Losing Weight Is Not A New Year's Resolution, It's A Life Change

It has come to make up my mind about resolutions for this upcoming year.  Resolutions usually don't stick around for me after the first two months, so this year I have decided to do a monthly check-in on those resolutions.

The hardest part is going to be picking them.  I don't think I am going to put down losing weight or getting healthy.  That should be a life change, so I am not going to use it.  I would like to try a 5K timed walk early this year and then a timed 1 mile run later in the year.  Reading more is another one.  I would love to accomplish reading the Top 100 classics in my lifetime.  That would be cool.  There are many lists of Top 100 out there, so I am going to work off of the Modern Library Board's List.  I have already read some of them and may reread a few.

I also want to get the process of building my new home under way.  I haven't even started.  The only thing I have done is bought and paid for the land.

Well, there's lots to think about today.  I will get my inspiration from all the blogs out there and have an official list posted tomorrow.  Hope everyone has a fun and safe evening!

Good Morning!

Well, I have certainly been busy, as I am sure all of you have during this busy holiday season.  I am most certainly proud to say I am down 10.6 pounds since December 7 when I officially weighed in at WW.  It has been a tremendous journey so far and it's unreal how well I am doing and feel.

I have updated the sidebar so you can see what I have lost each week.  I have not done any activity yet.  I am trying to do this on just points the first month and have been successful so far.  I do plan on walking this week!  I am soooo excited to get started.

My family has been a huge support and have not even mentioned a peep in the food changes at home.  It wouldn't hurt my boyfriend to lose a few pounds.  We eat at home so much more than before.  I do allow myself a dinner at a restaurant once a week.  I usually go after WI on Wednesday.  And I do not track that day either.  I consider it my free day and it has worked out for me so far.  Of course, I don't go overboard or anything.  I save my points for dinner and then choose wisely.  I don't order dessert like I used to and also order a salad ahead instead.  It's working out great.

I know some of these methods are not going work as I lose more weight and have less points.  I think one needs to adapt to their own specific program and not follow exactly what the book tells you.  There is a reason why there is flexibility in the new program at WW, and I love it!

Well, I am off the rest of this week, so I am going to catch up on my favorite blogs.  Have a beautiful day!

Been Awhile

Well, I have not purposely been  neglecting this blog, but with the Christmas holiday here, it's just so busy right now.  I have been doing great with my points.  I bought multi-vitamins, so I have been taking those.

I am going to pick up my mom today and bringing her back to town.  She lives about 2 hours away and will be staying with my aunt.  Her doctor is here, so I told her I would come get her since my dad is out on the road.  She is staying until Wednesday and will be finishing up her Christmas shopping while she is here.

I weigh in on Tuesday morning this week, so it will be a day early.

Here are my personal goals for the week:  finish shopping by Wednesday, finish gift wrapping by Thursday.

Today:  2 loads of laundry, deep clean the kitchen, gift wrap 3 more gifts and get my lunch packed for tomorrow.

Have a great Sunday!!!

Weigh-In Wednesday

I lost 4 pounds my first week of WW.  WooHoo!  I am extremely pleased.  I got those four pounds without having to kill myself.  I had a very comfortable week.  I am anxious for this week, wanting to make sure I stay on track and not try to overdo it.  The pounds will come off if I follow the plan.

Yay!  What a great day!

Crazy Weekend

Well, it was a crazy first weekend.  We did go to a restaurant for dinner on Saturday night.  I saved my points for the day to go.  It was well worth it.  Today has been hard.  I found my stomach growling and I was on course for the food intake.  I have used all but 9 of my points today, which I plan on having some fruit and cheese for dessert to get in my last dairy.  I am guessing the extra fat of restaurant food made me feel this way today?  Not sure, but I did not like it.

I am proud of myself though.  I have done very well with the water intake and I am packing my first lunch for tomorrow.  I used to always eat fast food or pick something up at a local deli or grocery store.  Not tomorrow.  I have packed a sandwich, some grapes, a 100 calorie treat and some string cheese.

I am finding it difficult to meet my dairy intake each day since I gave up the Starbucks every morning.  The caffeine is the main reason.  I have switched to hot tea and I do love that change.  I really love the WW string cheese, so I am going to eat that to help.  I just don't want to get sick of it to where I don't like them anymore.  Does that ever happen to you?  It does me, like the time I used to put almond butter in my oatmeal every single day.  Now I rarely eat it because it was too much of a good thing.

I started WW on a Wednesday, but I will be weighing in this week on Tuesday for my first official weigh in.  I have to travel out of town on Wednesday, so Tuesday is the day!  So excited to see what the scale says.  I will be sure to pack food for my road trip and I can put my little cooler to good use.  I will have to pick up some more goodies when I am at the store tomorrow.

Well, hope you all had a great weekend.  I am off to read blogs now!

Lots of Points To Use - Oh My!

Today has been another great day.  It is hard using up all of these points, so I am not going to try.  I am going to eat until I feel full and then stop.  I was scared of the 50 daily points I am allowed because that is a lot of food if I cook at home every day.  Now if I were to go out to eat on a daily basis like I used to, hitting the 50 would be incredibly easy.  I am so glad for making the food at home and committing to not going thru a drive-thru.  My drive-thru visits have downsized to a Starbucks here and there for an indulging treat.  I think I deserve it once in awhile.

I have been inspired by so many of you with the photos you take and the way you blog every day.  I decided to try doing pictures.  This is my first attempt, so I hope this turns out okay.  I had a small breakfast which had me wanting a big lunch.  My chili at lunch was a whopping 10 points.  I had to guess on a few items, so I gave them an extra point if there was a question.  I also drink a lot of hot tea.  I used to drink several cups of coffee every day, so I have given up the coffee for the tea.  I don't drink any tea after 2 pm though.

Breakfast consisted of 16 oz earl grey tea and half of this pear - 0 points.

Lunch was 1&1/2 cups of chili, mixed green salad, hard boiled egg, grape tomatoes, a bit of shredded cheddar, 1 tbsp of sliced almonds, 4 sliced pickled beets and 2 tbsp of salad dressing, plus 16 oz of earl grey tea - 17 points.

For dinner we had pan fried tilapia, green beans and rice.  I also had 16 oz of water - 14 points.

As for the total points, well, I'm a fatty.  I get a lot of points because I am starting this journey seriously overweight.  I don't want to die young, so I need to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Total Points - 50
Points Used - 31
Points Remaining - 19

I am planning on eating a mango with a bit of Stilton tonight for dessert because I can always get more fruits and veggies in.  I will probably drink some more water, even though I hit the daily target.  I hit all of my daily health checks except the daily vitamin.  I still need to buy some.  Any suggestions on what to get for a vitamin?

Grocery Shopping

I need to do some grocery shopping.  On the WW plan, it calls for a multi-vitamin once a day.  I don't ever take those, so I need to buy some along with some sandwich thins, vegetables and oatmeal.

I love my grocery store!  It's only been open a year, so it still has that brand new feeling to it.  My store has a ton of fresh produce every day, a great deli and bakery (which I will be staying away from) and an awesome fresh meat and seafood department.  The seafood department will cook any fish they have free of charge!  It's great when I am needing something different for a quick lunch.

Today I will be visiting the produce department to load up on some fresh vegetables.  I love all root vegetables the best - beets, turnips, parsnips, carrots, etc.  I also love fresh green beans, brussel sprouts, all squashes and salad mix.  Yumm!  Let's not forget about the amazing fruit!  Grapes are tasting so sweet right now.  And don't get me started on the pears.  Sweet, succulent and grainy.  Yumm!!!!

Okay, that's all for now.  I need to get to work because I have two meetings today.  I am getting a late start since I had a conference call I took from home.  Have a wonderful day!

Good Day

Today was a good day (insert Ice Cube song here).

I had to travel to our state capital today.  Had some business to take care of for work.  I love my job because it gets me out on the road every so often.  That isn't always good on the food side, but today I was prepared.  Let me break it down for you....

Breakfast
One peanut butter breakfast bar - 4 points
Coffee w/creamer - 1 point

Snack
One everything bagel toasted w/3 tsp of whipped butter - 11 points
Coffee w/creamer - 1 point

Lunch
6" Subway oven roasted chicken sandwich w/ pepper jack cheese and lite mayo - 11 points
30 oz. water

Dinner
1 boneless skinless chicken thigh baked w/1 tsp of bread crumbs - 3 points
1 medium baked potato w/1 tbsp whipped butter - 7 points
1 cup vegetable tian - 0 points
2/3 cup of corn - 3 points
16 oz. black tea w/artificial sweetener - 0 points
1 tbsp olive oil - 4 points

Total Points - 50
Points Used - 45
Points Remaining - 5

I get 50 points because I am very overweight.  I am having trouble using them all up.  I had one point left over yesterday and I don't think I will be using these last 5 points.  I don't think I will be able to use any of my weeklies.

I am comfortable and not too full after dinner.  It's weird how much food I get to eat during a day.  Before last week, I ate out a lot.  That contributed to most of my weight problems.  I have found if I cook more at home, there is a lot more food you can have.  I love to cook and I should have taken pictures of the meal this evening.  It was pretty.

Well, that's all for tonight.  I am off to read about your day!  Have a good night!

First Meeting

Well.  I did it.  I went to my first meeting.  I learned lots.

What I learned:

• My scale at home is way off.
• I have more weight to lose than I thought.
• The program seems fairly easy.
• I can use the WW app on my iPhone!
• Don't go on Wednesday mornings unless you want to be the youngest in the room.

So it was a good day.  I am pissed off at Taylor (my scale) for not being accurate.  I am getting a new battery to see if that will help.  If not, I will just have to make mental adjustments when weighing in.

For breakfast this morning I had a Subway 6" egg white and cheese breakfast sandwich and a 22 oz. Light Lemonade.

Gotta get to work, so I thought I would post something real quick.  Be back later!

I think I lost some weight this past week.  I will know for sure when I go to my first WW meeting tomorrow.  I am excited about it.  I believe the loss is around 2 or 3 pounds.  The only thing I did this week was just watched what I ate and how much.  I know the first two weeks will be water weight, but I am okay with that.

Well, I gotta get to work.  I have so much to do today.  Tonight we are having dinner with my boyfriend's mom at a German restaurant.  Have a great day!

Brrr.... it's cold out there.  It's been raining since wee early this morning.  I have a nice hot cup of coffee here with me as I enjoy my lovely morning.

I went shopping yesterday and have almost my entire list done.  Thank goodness.  The food yesterday was horrible, but I am over it.

This morning I got a breakfast sandwich from Subway.  It was yumm!

Okay, I am off to read blogs now.  Just going to be chillaxin today.

Yay!  I took a vacation day for today and got to sleep in.  It felt great!  I rarely get to sleep in, so when I finally woke up at 8:30, it made me oh so happy!

I am just enjoying a great cup of Pike's Roast coffee from the big S.  I need to get ready to go shopping!  Can't wait to buy stuff for everyone.

Catch you all later!

Long Day

Ugh.  It was a long day.  First work, then had to go to my nephew's vocal music concert.  It took forever of course.  And I had an annoying kid sitting behind me.  You know which one I am talking about, the annoying little shit who likes to kick the back of your seat with his feet.  The parentals were nowhere to be found and an older brother was watching about 4 kids.  Did I already say it?  Ugh.

So the food wasn't all that bad today.  I went out for lunch and had some great Lebanese food.  Hummus and pita chips, a couple of sips of the zesty lentil soup, along with a beef kafta dish.  It was yumm.  It came with rice and a nice vegetable medley of zucchini, onions, tomatoes and green/red peppers.  Yumm!

Since I was still full from lunch, this evening I am going with about 8 Ritz crackers and some Boursin cheese spread.  Boursin is sinfully good and hard to give up.  I can have little indulgences, right?

I need to sign up for these Weight Watcher classes.  I am sure they can only benefit me.  Do you have to buy food?  I see the commercials on TV all the time.  I wonder if those are real people.  Jennifer Hudson won't even tell people how much weight she has lost.  Must be embarrassed or something.

Welp, that's it for me tonight.  I need to prepare for a shopping day with my niece.  We are doing our Christmas shopping tomorrow.  I suspect I will be dipping in several cookie jars tomorrow.  Good thing I didn't have much tonight!

Logging Food

I guess part of the process would be to log my daily intake of food.  Wow, I am definitely putting it all out there.  Since I started off on the right path this morning, it won't look so gruesome.

Breakfast consisted of Quaker oatmeal and a tbsp of almond butter with roasted flax seeds.  I also drank half a bottle of water.  I had to choke it down considering my usual breakfast came from Starbucks and wasn't the "skinny" version.  I do the like the almond butter with the roasted flax seeds.  Gave the oatmeal a bit of saltiness that was different on my palate.

Well, it's off to work soon.  I am sure once I start losing a few pounds, I should start the exercise part.  I think I am going to visit a few other weight loss blogs to see what the experts are doing.

I'll catch up later today.  Bye World!