Main Ingredient: water

So yesterday I weighed in at WW for the first time in three weeks. The previous two weeks I had been suffering from virus/fevers. Anyways - I was hoping that I would be at that 288 mark again. Oh how wrong I was.

I had gained 2.8 pounds so now I am back above 290. I was really hoping not to go there, especially since on Tuesday when I weighed in for our Biggest Loser club at work I had weighed in at 287.2. Gaaaack!

Then I remembered. Through my newest favorite social networking site (www.fatsecret.com) I had joined a challenge where I have to drink 64 oz. of water a day. Now this shouldn't be a problem if I had been a perfect Weight Watcher - which my daily water allowance has been one of the WW things that I have not been following. So I am thinking that I am currently suffering from some serious water retention considering that I am not trying to drink at least a liter and a half of water while at work. Hopefully once I get back to my water equilibrium I will see that I am not actually above that 290 mark.

Anyways - this weekend I will be venturing to the Blue Ridge Mountains near Roanoke to go help do repairs at Camp Virginia Jaycee (and to help my friend Laura take care of her daughter while she has to do official Jaycee stuff). So hopefully I can work in some major exercising. I'm actually considering waking up early and doing stuff like walking around the camp before everybody else is up. Today I have done about 2 miles of walking (not all at once). Of course this is negated by the fact that I went to Good Stuff Eatery (the restaurant from Spike of Top Chef fame) for lunch and had a patty melt, some yummy fries with rosemary and thyme, and half of a toasted Marshmallow milkshake. A year ago I would have ordered my own order of fries and my own milkshake but today when we went into order (I went with three work colleagues) it felt natural to just have ONE order of fries for the table and split a milkshake (OMG it was sooooo good). Oh - and I am totally keeping the water bottle I got there. They have custom labels for the water - and the bottle I grabbed had the label "Main Ingredient: Water (What else were you expecting?)" Love it!!!!

Just...

So last time I posted I was 288 pounds and yo-yoing around there and on anti-depressants. Well things have changed.

Well - the weight hasn't really. I'm still hovering around 288. I don't think I've gone back into the 290's, but I haven't been weighed in two weeks because I've had the flu the past two weeks on my weigh in day. Like having a fever over 100 degrees kind of flu. I'm sure my fellow WW members will appreciate knowing that I chose to stay home instead of polluting the air at the meeting.

I ended winning our biggest loser club at work. But I don't actually win anything because since the administration of the club kinda disappeared before the end - we didn't really finish and so we all kinda agreed that we take the money and buy a good scale for the office so that we can all weigh in at the same time and on the same scale. No more wonky nurses office scale. Anyways - our new biggest loser club is starting tomorrow, so it's time to get back into the I can do this mind frame because if I can win once - I can certainly win again. Time to start taking this weight back off again.

I'm off the anti-depressants. This has been a mixed bag. I do think the drugs were doing something to me because I have had more moments of crying and noticeable depression to me. But I'm beginning to feel in touch with my body once again. Like yesterday - for the first time in months I cleaned my apartment for more that 3 hours. Scary that my apartment needs that much cleaning (well it actually needs a lot more than that before anyone could call it liveable again). But it was the first time I felt like I could make a dent. Now I have to admit that when I do feel low - I feel really low, but at the same time I like the fact that I know that all my feelings are coming from me and not some chemical that I've put in my body.

And last night - for the first time since Chris' funeral - I slept in my bed. I've been sleeping on the futon in my living room for awhile - so it was pretty big thing to be sleeping in my bed. It does feel weird to be sleeping in a bed without Chris by my side, but it also made my back feel a lot better.

So today I am taking a step to getting back to a healthier me and everyday I just need to take a step because eventually all these steps will add up to a mile.

The Flirting Continues

Ok - I gained a pound this week.

I need to tell myself - it's not a big deal. Weight can fluctuate between 1-2 pounds a day - so I'm good.

Inside I am really going. "OMG - I'm gaining my weight back. Oh the humanity."

But this week we talked about Managing our thoughts. So I will go back to thinking that it's ok because weight fluctuates and I still haven't gone above the 280's.

After weigh in my friends and I went to our favorite sushi place, which can be dangerous because it is soo yum. but oh so dangerous. or as one girl at ww put it last night - "seems like a good idea". anyways- then we had the sushi and I went way over the daily points. And even though I did an hour of wii fit afterwards - it still didn't get rid of all those extra points i used. But I guess that is why we have the weekly allowance.

But I am managing my thoughts and today is a new day with no mistakes in it.

I'm still trucking on

I knew it had been too long since my last post when my friend Susan said she never hears about how I am doing on Weight Watchers any more. That made me look back at this blog - and I realized that OMG - I haven't posted anything since June.

Here is an update. I have been flirting with the same 5 pounds for over two months now. In June I started taking anti-depressants and since then my body has been kinda messed up. The first round gave me constant headaches. The second round made me totally sleepless and lethargic. I am on my third different medication now and although it is not as bad as the second one - I don't really feel like the benefits of taking it outweigh the negative. Having a messed up bio rhythm has thrown me off of the Weight Watcher's wagon. I've gone back to some of my bad eating habits and not exercising like I should. I even started missing some of my WW meetings (for the first time in 6 months) Plus some anti-depressants do have side effects of gaining weight. I guess I should be very glad that I didn't gain it all back.

On top of the anti-depressants, I've been having (and men - turn away if you don't want to read this) regulary monthlys. 9months in a row. I can't even tell you the last time I had 3 of these in a row - not to mention 9. My doctor friends tell me this is a very good thing medically (and I know they totally right), but there are days when I miss the not feeling bloated and icky once a month. On my weight chart, I've been noticing that there is always one monthly weight gain spike - and it's discouraging. I just have to tell my mind that it's a good spike.

Anyways - so I've been feeling bad over the fact that I have been hovering around the 20-25 pound weight loss mark. I was really discouraged - so I stopped doing the things that I should - like keeping track of what I eat and making sure I get in 40 oz. of water. So at the beginning of September I told myself that I needed this to be fun again. So I splurged. I bought myself a Wii and a Wii Fit. There were so many reasons why I shouldn't have done it, but I needed to do something to make me want to get back on track. I've had the Wii for a week now - and I've played every night at least 30 minutes. It's really excellent excerise for the arms. Yesterday the Wii Fit finally arrived, so I played on that for another 30 minutes. It was a lot of fun. Anyways - I'm really psyched that I will be able to track my progress on it. Like the folks on the Biggest Loser - my physical age is way older than my chronological age - so I have a lot of work to do. (Speaking of the Biggest Loser - how gross was it to see how fat builds around your organs. Seriously. If I wasn't already try to lose weight - that would definitely inspire me)

So that is where things are. As of my last week weigh in I was 288.2 pounds. We'll see how I do tonight. Send me skinny vibes.

And I promise that I will post again soon.

That wasn't so bad

Yeah, I'm totally lying. That was great.

Yesterday I went to weigh in. Now I had been expected to have held steady, lost no weight. Maybe if I was lucky I would have lost maybe a pound, which would negate the pound that I lost the previous week.

You can imagine my disbelief when my weight came up as 288 - meaning that I had lost 4 pounds this last week.

Can I get a woot woot!

That means that altogether I have now lost 22 net pounds. 9 more pounds and I reach the 10% mark - which means that I can reward myself by replacing my ipod.

To celebrate - I got home and I made myself some fruit soup. Fruit soup was one of my favorite summer time treats my mom made when I was little. Of course I ended up getting tired so I haven't yet done some of the final steps - but those can wait for tonight. Anyways - if you would like to make fruit soup, here is how you can do it. (It looks like there are a lot of steps - but it really is seriously easy)

Emily's Favorite Summer Time Fruit Soup

1 lb. fresh cherries - pitted
1 lb. peaches
1 lb. plums
1 lb. nectarines or apricots (which ever floats your boat the most)
11 cups water
1 to 1.5 cups Splenda
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
10-12 whole cloves

Step 1: Clean and halve all the fruit, remembering to remove all pits and stems. Put in large pot

Step 2: Cover fruit with the water and drop in cloves

Step 3: Bring the pot to a boil (Cover optional - The smell when it is boiling is HEAVENLY) Let boil for about 5 minutes.

Step 4: Take pot off heat. Pour in sugar and lemon juice and stir. Let sit off heat for about half hour - 45 minutes (I suggest you watch some tv or do some house cleaning while waiting)

Step 5: Using a slotted spoon, scoop up the big fruit, cut into smaller, bitesize pieces, and then drop back into pot. If you have mesh strainer, you might want to use this to strain out the whole cloves.

Step 6: Take half the mixture and puree in blender (this may need to be done in two or more batches - depending on the size and strength of your blender). Pour pureed fruit mixture back into pot. If you find the whole cloves - try to take them out before they get pureed.

Step 7: Stir it all together!!

Step 8: Chill in fridge.

Step 9: When cold, you can serve. A serving will be about a cup to a cup and a half. You can eat it as is, or my mom always poured in a dash of half and half or a dollop of cool whip. As a person on WW - I would recommend if you want to do this - you use fat free half and half, cool whip free, or even unsweetend vanilla almond milk. ENJOY

Things were difficult this week

This last week proved to be very tough. I was starting a new medication that my body just wasn't adjusting to. For the first time in my life I felt like I was suffering from a migraine. I was suffered from insomnia and nausea. I barely left my bed this whole weekend. Needless to say that all I was hungry for was comfort food (when I was hungry at all) - so I let myself indulge in that. So I will be very surprise if I don't step on the scale tonight having gained a pound of two.

Thankfully my body is finally agreeing with the meds. That means that I need to get back on the WW Wagon. Hopefully my next report will be much better.

Emily

Always Check the Math

So I've learned an important lesson - always check the math when it comes to pound lossage.

I told you yesterday that I had gained 3 pounds last week. I was accepting of that because I knew that I hadn't been the best WW'er plus you know - girly water weight. I was ok with 3 pounds. So yesterday I weigh in and the good news was that I was at 291 (plus some small change) - down 4.8 pounds from the week before. I then went to put my new weight into my weight tracker. Now usually I just remember how much I loss. So the week before I had entered in that I had gained 3 pounds from the weight the week before that. So when I took the 4.8 pounds I had lost this week, my weight was at 292 something. Not that big of a difference, but it looked funny. So I went to check to make sure everything was right.

Well, it turns out when I put on the three pounds, the person filling in the pounds loss number accidently added backwards. By adding backwards I mean, I weighed in at 296, the previous week was 293.4, so he just subtracted 3 (296-293). In reality it was really only a gain of 2.6 pounds (almost half a pound less than 3 - woo hoo!). So when I fixed everything - it turns out (drumroll please) that this week not only did I lose the 2.6 pounds I put on the week before - I kicked out another 2.2 of their friends - making it a total weight loss of 19.6. I'm only .4 pounds away from 20 pounds lost. Yay!

Anyways - the moral of the story is always check your math!

p.s. I don't mean to disparage my weigher. I love our weigh guy at my WW - he's always very nice and sunny. And seriously, I've added backwards before too - it's super easy to do.

Speed Bump Last Week

So for six straight weeks I had weight loss, with two weeks in a row having 2+ pounds of weight loss. I thought I was on a roll, so I probably eased up on tracking, and water intake, and preparing my food at home. I also (if you didn't notice) didn't blog at all during that time. Yeah - I know that not a lot of people are reading this thing, but the truth is having this out here is a form of accountability for me. So when I don't write - you know that I'm not doing other things as well. Needless to say last week I had gained back weight. Anyways Three pounds to be exact. Of course - in my mind I'm thinking its probably not as bad as I think it was because it also overlapped my "favorite" time of the month. So this last week it was back to the starting block. Back to logging everything, back to checking on my water intake, etc. I made myself go to the grocery store and buy food and I have not allowed myself to buy breakfast, lunch, or dinner this week (because I have enough food in my fridge right now - nice yummy green food). Yesterday we did the weigh in for the weight club at work. I was down 1 pound from the previous weight club weigh in two weeks ago (before I put 3 pounds back on). Hopefully tonight when I do my official WW weigh in - I will see that I have lost those 3 pounds plus some. Wish my skinny vibes!

I'm feeling a little obscene today

So for my birthday I got this cute top that is black and white multi-size stripes with pink and purple circles in it. You have to wear a camisole underneath it. It's really cute - and was good for my birthday because I really wanted to wear pink.

Anyways - I haven't worn it since then, but decided today would be the day to wear it.

Big mistake. Apparently my shoulders have gotten smaller and today the shirt is practically falling off of me. Not something I anticipated before leaving the house. It's awesome knowing that my body has changed that much - but at the same time it is a pain to know that I will have to eventually buy all new clothes because everything will be too big. But even those clothes I am planning to outgrow.

Anyways - not much I can do about the shirt today other than to constantly pull it back up my shoulders. I just hope I don't get cited for a dressing violation at work.

Giving into Temptation

I will start out this week by saying that my sister's philharmonia symphony made the front page of the Washington Post on Saturday. The article was just below the fold, but above the article about Jenna Bush's wedding. So it was a big deal for my sister, especially since they were going to be playing Beethoven's 9th on Saturday. Apparently this is one of those symphonies that every person who has been in an orchestra dreams that they will someday play for people. So it was very exciting.

Of course this meant going out to celebrate.

Before her concert we went to the Silver Diner. Not the healthiest of food options - but not the worst either. Well of course being in a diner made me crave a cheese burger. I hadn't had one in awhile, but I knew it would be a lot of points. On the other hand, I hadn't really eaten all day so I had over 25 points left. Thankfully Silver Diner gives you the option of a turkey burger so that is what I ordered.

Looking back, I should have ordered one of the salads.

I ate my whole turkey burger - which was good, but it wasn't as great as I hoped it would be. It was all greasy and messy and it made me feel heavy. Thank goodness the fries had been oversalted. I tried one and that was one too many. My sister and I then ended up sharing a piece of the chocolate cake - that was good.

We then headed off to the concert - where my sister played beautifully. Although I have to admit that I had to cover my eyes a few times because my sister sits next to a very enthusiastic violin who I thought was going to stab her in the eye with his bow a couple of times. After the concert my sister introduced me to some of her friends from work and we ended up going out for dessert.

We ended up going to Bertucci's only because the Cheesecake Factory had a 50 minute wait (at 10:00 pm). Everybody was getting something - either a full meal or dessert, so I ended up getting this chocolate and vanilla gelato ball covered in chocolate. It was delicious. I did make my sister eat a quarter of it though.

Anyways, I was sure that after this Saturday of indulging, that I would be back to gaining. I was really ashamed that I had given in, and so I didn't track Saturday (scared to see the actual results) and then didn't track on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Since my WW week starts again on Wednesday, I started tracking again yesterday.

Yesterday when I went to my meeting and Weigh In, I found that I had once again lost weight. In fact, I had lost over 2 pounds. Surprise surprise. Not sure how I did it. Maybe my metabolism needed me to shake it up and give it a weekend of celebration or maybe I had just been really good rest of the week. Whatever happened, I feel like I dodged a bullet. The good thing is that I recognize that this was me giving into temptation and that I can't do this every week.

Cheaper by the Dozen

Before I get too far, I just want to give a shout out to Mary, my first blog commenter. It means a lot to know that other people are reading this, relating to this, and finding as well as giving inspirtation in here. So thank you sooo much.

Today has been a busy day. Today I went to the doctors and the good news is that everything appears to be ok. I called my sister afterwards and started with that gem of a quote from Kindergarten Cop, "It's not a tuma!"

I also had my weight watcher's meeting and despite the fact that I got to enjoy some Paula Deen as well as my favorite champangna, I managed to lose just more than half a pound - bringing my total loss to 12 pounds exactly. More importantly - the pants that I wore today didn't feel too tight. Lately I've been noticing on the Weight Watcher's boards that many people are getting discouraged because they aren't either seeing the loss they want - or they experience a hiccup and actually find their weight is up a pound. In Weight Watcher's the main way we measure progress is through tracking weight - and I think that we sometimes lose focus on the fact that we are benefiting in other ways as well. We all do it, including myself. I've actually had my mom say to me, "Emily, you only gained half a pound. You're still 9 pounds down from where you were in January." This is why it is so important to have those Non-Scale Victories - and one of my goals with this blog is to keep track of those NSVs.

Finally, after my doctor appointment, I decided to go to Home Depot so I could buy some plants to garden. I am going to try to plant a couple of tomato plants, some strawberry plants, 6 differents herbs (including lemon verbana and lavendar because they smell all so heavenly), and one bell pepper plant. 12 plants in all. So far I have three planted. I really want to try to try to be moe environmentally sustainable so this is one tiny step. By planting thiss If my boyfriend was still here, I know that he would be very proud of this small garden. I see this garden as not only doing something healthy for my body (by growing fresh produce) but also doing something good for my soul. I just hope I can keep this garden alive throughout the spring and summer.

Going to the doctors

I am back in town and decided that I needed to schedule an appointment with my doctor. I don't really want to talk about why - but it is safe to say that I am nervous about what the doctor will say. Not only about the thing that I am going in about, but also about my weight. I am sure that the fact that I am essentially morbidly obese is going to come up. I guess I can comeback with, "yeah - I know. But I'm on Weight Watchers" My understanding is that a lot of doctors like it when their overweight patients go on weight watchers because they ultimately do see results - not only in lower weight, but also in lower cholestorhol and blood pressure. So we shall see what the doctor says. Please send me good thoughts.

So the trip to Savannah, GA was great, although I am now glad to be home and sleeping again on my own bed. My friend and I did stop off at Paula Deen's restaurant - Lady and Sons. We opted to go with the buffet - which is one of those things that they warn you about at WW. That it is really tough to manage going through one of those without taking everything and then loading up on seconds. I can definitely say that at Paula Deen's that is the truth. I ended up loving the Mac and Cheese as well as the collared greens. But I resisted and did not go up for seconds. Which was good - because apparently the buffet comes with its on dessert selection - so I got a little bowl of banana pudding (which I also LOVE). Thankfully I left the restaurant full enough to not be hungry and yet not too full so that I couldn't enjoy another hour or so of walking around Savannah. What ultimately did send me to a nap was the fact that sleeping on the train wasn't too restful and I knew that we would be up late doing out bachlorette activities.

Ultimately I won't see the results until tomorrow's weigh in - but hopefully there will have been a wee bit of a loss.

Finally - the WOMAN challenge starts this Sunday - so if anyone wants to join my Sassy Strutter team - please go sign up.

So long 300's

This will be a quickie since it is almost 11:00 pm, I have to finish packing for a trip, and I am only just cooking dinner now.

At my weigh in tonight - I had lost 1 more pound. This means that I finally weigh less than 300. This is kinda huge for me. After having a really rough day - this news was definitely needed.

That's all.

Change can be Exotic

You've seen the commercials I'm sure - the ones that say that Weight Watchers is a change in lifestyle, not a diet.

I for one can vouch for that. There are many ways that I am changing my life in order to fit into this program. One of the biggest areas I am seeing change though is how I cook. Now I am one of those instinctual cooks. I can adapt or even create recipies on the fly - and often times I don't even bother to measure things. I throw in what looks to be a cup. It's probably not a great way to cook - but it sure does taste good.

Now that I am on WW, I've found that I need to change my ways. I need to find ways to make recipies healthy but flavorful. This is hards because it means switching over to using things like reduced fat cheese, fat free plain yogurt, wheat flour, etc. Things that I know are better for me - but that I have somehow drilled in my head do not taste as good. But I must overcome this food prejudice.

So last night I decided to try a WW recipie I found for Chicken Tikka Masala. (You can find the recipie here http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=96061)

I've never made Indian food, but I have to say that I do love eating it. Well, Thinking of Chicken Tikka Masala made me also hungry for the Indian spinach dish Palak Paneer. Paneer is this yummy Indian soft cheese by curdling whole milk by adding in Lemon Juice. Apparently you can totally make it at home, but it requires a lot of straining and pressing - which takes time and space - something that I didn't really have last night. Plus there is the your totally eating whole milk which defeats the healthiness of the spinach.

But I really wanted Palak Paneer. Luckily Laughing Cow Cheese wedges came to my rescue. So for all of you - here is Emily's healthy adaptation of Palak Paneer.

Emily's Palak Paneer

Ingredients:
4 tsp. canola oil
2 wedges Laughing Cow Light Creamy Cheese Wedges (traditional flavor)
2 tsp. cumin
2 cups Spinach
1 cup Onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
Salt
Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper

Preparation:
1) Heat up 2 tsp. of canola oil in frying pan. Cut up cheese wedges into little bits (6-8 bits each wedge). When oil hot, throw in cheese bits. Move cheese around in pan so doesn't stay in one spot - either using a spoon or by shaking the pan. After 3 minutes, sprinkle cumin over all cheese. Keep moving cheese for another 1-2 minutes. Transfer cheese to plate and set aside.

2) Wash and Dry spinach. You can either cut Spinach into medium chunks or use whole. Thinly slice small to medium onion so that you have 1 cup of thin onion slices. Mince up garlic (or if you are lazy like me, use already minced garlic from a jar).

3) Pour remaining 2 tsp. of canola oil into same frying pan, coat bottom of pan. When hot, throw in onions and garlic. Cook over medium heat until onions begin to look yellow and soft. Toss in Spinach. Stir onion, garlic, and spinach together until Spinach begins to wilt (about 2-3 minutes). Toss cheese back into pan with spinach and onions. Mix together and cook for another 2 minutes.

4) Season mixture with kosher salt, pepper, and crushed hot pepper (this final pepper is optional - it all depends if you want to add a bit of spice). Serve.

Now I ate all of my palak paneer, but I'm sure this could also be split into two servings. I just happened to be really hungry last night.

Hope you enjoy this healthy version of Palak Paneer.

Tracking My Progress

I've been trying to track the progress of my weight loss through various methods. One way is obviously tracking of weight. But you can also track by looking at how your clothes are fitting, and also by your general physical appearance. I have a tendency to lose weight in my face first. Anyways, now that I have a digital camera, I've been trying to track my weight loss through pictures.

Anyways, luckily I had some pictures taken in late November, just before I started this - so they are now my before pictures. I'm obvious the one on the left. The lady on my right is my dear old abuelita (lil' grandma in Spanish). As you can see, I am trying to disguise from the world my size by wearing black. It obviously did not work.

So here I am in February. Right after I got my new digital camera.

I really don't look that different from November. At this point I had only lost about 2-2.5 pounds. Yikes - look at that double chin thing I'm sporting.

But look here - we have progress. At least I think so.

This is about 5 pounds into the process. See the cheeks - they are a wee bit leaner. Shoulders may be a bit smaller too. Woo! And although I think this picture shows progress - I don't really like it.

Finally, this was taken a few weeks ago. Probably at about 8 pounds lost. But you can definitely see I'm losing weight (hence why it gets to be a bigger picture). Anyways - since then I have cut and dyed my hair and lost another 2 pounds. This was the first photo I've seen where I actually noticed any bit of significant change in my features. Anyways, hopefully I will have some new photos up after my trip to Savannah.

8 Medium Cantaloupes

This Wednesday marked losing my 10th pound. Actually - when you take into account that my first two weeks on Weight Watchers I ended up gaining about 2 pounds, I've actually lost a little bit over 12, but the net result since I have started is that I have lost 10.2 pounds. Here are some other things that weigh 10 pounds:

• 11.5 yards of heavy blue jean denim
• 10 boxes of butter
• 8 medium cantaloupes
• 2 sacks of potatoes
• 1 very big baby

Obviously it doesn't really look like I've suddenly taking 8 cantaloupes off my body or given birth to a very big baby (God help the women who do). But putting the weight into these images help me keep into context the amount of weight I have lost. It would be hard to carry around all the time 10 boxes of butter, but essentially that was what I was doing, but instead of that butter being in plastic grocery bag - it was spread out among my waist, my hips, my butt, my boobs, and my face. It's actually a horrific image when you start to think about it.

One of the reasons that I like Weight Watchers is that the goal is to change your lifestyle - not to just diet. Having worked in the cafeteria at an all women's college, I know get the hives when I hear the word diet. You would often hear girls saying, "I am totally going to gain 10 pounds because I put fat free cream cheese on my bagel. I need to go on a diet." Ok - that is a total exaggeration, but I did hear things like this - most often coming from these tiny tiny girls whose figures I would love to have myself. I think for a long time in my head I was thinking - "Screw that. I want to enjoy my food." So I ate what I wanted and when I wanted, finally ending up weighing 310 pounds in January. But the whole point of Weight Watchers is so you don't end up freaking out over consuming a tsp of mayo on your sandwhich. You figure out substitutions that don't change the taste, you eat freasher foods, and you make sure that you exercise. And pretty soon you find that these things make you feel better than eating 10 oreos.

If you think about it - it's really a mental game. One of the toughest mental games you will ever play. I've just happened to score 10 points on my opponent.

Actually Surprised

So yesterday was my WW weigh in and I actually managed to surprise myself. Despite my lack of sleep, questionable food choices, not logging in what I eat, and a whole slew of WW sins I committed last week - I managed to lose 1.8 pounds. This means I have lost a total of 9.6 pounds from when I started (woo hoo - only .4 pounds away from the 10 pound mark) andI am no 1.2 pounds away from saying goodbye to the 300's.

Getting below the 300 mark will be exciting for me. The last time I was there was after my first boyfriend broke up with me in 2002/2003. My friend Stacey then got me to join the gym at work a little before he broke up with me and I had been going there for a while. At that point I weighed something like 275. Anyways - after we broke up, I kinda threw myself into working out and actually got below the 250's (how exciting). Then I lost my job (qual tragedy). This also meant that I lost my gym. I think I was more upset about losing that gym than I was over the job. I eventually did get rehired by my company after a week or too, but I was put at a different location. It made it harder to go to the gym and join my friends. So instead of bucking up and being Ms. Independent - I quit going. Obviously that didn't work since I ended up gaining something like 60 pounds or something like that. So I will be very excited when I finally pass that 10 pound mark as well as that 300 pound mark.

Next week will also mark my 16th week on WW. 16 seems like such a small number, although really its 4 months. It could also be because this has probably been some of the toughest 4 months of my life. But it's been totally worth it.

Yesterday in my email I got an ad for a 5K race in Baltimore. I am not really a runner, although I think I could get into it. I've always been a little frightened of running because I was afraid it would set off my asthma. Of course, my asthma gets better as I lose weight. My ex boyfriend was a runner (this is the evil ex boyfriend, not the boyfriend that I actually miss) and he never really encouraged me to join him, but while we were dating and I was going to the gym (see above) I began to build up my running capabilities on the treadmill. Anyways, I would obviously have to start over from scratch, but I think I could train to do this. I may not run my entire first 5K, but I can definitely do a combo walk/run. That 5K will be on June 14th and benefits the American Red Cross. If you would like to join me, please visit http://images.membersforlife.org/rccm/lp.php?pg=1207679639&ooc=07e5127aa866171b9d633380a5545172-1262

Set Backs

This last week I have been feeling less than motivated in my health efforts. I know, I know, I have invested way too much into this to just give up now. It could be the allergies that are attacking my sinuses, it could be the blah weather, it could be that I went to my friend's birthday and got to have cake, sweet, cake and am now left with a serious SUGAR craving.

I miss sugar. Not as much as I miss my boyfriend, but I do really miss it. Of course, before this whole getting healthy experiement, sugar would be one of those things I would go for when I was feeling blue. Because seriously, you can't feel blue when you are ingesting a bazillion calories of processed sugar cane, especially when it is pink and in the shape of a pretty flower. But now I have to be careful about it because it turns out that sugar is a lot like crack. You have one sugary treat and then you need another and another and pretty soon I will have gained back all the weight I have lost and then some. No, I am NOT going to do that.

I have also been lax on my exercising. Not good. But like I said, allergies have hit me pretty hard and its been hard to breath. But since I've stopped exercising, I've noticed that I fall asleep later and I wake up later, and I move throughout the day all slow. It's really not good.

I have also not been a good food tracker. Yup, that too. It's like lately I have violated the 3 basic sins of Weight Watchers. But I want to get back on track. I think to do that, I may start posting what I am eating on this blog - just so everybody in the world can see what I am eating. So far today it's been 2 string cheese sticks and a WW soft bake chocolate chip cookie (breakfast of champions I'm sure). I have drunk 1 bottle of water (of which now I have to be afraid of the plastic compounds seeping into my system, thus making a third head grow out of my abdomen - Thanks TODAY Show). But my co-workers and I have ordered salads from a new salad place and that is better than eating pizza from the cafeteria. And today is weigh in. Earlier this week I was thinking I would go with my "Get out of Jail" card and not weigh in, but today I am feeling that I need to hold myself accountable and if that means that I gained back 2 pounds, then I need to see that.

I so want a quarter pounder

First a little background information on me:

Right before Christmas I lost someone I love, someone who no one expected to die because he was young. I didn't really want to talk about that experience here because it's just not the place. Here is what is pertinent about his death though - Neither he nor I were taking very good care of ourselves. We ate out a lot - especially foods that were pasta-y, cheesey, meaty (I probably did that more than him), and not very vegetable-y. We drank our fair share of soda and other sugary drinks. We fell asleep in front of the tv, and we didn't really exercise. Needless to say his death served as a kick in the pants. I joined Weight Watcher's on January 2nd and have been trying to improve my health. But like my leader says, "you didn't put on all this weight in a week, you're not going to take it off in a week."

I'm going to be honest with y'all. I started out WW weighing 310.8 pounds. To date I have lost a net 8.8 pounds. I'm obviously hoping that I will eventually lose a lot more.

Some days are really hard and in order to keep me on track I have to ask myself, "Am I ready to join my boy in heaven?" The answer is a difinitive NO.

We've been talking about triggers recently at WW. Trigger foods, Trigger events, Trigger feelings. Today I am having trigger feelings. If this was the SATs, the question: I am having family issues today which are making me feel a) worried b) angry c) guilty d) ALL OF THE ABOVE. The correct answer would be D. And that really makes me want a quarter pounder. But if I get a quarter pounder I will want some fries. And then I will want a quarter pounder this weekend, and then another one all next week. It'll just snowball, and next thing you know I will be back up 8.8 or more pounds.

Instead, I opted to drink water. A lot of water. And chew gum. And I chose to write in my blog. And now that I have gotten this all out, I feel a lot better. Although - maybe tonight I will buy a box of the new WW double chocolate snack bars. Those are delish - and there aren't a lot of things that even a little bit of chocolate won't make better.

Going Cross Country

So, I've been getting some questions from my friends about how the WOMAN challenge works. Specifically I've been getting the question - "What's up with the map?"

So here is the explanantion.

When you sign up for the challenge, they ask you to personally choose a route. There are 6 routes altogether and they cover just about every state (ok, maybe not every state - but probably a good three quarters). You use this route to track your progress on the challenge. If you are on a team like the Sassy Strutters - there is also a team route chosen by the leader (moi). This route tracks the team progress on the challenge. Personally I am following the Gulf and Carribean Route while the Sassy Strutters are following the Cross Country Route. So know you are probably saying, "Well duh! But how are they tracking our progress?"

You'll notice that each route is marked with about 8 little dots and in between each dot there is a little flag or arrow. Remember that.

During the beginning (Sunday) of every week during the challenge - each individual will need to set a daily activity goal. This can either be a step count goal (i.e. 7,000 steps/day) or a minutes spent on activity goal (i.e. 45 minutes/day). Each day you want to log in how you achieved your goal. Unlike when I was in 5th grade band (where I only recorded my practice times just before I met with my saxophone teacher), you want to log in your activity on a daily basis. Why you ask? Because of points.

Each individual has two opportunities each week to earn a point. Your first opportunity to earn a point is by meeting your daily activity goal 5 out of 7 days during the week. That gives you 1 point. You get the other point by logging in your activity 5 out of 7 days during the week. So you don't want to wait to post everything at the end of the week because then you won't get your point.

Now remember the arrows and dots on your route - here is where they come in. For every point you get in the week - you get to move to the next mark on your route. Ideally, you get two points and thus get to move from one dot to the next. However, if you only get one point - you will only move from a dot to a flag (or vice versa if you are starting on a flag). If you get your two points every week for the eight weeks of the challenge you will have made it the whole way on your route.

The team route works much the same way. The team receives one point if ALL their members compelte their daily actity goal 5 out of 7 days during the week and they received their second point if ALL their members log their activities 5 out of 7 days a week. This is why we all have to support one another and (constructively) hold each other accountable - otherwise our team will just end up chillin' in one spot (and hopefully that spot won't be in the middle of nowhere).

This year they have introduced Bonus challenges. I'm not sure what these are, but I do know that they will happen on the even numbered (2,4,6,8) weeks and that if you get behind they can give you points to catch up.

So I hope that this post clears up confusion on how the challenge works. Feel free to let me know if there are any other questions about the challenge you need answered before the challenge begins.

So far there are three people on the Sassy Strutters. I would like to increase our team size - so if there is someone you know who needs to get active - please feel free to pass on info about the challange and ask them to sign up for our team. I'll talk to you guys later.

On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!

If you are reading this, in all probability you are one of my friends who I have invited to come participate in the WOMAN challenge put on by US Department of Health. For those of you who don't know - WOMAN stands for Women and girls On the Move Across the Nation. Long name, long acronym. But one thing I have learned is that US government agencies love their acronyms.

The whole point of the challenge is to get people - specifically those of the female species - more active and as a result more healthy. One thing that has hit home to me this year is that you need to treat your body right if you plan on staying on this planet long, so that is my motivation for doing this. I started this year out by starting Weight Watchers for the second time in my life. Of course only attending Weight Watcher meetings or reading their website won't make you healthier. You have to change your life style. And that is a challenge on a good day. Thankfully I have a lot of friends out there who are not only supporting me, but also joining me on this journey. I'm even meeting new people along the way. You guys are all ROCK STARS in my book. I couldn't do it without this support group.

Anyways - it wouldn't be right if I just hogged my Rock Star support group to my self. So I've started this blog for us to share our efforts as we try to find healthier selves. I'm calling it the Sassy Strutters - in honor of the team I am putting together for the WOMAN challenge. If you are interested in joining the Sassy Strutters on the WOMAN challenge, please register at http://www.womenshealth.gov/woman/index.cfm . The challenge starts officially on May 11th. I will post more detailed information about the challenge on this blog as well. Although this challenge is only 8 weeks long - I plan on keeping this blog open as long as people want to read it.

If you would like to be a contributer to this blog - please let me know through the comments section. I promise to read them all and respond to them.

So I hope to see y'all out there!
Em