party for my parents, but with all the drama over the summer its really a reunion with a cake and champagne toast for the anniversay.  I'm excited to see my cousins that I haven't seen in several years.  I'm not so excited about seeing some other family members.  My uncle has turned into an anal planner this week even though we worked through the details weeks ago.  My brother got engaged over the 4th of July - to someone no one has met.  Mom says she's nice, but the last wife didn't turn out so well. Overall, I just don't want the drama.  I plan on hanging out with my cousins and my other uncle.  If I have to leave early for my own sanity, then that's what I will do.

If I get home early, my 80 year old neighbor is having a birthday party for her cat.  She turns 2.  Don't you know I'm excited!

What do you do when you when you know there is a stressful situation and stress eating is an issue?

Anyway, I just hope I lose a few pounds when I weigh in.  Next, I hope I survive the day!!!  Wish my luck!

xxoo

Deb

Happy Birthday!

Have you ever had a day where you really want things to go well?  Today was one of those days.  It's my birthday.  I got lots of good wishes on Facebook which was really great.  Don't get me wrong, but I really like to do something on my birthday.

I did make a nice dinner for myself and rather than have wine, I went and got myself a cupcake to celebrate.  What is it about cake that you just need a slice for your birthday?

Work is so crazy and there a ton of unreasonable deadlines.  I'm so glad I'm going to play hooky tomorrow and go watch some whales.  I'm not sure I'm ready to get up at 5:30 in the morning!  I certainly hope we see some whales and other sea life!

What I am worried about it food.  Why is it that when you start counting calories/points, dieting, etc that all you seem to think about is food??   Anyway, as you can probably can tell by my previous posts that I'm not really a morning person.  The thought of getting up that early to get ready is scary enough.  I'm not sure that I will have time to eat breakfast! 

The trip is between 4-5 hours long and they say on the web-site to bring snacks.  Hopefully, we won't need anything!  I figured I would bring some nuts and string cheese for snacks and some water for the boat. 

After the boat ride Beverly is taking me to lunch for my birthday.  She wants it to be special, but it can't be too heavy with the weigh in on Saturday morning!

What do you do when you stress out at work?

xxoo

Deb

I'm not how to describe today.  It was full of meetings and a bit nutty.  It was so nutty that I forgot to eat!  By the time I was done with calls it was almost 6.  So by the time I got back with the dogs it was after 7.  So what to do when you have 26 points?

I finally settled on a huge scrambled breakfast burrito.  I sauteed some onion, red pepper, and mushrooms.  Then I added some sausage crumbles and the egg.  I topped it all off with salsa.  It was huge, but it was so good!

I think the most frustrating part of today was that I forgot to wear my ActivityLink monitor during the first walk with the kids.  I don't know if I'll make 100% today.  I just don't have it in me for another jaunt.  We shall see...

What do you do when you have such a day?

More tomorrow.

xxoo

Deb

A Good Day

It's funny, as I sit to write this I'm a little surprised at how relaxed I am.  Today was a little stressful at work.  We are at the point in the project where things could either fall in place or totally fall apart and people are panicking.  Not only is everyone concerned about this release, but we are starting to work on the next one.  There is a major deadline for that project on Friday.  I don't think that one will be met.  

Anyway, I was on calls until 5:30 so by the time I got the dogs out I really needed the walk!  Unfortunately, when I got home I had a little more work to do.  Once that was done I decided to head to Whole Foods for some fresh veggies as well as a roasted chicken.  I just couldn't fix something tonight and the chicken was so good.  The muffins enjoyed the little bits in their dish as well! 

Once dinner was done I turned on Extreme Weight Loss while I decided to prep my veggies for the week.  I got things washed, in nice bowls, and ready to go.  On the "Healthy Checks" section in the WW tool, I've noticed that I haven't done well on my veggies the last few days.  Last week I specifically made some entrees with lots of veggies and it was time to make more.  One thing that I stocked up on was logs of snacky veggies - snap peas, carrots, green beans and cauliflower.  Now that they are washed and ready I'm ready to snack when I'm on those stressful calls!

So far, I've made my 100% goal on the ActiveLink for the last two days.  I need a little more activity tonight so I can earn a point!

Lesson learned - taking care of yourself can be relaxing!

More tomorrow!

xxoo

Deb

Exercise

One thing that I haven't really focused on is exercise.  Before my surgery, I was meeting with a personal trainer 2-3 times a week.  It was great.  I had $ in my flexible spending account at the end of last year, so this was a good way to prep for surgery. 

I also did a lot of walking, more than just with the dogs.  I did some tri training - biking and swimming along with walking.  So I was fairly active.

Since my surgery, not so much.  I wasn't even able to walk the dogs for almost 6 weeks!  That was really hard.  Once I was able to move, I had to be very careful.  Of course as soon as thought I was clear, I had some wound separation.  Basically I had a large open area that had to heal on its own.  I had to wear these surgical maxi pads (8x10) around my boobs - so much fun!  Basically, I felt like I was leaking when I moved and it was hard to stop the pads from moving around.  It was just really uncomfortable to exercise. 

Since August, things have gotten somewhat better the wound was actually over healing and the doc put some drugs on it to help the healing.  They really helped so my wound it now about an inch square. 

That being said, I started wearing my ActiveLink from WW.  When I first got it, I was working with the trainer so I was getting 2-6 additional points per day.  I redid the assessment and was shocked that with walking the dogs, I didn't earn any!  I know they are slow, but we walk almost 2 miles!

So I'm adding a new goal this week.  I need to get to 100% of my activity goal every day this week.  I'm at 86% so far today.  That means the dogs will get an extra walk tonight and I'm going to do some cleaning!

Hope everyone has a great week!

xxoo

Deb

Drama

Howdy!

Did I mention family drama?  There was a ton of it today.  I won't go into it, but it was another hard day.

I was afraid that my dad would be here a little early for the baseball game that I felt like I was rushing (yes, I should have gotten up earlier, but my bed was soooo comfy!).  I did decently at the game, I had a dog and water.  Where I tripped up was that the Ghiradelli sunday was calling my  name. 

My seats were in the full sun today.  It's not often in San Francisco that you sweat through your shorts!  Lots of water, sunscreen and a few breezes really helped but it was very toasty!

When I got home and the calls about our family reunion started.  This is when the stress eating started.  I grabbed some cashews thinking that protein would help.  It did until about 7.  At that point I tried to think of the lowest point food that would fill me up.  I ended up with turkey sausage crumbles and scrambled eggs.  It was a good break from the mushrooms, but I will keep with the veggies as the norm.

I'm not happy with my tracking, but at least I'm tracking everything.

Hopefully this week will be smooth.  I think everyone is ready for the long weekend.

Have a good week.

xxoo

Deb

Relax

Today I did something that I very rarely do.  I met a friend and we just relaxed.  We went for lunch at Amici's.  We started with salad and then when shared some veggie pizza.  I'm normally not a veggie pizza gal, but it was a good change.
 
We then walked from her house to the neighborhood where we read magazines and sat in the sun.  I don't let myself just sit and relax.  It's even better when you are with a childhood friend.  Christy and I have known each other since we were 5.  That's almost 42 years! 

When it was time to head home, she cut some beautiful flowers from her garden for me.  It's so nice to have fresh flowers in the house.

Tomorrow will be interesting.  I'm taking my dad to the Giants game for his birthday.  There's been a lot of family drama lately (think ice cream for dinner last week...) so I'm hoping it goes ok.  Since lunch at the ballpark is part of the tradition, I'm already thinking of how to adapt.  I think I sleep a bit later, take the dogs for their jaunt and then scramble eggs & mushrooms.  That will give me some protein before I head to the game.

Here's to a great, relaxing day with childhood friends!

xxoo

Deb

WooHoo!

First, I need to just say how much I love my friends.  One of the side benefits of our book club is that we celebrate each others birthdays.  This month is mine (the 29th) and Robins.  We met at Eric's for Chinese (yum!!) and went to a movie on a whim afterwards.  We saw Blue Jasmine.  Cate Blanchett was OUTSTANDING.  I'm not a big Woody Allen fan, but it was a good show.  I did need a bit more closure.

Now on to the matters at hand.  I think I'm going to change my weigh in day to Friday mornings.  That was I can sleep in.  There was no way I was going to weigh in tomorrow after eating Chinese with all of that sodium!  But I was down 5.8 pounds this week.  It made me quite happy!

Tomorrow I'm going to meet my childhood friend, Christy to just hang out.  We met when I was 5 so we've known each other for over 40 years.  That is amazing.  It also ages me!

Anyway, it's been a great start to the weekend!

xxoo

Deb

Back on Track

Today was just weird.  I didn't sleep well.  My neighbor has a plum tree whose fruit is almost ripe and the neighborhood raccoons have been visiting the back yard.  Of course the dogs hear some noise, run to the front of the house barking, run back to the stairs and charge downstairs.  After they secure the yard, they settle down until thy critters come back about 30 minutes later.  I finally closed the stair door, but they kept it up for another hour or so.

Of course today was another crazy one with a ton of calls.  At least I had a break so I could eat a good breakfast.  I'm really enjoying scrambled eggs with sauteed mushrooms (done with PAM) and some salsa.  It really holds me over.

I had calls through lunch so I just grabbed some snap peas and carrots.  They really hit the spot.

Left over flank steak got the nod for dinner.  The kids even got some so they were very happy!

Tomorrow my book club is taking me and the other August birthday girl for dinner.  Normally my weigh in day would be Saturday, but I've been saving my weekly points and I will be having wine as well as Chinese.  With all of that sodium I don't want to be on the scale afterwords.  So I'm weighing in tomorrow morning.

I'm back on track and I know I've lost weight so hopefully it goes well.  Wish me luck!

xxoo

Deb

Another Hard One

It was another hard one. I am shocked at how strong cravings can be.  I made a point to eat breakfast this morning.  I should have made eggs rather than toast.  It would have lasted longer.  I even had a banana on the way down.    But let me tell you - I wanted that Quarter Pounder with Cheese - BAD!

Driving home I looked up the points.  It was 14.  High, but not as many as I thought and I did it.  I had the QP w/C.  It was SOOO good.  No fries, not soda, just the burger.  I know it was a bad food choice, but at least I don't regret it.  I stayed within my points range and I am tracking everything.

I made myself have lots of veggies for dinner.  I'm glad that I've only had 6 of my weekly 49 allowance. 

This is going to be short.  I friend's granny is in the hospital.  They think she had a stroke and I need to get back on the phone with her.

xxoo

Deb

Not an Easy Day

Ok, I know it's only day 4 and it was insane.  As I mentioned the other day, I work from home and have a really stressful job.  I spend most of the day on the phone in meetings and dealing with issues for the project that I'm currently working on.

Today started at 8 am sharp.  I thought I had two hours after the first call to grab a bite to eat and get caught up on emails.  Well that went out the window quickly.  Finally I didn't have to lead the call at 11 so I scrambled eggs with mushrooms and salsa with the computer and speaker phone in the kitchen.  It was so good & I was so hungry at that point (mistake).  The afternoon didn't get any better and at 4 I realized I hadn't eaten and grabbed some string cheese.  By 6:30 we had some family drama after work so I got the dogs out for their long walk (just over a mile).  That helped some, but I realized I needed to eat.  The leftover stir fry or fajitas just bothered my tummy to even look at them so I ended up with a grilled cheese.

I was tracking my food like a good muffin and had only eaten 23 of my 40 points.  Here's where I didn't treat myself well - I had some ice cream and two fun size candy bars.  Day 4 and I'm eating crap.  It didn't even taste good!  I know in WW there aren't any good/bad foods and I didn't go over my point allowance, but it was still crap!

At least Thursday is trash day so I'm getting rid of this ice cream and some of the stuff that shouldn't be in the house.  I need to find a place to hide some Blue Bell.  For those of you who aren't from Texas or the Southeast, Blue Bell is ice cream made in Brennan, Texas.  It is WONDERFUL.  You can get the Homemade Vanilla flavor at Outback Steakhouse (you can even talk to the manager and they can order you a 2 1/2 gallon tub for a party).  My favorite flavor is Chocolate Chip which is only available on a rotating schedule.  My friend placed an order for me during my surgery recovery, but somehow it got lost.  But the silver lining is that when she went to fix the order chocolate chip was back on the menu.  They overnight 4 half gallons so I have 3 in my freezer.  I did ask myself if today was Blue Bell worthy and it wasn't.  I'm hoping I can keep that up & really save it for special occasions.

I'll end today's note with a few promises to myself.  Tomorrow I will throw out the non-Blue Bell and other tempting items.  I see my shrink tomorrow and I normally stop for fast food (Mickey D's or Taco Bell).  I'm going to bring some carrots & snap peas to snack on in the car so I won't be hungry.  I also need to make sure I eat breakfast which is also something that I tend to skip on Wednesdays.

Here's to less stress tomorrow!

xxoo

Deb

The Befores

Today was another good day.  I made steak fajitas tonight.  I did the marinade with some soy sauce, lime juice, salt, pepper and crushed garlic.  I sauteed with a ton of onions and red peppers.  Very tasty!  So my main two goals of cooking my meals and tracking are going well. Yea!!

I promised that I would get some before pictures posted.  They are at the bottom of the post (I can't figure out how to type below them!).  The first one is more recent, from a few weeks ago at a 10k that a friend and I did.  The second one is from last year.  There is a pretty big change between the two - the boobs!

On June 10th, I had a breast reduction.  I'm still healing a bit, but I'm able to start walking and training.  They removed 8lbs (4 lbs each!).  I should be going from an H cup to a B/C.  I got a lot of negative attention with the girls (I had all of the older 69+ men in my neighborhood hitting on me!!) so it was hard to lose weight as it would just make them more obvious.

I'm much more motivated now since they will be in proportion to the rest of me.  It's all very exciting!  Well that's the starting point.

xxoo

Deb

SF Giants Race - August 4, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wedding - October, 2012

Day 2 - Popcorn!

I made it through day 2.  Yea!!  I don't think the program means for you to have movie popcorn for lunch, but I kept within my points.  On a side note, The Butler is a MUST see movie! 

It may only be the second day, but I tracked everything and made a great dinner.  I made a stir fry with asparagus, mushrooms, onions and chicken.  I had some microwave brown rice so I tossed in a little bit of that.  I did the marinade with soy & teriyaki sauces; garlic; salt and pepper.  I really liked it!

Tomorrow I will need to be conscientious about making sure I eat throughout the day and don't get too hungry.  I work from home and spend most of the day on conference calls.  It's nice in that I get up just before the calls start, but I also can get sidetracked and forget to eat.  What really saves me is that my dogs get antsy about noon and five.

I have two greyhounds, Rusty and Cherry.  They are the best dogs, and I'm glad they have me trained so well that I get out at least twice a day for walks.  Now if they would pick it up and not stop at every bush.....

Of my top three goals I did keep track of everything.  I wasn't so successful about cooking all my meals because of the popcorn.  I need to plan better the next time I go to the show and eat before I go and bring some healthy snacks.

The plan for tomorrow is eggs for breakfast, a salad for lunch and fajitas for dinner.  They had a great deal on stir fry beef at Whole Foods yesterday so I got a large package along with some beautiful peppers and onions.  I even found some low-fat, high-fiber, whole wheat tortillas.  I thought I would just have the meat & veggies without the wrapper!

Here's to a great day three!!

xxoo

Deb

Day 1 - Here we go

Well,  I can't believe that I'm doing this, but I need some way to hold myself accountable.  First some background:

I've been heavy most of my life.  I lost weight in high school, gained it back in college, lost some my senior year of college, and slowly gained it back over the last 20+ years.  I really started to gain as I moved to new cities/states where I didn't know anyone.  My work/life balance started to get out of kilter.  I got to my heaviest in Kansas.  Having a consulting job where I traveled almost weekly had me getting used to eating out and not cooking for myself.  With my current job, I'm under constant stress.  Even though I don't travel for work any more, I don't do much in the way of self-care.

In 2007, a friend inspired to train for a marathon so I joined Team in Training.  Training is very good at burning calories, but they also increase your appetite.  Several races - a few marathons, a ton of half marathons and two tri's later here I am; about to turn 47 and I weigh 270 pounds.  There I've said it - 270 pounds!

That's my official Weight Watchers starting weight.  I made the decision that I have to do something. After the meeting, I hit Whole Foods for a ton of fruits and veggies.  I planned the meals for the week.   I cooked flank steak and corn.  All within my limits and I have leftovers for salads later in the week.

Tomorrow will be chicken stir-fry with asparagus, mushrooms and onions. 

As I said earlier, I need to have some accountability.  I tried WW on-line, but I seemed to not find time to write things down.  This time I'm heading to meetings.  I'm hoping the meetings and writing about this venture helps get me there.

My first goals are:

• track my food & activity daily
• cook all meals (with the exception of my birthday dinner on Friday!)
• lose 5% of my body weight - that goal is 256.5

Unfortunately, I can't download/post a starting photo for some reason.  I will try again tomorrow!

xxoo

Deb