Post T-day, still 159.5

Happy to see that I was exactly the same this morning. I'm back on track with eating today, and even got in a little (little) exercise.

cereal, milk, raisins: 5
coffee

turkey sandwich, salad w/balsamic vinegar and some dried cherries: 6

2 hr walk, mostly brisk but some slow, and some browsing in a store.

apple w/ PB: 3

3/4 c. white rice, 1 c chicken stirfry: 8

skinny cow: 2

Broke the barrier: 159.5

cereal, milk, coffee: 4

orange: 1
pretzels & hummos: 3

whole wheat english muffin pizza: 5
roasted veggies, carrots: 2

43 minutes of hard work on elliptical machine
cottage cheese: 2

whole wheat eng. muffin, veggie burger, salad w/OO, 1/4 c black beans: 5

1/2 mango Popsicle: 1
cereal: 1

24 so far... might eat a little something else...

Worried about the holiday...

The more I think about it, the more afraid I am feeling about all the food at my mom's house. I read today that the average American eats 4500 calories on Thanksgiving. O-M-G. The food at our table is horribly high-fat/cal. And delicious... Carrie suggested that I just have a tablespoon of stuffing... but, I love the stuffing! I know, it's only food. I want to be thin more than I want to eat. But, well...

So, I ate 2 pieces of chocolate today at work. But, even with that indulgence I did ok because I didn't have time to eat my 4-point oatmeal. Still, I'm annoyed and feeling conflicted about my feelings: I want chocolate. Also, I did not exercise today. It was very busy at work. Tomorrow I work from home and I'll do 40 minutes on the elliptical machine.

Daily Accounting:

cereal, milk, coffee: 4

apple, carrots: 1

2 chicken sausages, sauteed broccolini and red pepper: 5

tea w/milk
hazelnut/chocolate panda from china: 2

cottage cheese: 2

2nd hazelnut/chocolate panda: 2 (grrr.....)

chicken breast, steamed veggies, cannelini bean salad: 6
1/2 apple: .5

skinny cow: 2

24.5 eaten

I wasn't so good yesterday. Not horrible, but I didn't track carefully. I'm just conceeding defeat on yesterday/weekend and moving on. I really wanted to be 160.0 or lower by this Wednesday. I don't know if I'll get there. I realize that I am just not brining my A game... I'm too busy today to think about why... but I will give it some thought over the next few days and I promise to report back if I come up with anything insightful.

Meanwhile, today I did better on the food.

cereal, milk, coffee: 4

oatmeal, milk, stevia and few dried cherries: 5

pumpkin curry soup, 1/2 chicken breast, apple: 5

cottage cheese: 2

Breakfast for dinner... I needed to maybe eat less scrambled eggs... 1 chicken sausage link, eggs+egg white, 1 whole wheat eng muffin, b&b: 8

24 so far... still feeling hungry after dinner but will wait to digest a little before eating more. Also, I really should count something for the licks of peanut butter and jelly from M's dinner... (sad that my son eats PB&J for dinner???). I didn't have a whole bite, so I won't count it tonight... but I am mindful that I'm eating that way.

Likely will have an apple if still hungry after M goes to bed.

Saturday

cereal, milk, coffee, apple: 5

1/2 banana and 1/2 mini Clif bar: 2

turkey sandwich, bites of wheat berry salad, some of M's leftover peanut butter and honey: 7

carrots and hummos: 1

50 minute walk pushing M in the BOB. Tried to make most of it "vigorous".

2 pieces whole wheat pizza with veggies and mozzarella, salad with OO, steamed veggies: 9

24 eaten

Friday before Thanksgiving, trying to stay in control

Hungry Girl had a very helpful Q&A about Thanksgiving, questions like: must I only eat steamed vegetables on Thanksgiving. Answer was no, but limit the other items. I remember in years past trying to focus on filling my plate with green things and then adding a little of the others. This year I will make more of an effort, here's why:  there will be leftovers and I know I will be eating that food for more than one day. I know that a lot of the WW leaders say to make the holiday last 1 day (I think Jean said this too?) not a week. But I know what it's like for me at my mom's house... I need a different method. So, here are my ground rules:

1. Eat a normal breakfast. My mom has all this crazy stuff like sticky buns and granola. Forget that. I will have an egg+egg white and 1/2 a bagel or some such (even the bread she buys is terrible--I mean, delicious but not good for you).

2. Drink a lot of water, avoid alcohol or even non-alcoholic sparkly stuff.

3. Fill plate with mostly vegetables (convince mom to make a 2nd veggie dish).

4. Exercise every day I'm away, for at least 20 minutes.

5. Eat a small piece of dessert, or share with Doug. Then, remove myself from the vicinity of sweets either by going to give M a bath, or play with him, or something.

6. Do not eat cheese, pate, etc. Save calories for the holiday food we don't make regularly. Cheese is always available.

Any other suggestions?

Today's intake:
cereal, milk, coffee: 5

coffee with whole milk and 1 shot hazelnut syrup: 1

turkey sandwich, small baked potato w/BB, salad w/balsamic vinegar: 8
(adding the baked potato really helped my lunch to feel complete. I probably didn't need the extra 'starch', since I had bread, but still... it was yummy!)

dried apricots: 1

Last portion of the pork, steamed broccoli w/tiny bit of butter, steamed mixed veggies w/tiny bit of OO, 1/2 c. wheat berry salad: 9

Eddy's Whole Fruit Popsicle: .5

(Carrie pointed out my huge math mistake... yes, I know! I ate more than 15 points. But I'm allotted 25/day. I did go over though: bowl of cereal after dinner. I was HUNGRY... now I'm still awake at 10:30. What am I doing???)

Thursday

Sore today from JW. Hanging out at Starbucks while M visits the new day care... was mildly tempted to buy a snack but settled for an Americano instead.

No time for exercise today, but I did score a nice nap with Michael. 

cereal, milk, 1/2 grapefruit, coffee: 5

coffee w/1 pump hazelnut syrup: 1

Starving in the car on the way home... ate 1 c. Kix: 2

turkey sandwich, salad with OO, dried cherries, and wheat berries: 7

apple & PB: 4
dried apricots (I have to get them out of the house): 1

pork loin leftovers, salad with OO, 2 bites of wheat berry salad: 5

Trying to stay on track

cereal, milk, banana: 5

cottage cheese: 2

turkey sandwich and veggies: 5

1 slice pumpkin bread: 3

JW upper and lower

few dried apricots: 1
yogurt w/honey and small handful of cereal: 4

20 eaten--yikes!!

dinner: big salad w/OO, 4 thin slices ginger-marinated pork loin, 1 small sweet potato 5

Tuesday

I am wanting to eat something crunchy/salty or sweet. My work day is slow and so I have more time to think about what I would rather be eating. This is not good. I didn't exercise at lunch. Why? Who knows. Dinner will be light tonight: steamed veggies and veggie burgers. I don't have anything else ready. So it would be okay to have a crunchy snack. But, I don't have anything on hand and I don't think the vending machines will offer good options. The cottage cheese I have waiting in the fridge does not seem appealing..

cereal, milk, berries, coffee: 4.5
oatmeal, milk, dried cherries: 5
diet coke
walked up from 1st floor to 8th floor

turkey sandwich, cut up veggies, apple: 6
1 mini cookie: 1

16.5 so far

Busy Monday

cereal, milk, berries, coffee: 4.5
turkey sandwich, apple, veggies: 6
yogurt: 2
candy corn (why???): 2

salad w/OO, grilled chicken, 1 c TJ gnocchi
1/4 mini bagel w/cc: 1
1 small ice pop (lime): 1

Sunday, anniversary

Well, I didn't do a great job of managing intake yesterday. I was fine through about 2 p.m. but then a massive hunger attack set in (I didn't really eat enough in the earlier part of the day) and instead of making a plan, I just grabbed stuff and snacked. Dumb.

We went out to dinner with friends and I ordered what turned out to be a decent dinner: citrus herb grilled tillapia with 3 sides: cucumber and onion salad (yum), steamed veggies (with butter I'm sure--delish), and tomato, corn, red bean salad (so good). Then a small piece of cornbread. I know I went over on points, but it wasn't terrible. I could have skipped the corn bread. I really had wanted to save my splurge for today (Doug and I are going out for lunch to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary).

My only exercise yesterday was chasing Michael around the Zoo and pushing the stroller. I just didn't have the energy to crank up JW. I could have just done 20 min on the elliptical downstairs but I didn't have it in me.

Today I did all 3 JW. Felt great. Core is still hardest for me, I think in part b/c she's always switching positions. Not sure why that is so exhausting but it is...

I'll report my intake in another post.

On my way, baby

I am channeling all the excitement over the 160.5 this morning towards staying on track. Michael is home sick today so I took him out for a long walk in the BOB, with a stop-over at the neighborhood toy store where he played with trains for 40 minutes while I had coffee and chatted with a friend. He's napping now but I'm working so as to not burn through an entire day of leave again.... Still, I have a relatively low-key weekend planned and will get in more exercise then. I want to be in the 150s next week. I am just over .5 from there... I can do it!!!

cereal, milk, coffee: 4

coffee w/hazelnut syrup: 1

turkey sandwich and cut up veggies: 5

yogurt with splenda and vanilla extract: 2
1 piece pumpkin bread: 4
apple: 1

pretzels & hummos: 3

soup & salad: 3
Popsicle: 1

Went a little overboard... ate more pumpkin bread and had some hot cocoa... not terrible. But didn't actually satisfy me. Not sure what I wanted instead.

160.5!

I didn't quite believe my wednesday weigh-in so this morning, before
breakfast, I got on the scale buck naked. Scale said 160.5! I'm
delighted. That's a 2 lb loss, finally. I am 1/2 a pound away from
joining Carrie in the 150s!!

--
Sent from my mobile device

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's been raining here for the past two days. YUCK. Of course, Michael is enjoying splashing in the puddles. But I'm tired of this dreariness.

On a plus note, I think I'm feeling my pants are getting looser.

egg+egg white in OO, bread w/brummel: 5
I wish I had a better way of preparing the egg. I don't like to use Pam on my Al Clad... I haven't gotten the OO aerator that Carrie uses. I need to pick one up...

Lunch: turkey on multigrain w/mayo, mustard+lettuce: 5

grapes: 1
candy corn: 2 (dumb, it wasn't even good... )

snack: yogurt: 2

dinner: salmon, salad w/OO: 5

1 piece pumpkin bread, 1/2 skinny cow: 4

Day off from work--time to exercise!

Today was kind of weird... we went to the movies and then had a meeting with a Reator so I kind of skipped lunch and ended up eating on the fly... never a good idea. Still, I did okay, but ate weirdly.

cereal, milk, coffee: 4

All three JW
egg+egg white cooked in OO, bread:5

pretzels and hummos: 3
cottage cheese: 2
apple: 1
1/2 graham cracker: 1

African Stew from Souper Girl: 4

1/2 slice pumpkin bread: 3
Eddy's Whole Fruit bar: 1

What???

Weighed myself today after what I considered to be a week back on track. 163. Now, I have to admit, it was AFTER I ate a bowl of cereal and drank about 1/2 of my coffee... I forgot to weigh myself 1st thing. But still.... and, I tried the body fat feature...It said 36%. That seems so unfair!! But it's probably right. :(

Now what? I guess I check it again next week to see if it's the same?

This is a hard slog. I guess it's fine. I'm staying the same, essentially. But I feel like I have been careful and that I should have seen some results this morning...

Monday

I ate within points today. No exercise to speak of... but it was my 1st day of drop-off. At least I didn't stress eat.

egg+egg white, bread w/BB, 1/2 grapefruit: 5

oatmeal, milk, br sugar: 5

bag-o-veggies, 2 pc bread, mayo+sliced turkey, 1/4 c wheatberry salad: 6

diet coke + 1 x 7 flights stairs
apple: 1

1/2 Z bar with Michael + some other odds + ends at TJ: 2

2 veggie burgers, salad w/OO, 1/4 c wheatberry salad, cantaloupe: 5

juice pop: 1

Renessa is a Goody-Goody

I am beginning to be annoyed by Renessa. She's always pointing to her abs with a perky little smile on her face. I want to just smack her softly and say, "I am holding them in, Bitch!" I'm not sure where this anger comes from... I also can't stop thinking about both Renessa and Rebecca doing the nasty with Jackie. Oh my.

coffee w/milk, cereal, milk, berries: 4.5

coffee w/milk & 1 pump hazelnut syrup: 1

apple: 1
1 graham cracker: 1?

Walked down and up and all over the hilly Zoo pushing M in the BOB, or carrying him in the Ergo.

chicken breast, big salad topped with wheatberry salad and OO: 6

sliver slice of pumpkin bread: 1
dried apricots: 2

JW lower and core

yogurt w/ fiber 1: 2.5

2 slices leftover whole wheat pizza w/veggies: 6

3 homemade whole wheat/flax meal/wheat germ pancakes with blueberries, syrup, 1 egg+ eggwhite, 1/2 grapefruit: 9

JW Upper and Core

coffee w/milk and 1 shot hazelnut syrup, apple: 2

1.5 mile walk pushing M in stroller

chicken breast, 1/2 c wheat berries, peas: 5

pumpkin bread: 3

2 pieces whole wheat pizza with lots of veggies, little cheese: 6
1 c baby spinach, 1/2 c wheatberry salad: 3

ate 28 points. Felt quite hungry in the morning, despite a big breakfast... Managed to do okay the rest of the day. I could have chosen a different snack and saved some points... oh well. I am done eating for the night. SO TIRED.

Daily Accounting

coffee w/ whole milk, cereal, milk, few grapes: 4.5

Fage 0% yogurt: 2

small handful of trailmix, mostly raisins, some nuts: 3

3 slices roasted turkey, 1 c brown rice w/steamed veggies, grapes: 7
(There is no food left in our house... these were leftovers from earlier in the week... I didn't really WANT a cup of rice for lunch, but I didn't have anything else. Pathetic, I know.)

I'm also hungry an hour after eating this... not good.

1/2 grapefruit (messy at my desk!)

more trailmix.... I feel this is a failure to resist. Smaller portion this time, mostly raisins: 2

Drinking water... trying not to eat...

Dinner plan is small portion of chicken; steamed veggies. Then we're going to this cocktail part at the Greek Embassy... plan is NOT TO EAT. But I will have 3 points remaining.  So, I could have one thing to eat. Good news is that we're going with a friend of mine who is totally on-board with helping me diet/exercise....

Small victories

I think I've used this title before... no matter, I'm still happy with myself for not eating anything else last night. I know it's only a small victory, but it still feels good. I checked email, read updates on Facebook, read a very depressing article in the New Yorker about solitary confinement (it was from a March issue that I never finished) and went to bed around 9:30. Michael woke up at 11:30 screaming--teething is my guess. We got him back down pretty quickly and we all slept through to about 5:45 when he woke up to nurse. I got out of bed around 6:45. I didn't exercise this morning... I need to work up to the energy/commitment to exercise 1st thing with the boys in the house still. Instead we had a more leisurely breakfast together--which was really nice. I got ready for work, blew out my hair since I have that event later today. I'll plan to do 30 minutes on the elliptical downstairs at lunch (and hope I don't mess up my hair too much!).

The blog, and my little team of cheerleaders, has been so helpful in the past few weeks!!!

Thursday

I think I'm doing okay on eating/exercise this week, but I'm so distracted by other things going on in our life that I don't have a true sense for whether or not I'm on track. Typically I do better with weight loss when it's my primary focus. I wonder how I'll do when I'm only giving it a cursory consideration...

I feel REALLY GOOD from my workout yesterday. I wish I could get in more exercise today but instead I slept to 7 a.m. and I have lunch plans that will keep me from exercising during the day. But, tomorrow I can plan to workout either in the morning, or at lunch. I love the way my body feels from working hard and I'm going to use that to help me stay on track with my exercise.

breakfast: cereal, milk, coffee, bite of M's banana and pumpkin bread: 5

Morning snack: 1/2 c wheat berries with drop of syrup: 2

Lunch:  wonton soup (1/2 c w one wonton), small whole wheat bready thing, few fried crunchies (why???), 1/4 c brown rice, green beans and shitaki mushrooms in spicy sauce: 9

Not really sure about the points, but I think this guess is right...

diet coke

Afternoon snack: apple: 1

Dinner: 1/2 c angel hair pasta with pesto, 1/2 chicken breast, steamed veggies: 6
sliver of pumpkin bread: 1
bites of M's waffle: 1

That's 25 pts. I WANT something else... but, do I want to lose weight more? I'm going to try drinking water. If at 8:30 I still want something else, I'll have an Edy's strawberry whole fruit pop.

Awesome new web site

The Nourish Network

Cheryl writes for them, as do many other authors. All about food, nutrition, organic stuff, and such...

Wednesday

Breakfast: coffee, 1 egg+egg white in little OO, toast w/smear of BB, 1/2 grapefruit: 5
 I still want to eat more but I am resisting.

Exercise: JW upper and lower
I was STARVING after the workout.

Snack: apple w/1tbsp PB: 3
This snack did not seem like enough for me but I am waiting to eat more...

Lunch: 2 pc bread, turkey, mayo, salad w/OO & raisins: 5

Snack: tea w/honey: .5

Party food: carrot cake: 6

Dinner: chicken, salad, three bites brown rice: 4

Measurements

November 4
Waist 32
Hips 42
Upper thigh 23
Upper arm 11
Bust 35

This is BAD. I went up 2 inches in waist and hips??? arms/thighs stayed the same. Dropped 1 inch in bust.

Was it measurement error from September? Bloating now? This is not good... Okay, I need to recommit. Seriously.

Picture

My brother took this picture of me and Michael at the Natural History Museum on Sunday. I'm wearing one of my new tops from Banana Republic. I love the color and neck line. I think I look pretty good in this shot--especially my upper body, collar bone nicely visible. My arms could be more toned. And my hips could be smoother. I'm wearing a bad bra (nursing tank). At this point I think the changes are so incremental that it's hard for me to look at this and say yes, I look better than I did in September.

Am I a wimp?

Doing JW this morning and it's hard. I find that the weights part feels more like a CV workout than muscle-building.

When does it get easier (I know... I took a lot of time off from exercise)?

Also, when do I stop hating working hard?? 

Tuesday

Woke up at 7, which was too late to exercise. What's the matter with me?? I need to learn to wake up earlier...

Breakfast: cereal, milk, coffee: 4

Snack: yogurt: 2

Lunch: 3 slices of turkey, 2 wasa, bag-o-veggies: 4

EXERCISE: 32 minutes elliptical machine at gym in basement of office... better than nothing! I also stretched for about 5 minutes afterward.


Snack: apple, piece of pumpkin bread, 1/2 bagel: 7
(The bagel was an impulse... Stash of food up at the OD waiting area... post work-out feeling hungry and already ate all the food I brought with me. This is bad b/c it's only 2:30 and I need to make it to 5 without eating more!)

17 eaten

Dinner: not sure yet... probably the same as last night!

No more Halloween Candy

I succeeded in not eating a SINGLE PIECE of Halloween candy from our house. I brought the leftovers in to the office this morning. I am very proud of the small accomplishment.

I didn't get any exercise this morning. Doug had to drive Yanni to the airport at 6:20 so although I was up in time to get in a workout, I was playing with Michael instead. By the time Doug got home it was time for me to get showered and dressed. I might try to go at lunch...

cereal, milk, fruit salad: 5

oatmeal, milk, brown sugar: 5

leftover pasta w/1 shrimp: 5
carrots: 0

1 VERY SMALL piece of pumpkin bread: 2

apple: 1

1 veggie burger, steamed green beans with salt&pepper, sweet potato with brummel and brown: 5

last small bit of cheese and a cracker: 2
last berger cookie: 3

Went over by 3...

What do I really want?

I've been thinking about what I want to accomplish in terms of weight loss. I'm about 5 pounds away from my stated goal of 158. But I'm not feeling very motivated. Here's why: all my clothes fit. I don't want to buy a whole new wardrobe. I think a size 12 is acceptable. But more importantly, I think it's sustainable.

But, here's the question: am I selling myself short? Am I just afraid of succeeding at a lower weight? The lowest I've ever been as an adult is 151. That was on my wedding day. I know that I looked GREAT at 151. I could wear a bikini with impunity. But I didn't stay at that weight for very long. And in the weeks leading up to the wedding, when I lost those last 8 pounds, I was barely eating. I was exercising all the time. I was stressed.

After the wedding, I gained back the 7 or 8 pounds pretty quickly and stayed at 158-160 for several years.

When I raised this question to Carrie she made a good point: if you're thinking you'll get pregnant again soon, why not knock off an extra 10 pounds so you have a little cushion before the next pregnancy gain. That's a really good point. Though, I would like to think I won't gain as much the next time around, Carrie said she gained more and more quickly! Yikes. I was just stupid while pregnant. I ate things like donuts. Who does that???

Here's what I know: I like having a bit more muscle on my body. I like getting regular exercise. It makes me feel good. I like not having to worry about my pants fitting, or fitting too tightly.

I think this means I need to lose the next 5 pounds. Then, I can reevaluate. But until I commit to losing that next little chunk of weight, I am going to continue to stagnate. It's always harder to make the choice to be diciplined, especially with a little tot to take care of...

Sunday

It's hard to eat within my points with company/wine/cheese in the house.
Also hard to exercise.

cereal, milk, berries: 4.5
fruit salad: 1
cottage cheese: 2
1/2 graham cracker: 1??

walked around museum with Michael and my brother...

bread, turkey, lite mayo, side salad w/vinegar: 5
tastes of pumpkin bread batter: 1

leftover pasta: 5
wine: 3
cheese and crackers: 5