I'm baaaaaackkkkkkkkkkkk.. with good news!

I know, I know, I've been an inconsistent blogger. I guess I've felt a little more hands on than theoretical. Good news is that it's paying off.

Guess who's lost 75 lbs? You stand correct. It be me.

Just another 25 to go before I hit goal!!!!!!!!!!

I've been spending quite some time thinking about what I'd like to do career-wise. While I'm willing to return to school, I haven't quite found the direct route to what I want to do. Ideally, I'd like to be somewhat of a Weight Watcher leader but not contracted to Weight Watchers and more on an individual level. I'd really like to work with people that have struggled with food issues and help them towards a happier and healthier life. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears and eyes.

Happy Labour Day everyone!!!

Almost out of the plateau

I was down 2.2 lbs at the last meeting. This is good news for me as I'm now .2 away from hitting 70 lbs. I was a bit disapointed that it was a mere .2 away, but better next week where I can know that I'm safely in and not just on the nose. I've been juggling the same numbers for months and I'm just fed up. The only person responsible for this is me and I've got to kick it up and get out of this funk. I keep losing and gaining the exact same lbs over and over. The longer I keep doing this, the longer I'm financially tied to WW and that much longer from goal.

Next week will be celebratory. IT'S ONNNN!!!!!

Adios water retention!

I was down 6.2 lbs yesterday, so I've cancelled out that evil,evil gain. Food & "beverages" have been a challenge as it's birthday central this fine long weekend. I have a BBQ with the whole family at my parents house tomorrow, another birthday supper on Tuesday night, and then my very own birthday next Friday. I went out for breakfast with a friend of mine from the Weight Watchers meetings so it was easy to stay on track and make wise choices when you have that kind of company.

Let's see if I can at least stay the same this week. New work out is in effect. I love it, but my arse hurts :)

That's all folks. Gonna go read up on my bloggies!

Welcome to the 70's

I decided to switch things up this week and it worked.  Even though the foods I was eating were within my points range, my body was used to the daily menu. I also changed my workout schedule to going after work instead. I went to the gym three times this week instead of five.

I was down 4.8 lbs this week, so after a lonnnnnnnnggggggggggggg time in the 80's, I weighed in at 177 this morning. Goal is getting so much closer!

The only thing that comes to mind that I'm not too thrilled with is the thought of losing another food point. Somehow doesn't feel rewarding: " Hey, you lost weight and now you get to eat even less!". I cancelled out this thought with the fact that dropping a dress size as being the huge reward.

I'm a very tired and happy camper and am off to take a nap. The long week end has resulted in a lot of nights out and time with family. I'm running on three hours sleep right now and I'm feeling it!

Happy Passover & Happy Easter everyone!

I want to be a leader

I was down .04 lbs this week. I'm kind of frustrated with these miniscule gains and losses. I'm tracking, eating the right stuff, and am going to the gym religiously. Why can't I lose a normal amount of weight? I know I know, muscle mass. Everyone keeps telling me "muscle weighs more than fat, you know".

A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of bricks. The size of one pound of feathers in contrast to a pound of bricks is different, so essentially what I'm doing is just condensing my mass.

I'd really like to get out of the 80's. It's so close I can taste it. I'm just fed up of teetering around the same numbers. I'm going to try shaking up my diet this week to see if that will help.

On another note, this week's meeting was quite "interesting". The leader never showed up. Our regular leader has taken some time off and we've had a replacement for the last few weeks. The "weigh in" ladies did not know who the leader was supposed to be and were just as surprised as we were.

Instead of leaving, we made our own meeting and it was a lot more entertaining than the last few weeks with the replacement. I already knew what this weeks' topic would be from a friend of mine who goes to the Thursday night meeting so we just spoke about triggers, what to do when you don't have the tools that you need, and the best: what would you eat for the rest of your life if you could not eat anything else. The meeting actually ran a half hour longer just because of that topic alone.

One of the women there got pretty emotional when we finally realized that a leader would not be showing up. Her eyes welled up with tears and she said " You know, we all get up so early in the morning to come here and do something better for ourselves. We do this to improve our health, our general well-being, and we pay for this. We rely on this meetings to keep us going. I'm not concerned about being compensated for the lack of meeting, but am simply discouraged that I didn't have my weekly motivation".

Hopefully the meeting that we improvised helped. It made me realize all the more how it would be something I'd love to do once I reach goal. I would love to work for Weight Watchers part-time and help other people. That is definitely an added incentive to get there!

All better

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post- I'm getting sloppy! I`ve been thinking about everyone here and wondering how you`ve been doing weight loss/workout/motivation/everything-wise.

It took me a full week to get over my bug. I dragged my congested head in to WW last Saturday and was mildly surprised (relieved may actually be a better adjective) to find out that I was only up 1 lb. The freakishly alarming #'s that I spoke of earlier appeared to be around the 5+ range. I figured this could just be due to the added weight I was carrying around in my sinuses. I seemed to have been going through a box of tissue every day. I'm so thankful that's over!

Went to Weight Watchers at lunch today to weigh in and was down 2 lbs. I'm very happy and am inching my way closer to being out of this weight "decade". I've got a mild case of the when-will-winter-end blues and have been feeling kind of bummy. My workload is getting lighter and although I'm grateful for this, not to mention the fact that I work in the financial sector and I still have a job, but I still feel a little glum. I don't feel appreciated at the office. I've been putting in a ton of extra hours and I've been pretty much carrying the workload of five people. I do this because I care about what I do and I want to make sure our clients are well taken care of, but at the same time it would be really nice to get a mere thank you from my manager or some sort of acknowledgement for my efforts. Something as simple as "your hard work is appreciated" is all it takes. I'm not asking for a raise, or a big song and dance, but just a little appreciation would make all the difference.

To some extent, I feel like because I've shown them just how much I can do and am a constant over-achiever that I've somehow set this expectation from management. Even though others can get away with doing the bare minimum, I'm depended on to exceed and carry the weight. If one day I'm working at 190% instead of my average 200, eyebrows are raised.

Ah, I'll stop whining. The grass is pretty green on my side, I've just got to stop looking at everything in black and white.

Springs around the corner, I'll start to feel alive again. The countdown to flip flops begins!

Saturday Morning Weigh In

I was down 1.8, which officially eliminates my .6 & .8 gains and then some. I'm a happy camper!
I want at least a 2lb loss to report next week. I am oooonnnn!

I've started a six week challenge with some friends. We've all agreed to do our best to lose 10 lbs over the next six weeks. If we all hit that target, we're going out for dinner. Now, I know we're supposed to celebrate our weight loss triumphs with non-food rewards, but this is special. It's an excuse to have a celebratory dinner with friends and work together on a goal. We have six weeks to think of what we'd like to eat on that day. The whole deal is this: What would you really want to eat if it had zero consequences, no points to track, no hours on the treadmill etc etc.. That will be what you will have provided the 10 lbs is shed. Now there really is no way we can know for certain that each person lost 10 lbs, so we'll work on the honor system. Besides, it would feel kind of crummy to go knowing that you're lying to everyone there. The only one anyone would really be cheating is themselves.

On another note, one of the "Smart for Life" girls at work really proved that this diet isn't so smart after all. The poor thing ended up passing out at her desk. When she finally came to, I gave her a banana to eat to get her sugar up. When the paramedics arrived, they asked her if she had any history of blood pressure issues, diabetes, etc etc. I explained that she has been on a new weight loss regime. The paramedic grabbed the bag of cookies to read the nutritional information and his words were " What the bleeping bleep is this?!?!?!??!?! No wonder she fainted, her energy levels are depleted" The banana eventually worked it's magic and she managed to get a few more hours in at the office before going home.

The whole diet is as follows. Eat six of these cookies per day, followed by 3oz of lean meat (chicken or fish) and vegetables. You are guaranteed to lose at least 12 lbs a month. Each cookie counts for 100 calories, so at the end of the day you've only ingested 800 calories. This is absolutely insane. I could eat 800 calories a day on my own and save myself the $300/month it costs on cookies.

I work with four girls who are following this diet. I was getting a little fed up of them knocking Weight Watchers, because what they don't understand is that Weight Watchers is not a diet. It is a life style change. You will have to eat forever. You can't eat cookies forever. The brain has to be conditioned first and foremost. As much as I argue the benefits they are all simply looking for a get thin quick fix. I don't want to be there saying I told you so. It sounds mean, but I'm sort of glad something like this happened so they could see what kind of a toll this can take on your health.

I highly doubt that anyone who has ever been on a crash diet maintained the loss.

I voted for me

So, TOM had me up .8. No biggie. The meeting felt as if it was customized to me. This weeks topic was about elections. The leader gave each of us a piece of paper and instructed us to write down whether or not we voted for ourselves based on how our week went.

This is what mine looked like:

I tracked 6 out 0f 7 days
I drank my water
I did not exceed my points allowance
I worked out 4 times

I was up .8- I tried.

She picked up all the papers and read out the answers to tally up the Yes & No votes. When mine was read (anonymously), every person in the room had a comment to make and I felt so relieved. I was reminded that our body does not know that it is 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning and that it must perform. Had I weighed myself the following day, the .8 might not have been there. Hormones are a dangerous thing. Increased exercise can add to a gain, etc etc etc. My note was considered a YES vote because I did try, I stuck to the plan, which meant that I was thinking of me.

I spent years of my life not voting for me. I accepted how I was and let it become part of my identity. I accepted that I could not shop in regular stores. I accepted that I did not like my body. I accepted that I was exhausted after a 20 min walk home. I accepted that my feet hurt regardless of the shoes I was wearing. I accepted that I felt pale in contrast to others. I voted for everyone but myself.

February 15 2008 marked a change in my "self-politics". I decided to vote for me. I decided that I wanted change and the only person stopping me from it was myself. Not being one to trust politicians, the trust and confidence I had in my actions had to be earned. They all talk the talk, but once in power, they seldom deliver. Not in this case. I voted myself in and I will continue to do so. I am confident in my actions because I know what I want and am determined to see it materialize. There has been a dramatic difference in my appearance and confidence over the past few months. I am delivering the changes I wanted. I'd vote for me again.

Here's a fun little story about my attempt at renting a movie last night. The video store (archaic term, I know) does not provide membership cards. Instead, they take a picture of you to store on their records. I had forgotten about this. Last night around 11 I ran out in my pj's to rent a movie. I take the case to the the cash and the clerk asks me for my phone number. I see him glancing at his monitor, then back at me, then back to his monitor. I was confused. I was starting to think that maybe I had a late fee that I had forgotten about, or the movie I wanted wasn't in etc etc. " This is not your account" he says. I gave him my # once again. " I'm sorry miss, this is not your account". " Of course it is, my telephone number is bla bla, my address is bla bla" I snap back. Then it clicked. " Oh, my picture" I say, turning 50 different shades of red. "I've changed a bit since then" I explained. I showed him some ID and managed to convince him that it was indeed me. He didn't argue any further. I grabbed my movies and ran out.

That felt great.

Wedding

One of my closest childhood friends got married yesterday, and the Wedding absolutely wonderful!

I am so glad I was there to witness their union.

The whole day was really fantastic. I was down 3lbs, so I totally cancelled out last weeks 2.6 gain and then some! I may have just gained it all back at the Wedding though! We did have a 7 course meal, followed by cake & a sweets table! Since I was the designated driver, I didn't drink (although everyone else took huge advantage of the open bar), and I was the designated sweet eater!

One night of good food will not make me have a bad week. I am confident that this week will be another successful weight loss week.

Oh one last thing:

You go Montreal!!

http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080921%2fmontreal_bixi_080921

Boo to Weight Gains!

So I'm up 2.6 this week. I'm not going to beat myself up about it - I deserved it! The Miss " I love to run" of last week was Miss " I have cramps and I'm staying put on the couch" this week.

This was a terrible T.O.M. The water retention was absolutely insane. Now that I'm thinner, I can actually note swelling, and boy was it there. I noted a 5 lb weight increase on one day alone. I know very well to avoid salts, but the TOM devil spoke louder than my logic. I was not on track this week. I tracked breakfast & lunch, but somehow left out dinner & the snacks that followed. All I wanted to eat was chocolate/salt/sweet carbs. I swear if there was such thing as a Deep-fried chocolate covered salt cube, I would have been all over it!

I will be on track this week. I feel pumped. This was just a minor set back, and the W.I that follows TOM is usually a very very good one. I usually have 3-4 lb losses so I'll kick some but and make sure of it!

The Bachelorette part was a B-L-A-S-T!!!! I'm glad that we got to treat my friend like a real princess and have a real girls night. I'll try to post some pics soon.

Have a great week everyone! Don't do what I did!

OOPS. Forgot to add this link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21627769/?pg=1#TDY_Joy_Fit_Club_Sept08

AWESOME & MOTIVATIONAL ARTICLE. LOVED IT.

You might be a scale-freak if, prior to hopping on your scale: http://fattyfreeme.blogspot.com/

I read this post over an hour ago and I'm still giggling.

Back to Square One.. but it's a good thing

Todays' weigh in was a great success. Last weeks gain has been officially cancelled out. I lost 2.6 lbs this week, so I'm technically down .6 lbs. Yay!! Aunt Flo definitely played a role in last weeks gain, not to mention the "ginormous" loss the week before.

I had a one on one with my leader today, and we've set another goal to hit. My initial ten percent goal was 24 lbs. I'm going to aim for another 10%, so I've got 21 lbs to lose for my short term goal. We figured that based on my past performance, this should be achieved by September without question. I'm actually going to do whatever it takes to reach this by July 15. I figure that in the next 10.5 weeks I could achieve this. I'm totally up for the challenge. Hooray!!

I'm on a mission to try to lose about 2 lbs per week. I'm not going to question myself and say " can I do it?", I WILL DO IT.

If anyone has any suggestions for this, please drop me a line! I am determined to be able to wear a swim suit on the beach for my vacation. NO, I will not be wearing a bikini ( I don't want to offend anyone), but a tankini will be just fine. I don't want to be the one wearing shorts & a t-shirt. I'd actually like to go to a water park this summer. GD knows I've been avoiding those for the last decade.

The challenge begins!!!