Weighing in

This week didn't set me up for a loss at all. Three days of plays; three days of parties. I ate so differently than usual -- not overeating, just different eating -- that my stomach hurt. And I know it wasn't a huge overeat because I've been photo journaling my food. I knew that would pay off.

My goal was to maintain, so I was thrilled to see a .4 pound loss. Not much, but a definite win. My total loss to date is 70.6 pounds, which is about 20 pounds more than my original goal weight. Success breeds success, I suppose.

I am currently about 30 pounds from my (newest) goal weight, which will put me within the normal range for my height. I was going through old photos last night and this morning, and I was amazed to see how different my face looks just from earlier this year.

My food choices today were mostly good. I was really hungry this morning, which is somewhat unusual, so I ate more than I typically do during breakfast: a serving (1/4 cup?) of steel cut oats + 1 tablespoon coconut manna + 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a nice juicy orange. So juicy that it squirted me in the face! Bad orange. I showed it and ate the whole thing!

Coconut manna is a recent discovery, and I have to say, I love it. My only complaint is a lazy one. The container and contents have to be above 73 degrees to liquify, so I have to heat it in water. Wah. Really, I usually don't have a clue what I'm going to eat until I get in the kitchen to make it, and it takes longer if I have to heat the coconut manna. It's worth dealing with that little inconvenience. It's delicious and nutritious!

And mid-morning, I got hungry again! Maybe my body is a little more accustomed to my protein smoothie than I realized, so I had a little snack. My dog wanted it too.

Lunch was late because I was busy working on Christmas cards (see the stack in the corner?) and forgot. Or maybe I was just busy enough that it didn't occur to me to eat. Either way, I was pretty hungry by the time I had lunch: roast beef on a roll and some watermelon. I'd like to say that my bitten sandwich was mean to be artsy, but really it was just because I forgot to take the photo until after I'd had my first bite.

I had bought the watermelon a couple of days ago and eaten most of it right away. I had been craving it for some reason. Maybe the Vitamin C? When I'm craving a specific fruit or vegetable, I typically go for it. Cookies, not so much.

Dinner was out, as it was Wednesday. We went to Baker's Square again, just like last week. And because I am a creature of habit, I ordered the same thing: the veggie egg white scrambler. But this time I got French toast instead of the marble rye bread. Take that, habit!

Again, I think I was more hungry than usual because I ate the entire scrambler but left the French toast.

And because it was free pie night, I had the chocolate peanut butter pie. It was a moral imperative. And I forgot to take a photo, but look!

Here's my photo from last week! Just like last week, I only ate half. I really never want more than that, probably because I'm not accustomed to sweets like I was.

So that was My Day in Food. Wednesday is a heavier day for me, but I'm mostly pleased with my choices.

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

This should have gone up yesterday, but ... whatever. I didn't post for months; one day late is pretty good!

I weighed in at exactly the same as last week. I'm satisfied.

We attended a Christmas party on Saturday, ate out twice on Sunday, and attended a Christmas party (at a Chinese buffet -- OY!) on Monday night. I was fully expecting to have gained a pound.

This week promises to be very busy, although none of the parties we are attending are being held at a restaurant. That helps quite a bit.

In perusing the blog world, I've noticed that several bloggers take photos of their food, daily, at every meal and snack. That is interesting to me, so I did it yesterday, on my weigh in day.

I didn't decide to take the photos until after breakfast, so just imagine a photo of my banana with peanut butter.

Snack was vanilla WhoNu cookies. I can't justify that. Just plain old sweet toothing it.

Lunch was one cup of soup made with the 32 bean mix in the Whole Foods bulk section with a tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt. I've no idea the nutritional value on the soup, but it is probably pretty low in calories. When I made the soup, I added nothing except chicken broth and spices. I love it. The rest of the family, not so much. Stinkers.

We eat out on Wednesday nights because the evening is hectic with our church schedule. My son chose Baker's Square. I had the veggie egg white scrambler (an omelet over potatoes) with marble rye toast. The photo was taken with what I didn't eat because I forgot to take it before I ate! The soda in the photo isn't mine. That belonged to my 5'9" 116-pound son. I wish I had his metabolism.

Wednesday is free pie night, so of course .... I had the chocolate peanut butter pie. Dang sweet tooth! I only ate half though.

Aside from coffee, that's it! The photo-journaling was interesting. When I wanted to get a nibble in the kitchen, I didn't just because I'd have to take a photo. For the moment, I'm going to keep it up.

Happy day to you!

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

This week's weigh in doesn't exactly set me off with a bang if I'm going to get rid of 10 pounds by my September 5 weigh in. But, looking positively, it is a loss!

I'm down .4 pounds this week. Pretty typical for me, actually. I was hoping for a little more, but I guess I'll just have to work harder. And not make brownies the day before a weigh in. ::facepalm::

This past week I did make a point to move more, and more consistently.

I walked a total of 4 miles outside and 7.5 miles on the treadmill.
I boogied to the Just Dance game on the Wii.
I held plank.
I used my resistance bands.
I jumped on the mini-trampoline.

I moved.

This week: I will continue to look for reasons and opportunities to burn calories. Plain and simple.

Onward and downward, my peeps!

Weighin in

Today is the first day of summer, and I've set a goal. I want to get rid of 10 pounds this summer. Last summer I set a much loftier goal. That goal wasn't met, but I worked at it. Really worked. And I lost ... I can't remember ... somewhere around 15 pounds, I think. But considering that I'm a little smaller this year -- and I intend to actually meet the goal -- 10 pounds ought to do.

So here goes ....

Weighing in today, I had higher hopes than the scale reflected. I lost .6 pounds in the past week, and I weighed in at 179 even. But that does give me a nice whole number to begin my summer challenge. :)

I'm finding that I've dropped a lot of the habits that helped me get this far, like logging my exercise. For a while, I was using the Cardio Trainer app, and that really DID work, but it isn't quite enough any more. At the moment, I'll go back to my very first method of writing it on my calendar.

Many people who are on the weight loss journey discuss logging their food, but not the exercise. The food honestly isn't a problem for me at this point. Please do not mistake that for was never a problem. It was. Dreadfully so. But now .... Not only have my habits changed, but my tastes have changed as well. Yes, I can sit and eat an entire bowl of cantaloupe or pineapple. To eat that same size bowl of ice cream makes me feel bloated and nauseated, so I am rarely even tempted.

This week: Exercise, and do it consistently. Period.

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

I have been struggling lately. I fully admit that. I own it.

Last week -- when I didn't post a weigh-in -- I gained 2.4 pounds. Yup. But as I said, I own that I have been struggling. Still, I honestly could not see that I had done enough damage to gain that much.

Still thinking about last week, we ate out way too much:

Friday lunch
Saturday lunch
Saturday dinner
Saturday big snack (at the bowling alley, celebrating a birthday)
Sunday lunch
Monday dinner

And the result? Gained 2.4 pounds. Although to be completely honest, I was as careful as usual at every meal. They just normally don't come all together like that, so I think it was a combination of both extra calories in meals that I didn't prepare AND the extra sodium.

This week was much, much better.

We ate out one time, which is normal.
I joined the YMCA, although I have only used it once so far. Today will be Day 2.

Today at weigh-in time, I saw a loss of 2.6 pounds. Take THAT, flab!

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

I've had troubles lately. It feels like -- and the scale has reflected! -- that I've been maintaining rather than continuing to lose. I have many more pounds to go, so that isn't acceptable to me. And I know that it's ME, not my eating plan or my exercise routine. It's ME. I haven't been diligent.

All of that changed this week, and despite a few challenges (church luncheon, unexpected eating out ...), I dropped 1.6 pounds this week! That actually puts me at an all-time low!

I've been paying a lot more attention to my water intake specifically. I have never measured out how much water I drink, but it's a pretty decent amount. Lately though, I had started drinking more of other beverages instead. Also, I haven't been as diligent in making sure I walk every.single.day I like I had been. And ... I have been snacking. Not much, and definitely not in the same manner that "before" me would have, but I have. All of that = stalling.

I'm not ready for that yet.

So, this week:

• I will make a point to walk every day. Even if it's just for 30 minutes.
• I will make better choices when I DO need a snack.
• I will make better choices during meals.

There you have it. The plan. I am considering going back to measuring and recording everything, depending on how I do this week. It's a pain, but it certainly does set everything out in black and white.

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

You'd think that I would be able to manage to have a simple weigh in post be written on time. Apparently not! Between husband, children, and dogs, I barely have had time to sit down!

This week's weigh in was quite a shock. I lost 2.6 pounds! Holey cow! That was completely unexpected, as ... um ... yeah ... we went out to eat four times. For dinner. And at least once for lunch. It has been crazy busy around here, and my husband tends to balk at cereal or oatmeal for dinner, so he made the executive decision for us to eat out. Thankfully, I think the busyness is over, at least for a while, so we're back to eating food that we prepare at home most of the time. Our only regular eating out is pizza on Wednesday night before church because it's fast and easy.

That brings my total weight loss to 56.6 pounds. Oh my word.

I've been making do with my husband's XL t-shirts most of the time. They are starting to be too big on my shoulders. For someone who lived in 3XL shirts (and was honestly about to outgrow those), that is more than a little astonishing. So I dug out the free t-shirt from the pet relocation company we used, and sure enough, that size Large shirt that my daughter was wearing as a nightshirt fit better than most of what I had been wearing.

Now if only I could get rid of the belly fat!

This week we'll be getting back into routine that will include actually getting the laundry folded and meals cooked at home. I'm not expecting a major loss like that again though. Losing that much in one week was probably related to the fact that I have been on the go so much!

Weighing in

Oh yeah. It has been a while! And to be quite honest, I've definitely not been concentrating on weight *loss* during my time away from the blog. My exercise has really fallen by the wayside, but thankfully, my nutrition knowledge has really stuck with me. I really don't even want to go back to the unhealthy ways, and it isn't a sacrifice at all, just a choice. Every time we were at a buffet (why do they always have to choose a buffet?!), I made the rounds to see what were my best options before I even considered digging in.

So ... on to the results. I can't even remember the last time I mentioned here, so we'll just start anew, shall we? This morning's weigh in was 183 pounds, exactly 54 pounds lighter than when I started my journey. That's only right at a 5 pound loss (4.8, I think) for this year. Not so great, but I can't beat myself up over it. I definitely will have to step it up though, if I want to meet my goal of losing 30 pounds this year. At my current rate, I'll only lose 20!

I started walking again yesterday. Walking as in exercise-walking, not the normal 'round the block thing with the urchins. I can tell that my endurance level has decreased, but I'm not overly concerned. I will get it back! My plan for this week is to walk every single day, even if it's only a couple of miles. On Saturday we (as a family) are going to participate in a spring clean for a local historic cemetery. Raking leaves, picking up sticks, cleaning some of the stones of moss ... just making it look nice for the community. I always feel like I get a good workout in whenever there is yard work involved!

Onward and downward! (And we'll hope it is slightly more downward than in previous weeks!)

Weighing in

Writing the post two days late, but the weight is from Wednesday!

I was down 2.4 pounds! HECK YEAH!

Since October I had been hovering right around the same numbers, but it looks like I might have broken through! Was that a plateau? Or just not enough effort on my part? Not sure, but I'm glad that it looks like it's it's the past.

This week is stressful. Very stressful. At this very moment, I am so grateful that I am not a stress-eater.

I'm 51 miles into my 115-miles-in-January goal, so I'll just keep walking.

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

And a big hardy-har-har to me! I went to bed last night composing this post in my head. Yesterday was food-and-exercise challenging, so I just knew I would have a gain. Well whaddya know ....

I lost 1.6 pounds this week! WOO-diddly-HOO!

And while I don't have last year's calendar handy, I think that this is an all-time low. I'm actually excited to see what tomorrow brings because yesterday I only walked about a mile, had a huge salty popcorn snack because I was really hungry and it was the only thing available, and I didn't eat dinner until 9:30 pm. So you can see why I was composing that "gain" post in my head!

Now that the holidays are over, I've mostly settled into a routine again. My eating has moved back to what I had established, and I'm getting regular exercise again. Even with my surprise loss this week, I'm planning to be down a pound next week too.

Onward and downward! :)

Weighing in

Christmas was nice, but I suppose HERE comes the bah humbug!

This week was a gain of 1.4 pounds. BAH HUMBUG! LOL!

Normally there is something specific that I can pinpoint, but this week I really can't. I think it was a combination of not working out as much as usual AND eating things I don't normally eat. I don't think I did any sort of workout until Monday because I simply didn't have the time, plus we had so many rich and sweet foods that I don't normally have. All of that added up to over a pound, I suppose!

Since Christmas I've gone back to much more typical eating. Except today, when I made my Memaw's dumplings. Which I refuse to regret!

I was hoping to be about 7 pounds lighter by January 1. Alas, I don't think that's happening. But it's all good. I'm still in it!

Onward and downward! :)

Weighing in

I've lost 50 pounds over the 18 months. Yes, I know it's slow, but it has been a real learning process for me. And now I really can say that I fully understand when someone says it's just as much about the journey as the end result.

My little scale-step this morning put me up by .2 pounds. And I'm totally good with that!

Today, I can really tell how far I've come. Last year I don't remember even thinking about weighing in, calories, energy expended. Not during the holidays. This year, it is on my mind daily. I don't obsess over it, but I do consider it before I eat anything.

This week we'll be having our 12th annual Christmas Eve Mexican Fiesta, then our usual Christmas feast. I honestly don't think I will be able to focus on exercise very much until after Christmas Eve. And I'm a baking fiend right now! The cream cheese filled snickerdoodles are a sincere temptation. Cream cheese is like kryptonite to me! I'm hoping that we have hungry people at the party and they eat all of the goodies.

Right now it's hard for me to put in the proper exercise time, plus get ready for our Christmas Eve fiesta, plus do schoolwork, plus do our volunteer work, plus do family activities .... Maintaining is a perfectly acceptable course of action for me right now!

After Christmas though ... watch out!

Onward and downward! :)

Weighing in

This week was rough. It really was. Not only was I baking cookies, but we also went to a birthday party where I succumbed to the temptation of focaccia bread. I'm not proud of it, but I did. And since then I've been working myself almost double-time to make up for it. Then to top it off, we had a Christmas party the very next day -- at a buffet!

So when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw a .4 pound loss, I was thrilled!!

I was telling a friend just yesterday that I am almost not even concerned with losing right now, during the holidays. I just don't want to gain!

After the birthday bread debacle, I decided to set some rules for myself before heading to that buffet.

1. No cream sauces. This is easy because (for the most part) I'm not a fan. I do like gravy on potatoes though, so that's really where that fit in.
2. Whole foods only. The biggie. If it is in its whole form, go for it. If not, exercise caution. I ate steak, green beans, cooked carrots, and a small helping of mashed potatoes. And of course, a salad. The green beans were sauteed and the carrots were buttered, but I am pleased with how I managed. 
3. Eat mindfully. Be aware of what's going on the plate AND what it offers me nutritionally.

To be perfectly honest, those last two are how I eat every day. I just haven't been that careful at going out because we don't go to those sorts of places often enough for it to matter. Except now it seems as if everything matters, quite a bit, so I can't use my usual strategy of "anything is all right in moderation."

So here's to another fit week, navigating the calorie pitfalls.

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

Whew. Just whew. The past week was significantly better than the previous one, and I am pleased (and -- to be honest -- relieved) that it showed on the scale.

I lost 2.8 pounds this week! While that doesn't completely eliminate last week's incredible gain, it did take out a sizable chunk.

What makes me feel even better about that loss is the amount of time I've spent making treats in the kitchen, specifically sausage balls, lemon squares, and pumpkin muffins. And I admit it: I did snack! I snacked more than I should have. I had sausage balls for breakfast one morning! But after that bit of indulgence, I put the sausage balls in the freezer (for our Christmas Eve fiesta), gave away over half of the lemon squares, and ... well, I am just restraining myself on the muffins.

Now for this week: I will be in the kitchen again, still baking. That can't be helped. However, this past week has made me realize that I need a plan for getting RID of the excess because that availability is what hurts me. I have enough willpower not to get the sausage balls out of the freezer, but not so much that the ones on the counter don't call to me. Over the next week I'll be making date balls, candy kisses, and peanut butter fudge, all of which can be frozen -- and will be as soon as possible!

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

Oh how I hate to write this one. Hate, hate, hate. I've been procrastinating all morning because I didn't want to 'fess up.

I gained 3.6 pounds. YES.

I knew it would be bad, but I didn't expect THAT bad. I don't think I have ever gained that much in one week before. A friend tried to rationalize it and say, "Well, it was the first major holiday since your dad passed away" and "You were traveling" and "It's a holiday centered around food!" and such. Those are all true, but I could have done better and I know it.

This gain puts me back to where I was at the beginning of November. Well, nothing to be done but tackle it (again).

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

HOT DOG!

Today's weigh in showed a 2 pound loss! HOT DIGGITY DOG!

That makes my total weight loss 50.2 pounds. Holey moley. Is it strange to be astonished by my success? I know the efforts that I've put in, and I know the strides that I've taken. But I also know the struggles I've had, and I suppose I'm surprised by my ability to work through them.

So I didn't make the 50 pound goal by last month's trip to my hometown. That's all right. I'm there now!

This week will have the challenge of travel, a rich Thanksgiving feast, and more travel. I'm just hoping the weather will cooperate so that I can go for a nice walk on a few of those days.

Weighing in

Well, well, well. This week was looking pretty good ... until today! LOL!
This morning I was down .2 lbs since last week. I had been consistently running about .6 lbs until today. Still, I'll take it.

Yesterday I found myself wanting to snack and snack and snack. And I DID ... for about 5 minutes. Then I made myself put away the bag of pita puffs and DO something. So I went out to rake the leaves.

Unfortunately that was the only workout I got yesterday. My original plans for roller skating went awry because my daughter wasn't feeling well. I should have gotten on the treadmill, but I didn't. She needed some comforting, and I was needed there. By the time she didn't need me so much, I was busy with dinner preparations, then bedtime preparations, then I was just too tired. Excuses, excuses!

Morning is best for me. I know that. But I sometimes get ... lazy? lax? something ... when I have a planned activity for later in the day. It might be best for me to keep in mind that things don't always go as planned.

Weighing in

Feelin' groovy!

Today's scale-step showed a 1.4 lb loss! WHOA BUDDY! I'll take that! That puts me at a total of 48 pounds shed. Or maybe it's back to that. I can't remember how far I got before The October hit.

I have definitely not gotten my exercise back where it was (or where it should be). I've never realized how easy it is to break down those routines that I've worked so hard to establish. Of course, the 10 months of activity is competing with 30+ years of sloth, so it shouldn't be all that surprising. It's just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other and doing what I know needs to be done.

My eating habits must have been an easier change. They have stayed the same, except for when I wasn't at home and relied on others for my meals (whether that was fast food or something that another person made for us). Once I was back at home in my own space, I went straight back to my new-normal eating patterns.

So for this week, I'll need to simply make sure I get in the workouts, a minimum of five hours for the week. Easy as that. (Har-de-har-har.)

Onward and downward!

Weighing in

The post-vacation one! Did you miss me terribly? Think of me often? :)

I am thrilled to report that I gained .4 pounds! That doesn't sound quite right, does it?

Well, this is post-vacation, where I didn't technically work out once, although I did climb Castle Rock, walk Whitefish Point (including climbing the lighthouse), walk Oswald's Bear Ranch, and walk all over Mackinac Island. Among several other things! It was a fantastic vacation!

It made me realize how inactive I am in my daily life. Not that I sit around and am a sloth, but I don't get OUT and DO like that. For a long time I was taking the children out to some tourist place at least once a week. That was when we had moved and were getting familiar with the area. Since we've been here over a year now, I had stopped without even realizing it. I'm thinking I ought to get back to it.

While I'm pleased that I didn't gain a lot on vacation, I'm back in the groove and hoping to be down at least a pound by next week!

Weighing in

YES! Today's weigh in showed a 1 pound loss! FINALLY! It's a new low, and it puts my total lost at 44 pounds.

Not quite where I wanted to be at this point, but I'll take it! I'm still stuck right around the same number, I've kicked the pace up a little bit on my exercise, so maybe that has helped push through. Of course, I'll be traveling again over the next week -- which NEVER helps! -- so I'm a little anxious over what might happen then.

I am being proactive, taking two of my most important tools: my measuring cup and measuring spoon. I'm not confident enough that I can measure out a tablespoon of creamer or 4 oz of milk without them, so I'll just have to look a little odd at the breakfast. The hotel has an exercise room, so I also plan to use that treadmill!