One Pound at a Time

Starting Over

2011-08-29T13:32:00.000-05:00

Literally and figuratively.

Just for the Health of it

I've finally had enough...

2008-06-16T08:52:00.005-05:00

...of my pants feeling tight
...of seeing a horrid number on the scale
...of realizing that I was in fact 10 lbs lighter last June than I am now
...of feeling like I'm not giving it my all
...of totally pigging out on the weekends
...of drinking too many glasses of wine
...of overeating after consuming said wine
...of feeling anxious all the time due to these pounds creeping their way back
...of staring at the size 7 pants hanging in my closet that I never did get in to
...of going to the gym everyday but still not seeing results because of my disastrous weekends
...of the lack of structure in my diet
...of my lack of motivation, determination and accountability

So what am I going to do about it you ask?
I'm going to inject my food plan with structure. S-T-R-U-C-T-U-R-E. What a foreign concept! I think I've realized that my lack of devotion to the WW plan has allowed the pounds to slowly but surely creep back on. I am still carrying around some weight from our trip to Dominican and that is just not acceptable. My "one little ice cream, chocolate bar, piece of pizza, bag of chips" attitude has got me here and now it's time for for an overhaul. It's summer time and even the thought of going anywhere near my bikini gives me overwhelming anxiety. Fitted shirts that once showed off my small waist and flat stomach seem to be showing off mini love handles and a small pooch. Ugh. So it's finally time for me to do something about it.

Remember last May when I tried SFL (Simply For Life) Remember how focused I was...EVEN on the weekends? Remember when I lost 13 lbs in 3 weeks and kept it off for the entire summer? Remember how awesome I was then? Well I'm reuniting with my May 2007 self and these last 15 lbs will no longer be. This is supposed to be my Summer of Hotness and I'm ruining it with my cavalier weight loss efforts. So off I go.....
Tonight I will be spending the majority of my night preparing pastas, rice and tons of chicken, veggies and other foods with tons of protein. My menu tomorrow is as follows:

1 C Kashi Go Lean
1 C skim milk
1 C fruit

1 oz almonds

1 Cup stewed tomatoes and WW penne pasta
3 oz chicken breast (may add to pasta)
2 1/2 C of veggies (salad with fat free Italian dressing)

1 C watermelon

3 oz of chicken (BBQ'd)
1 C frozen California blend veggies
1 1/2 C brussel sprouts

1 C Jello

I know, the lunch looks like a massive amount of food...and it is. It's hard to eat it all the first few days but you would be amazed at what it does for your metabolism. Eating your main meal at lunch leaves you feeling over full and bloated for the first day or two but by day 4, your starving at lunch and not as much at supper. It's very interesting actually. I've tried this plan before and it works. I will post my menu everyday to help with accountability but you may notice that it looks similar each day. At least for the first 2 weeks. My one change to the plan this time around is that I am going to allow myself one cheat meal. Saturday night. I think I've realized that depriving myself entirely doesn't really work and that I will eventually break down and go wild. So allowing myself once meal to eat what I want will give me something to look forward to all week and knowing that I will have that one meal will allow me to stay focused the rest of the week.

So here I go. Day 0 of my perfect Summer of Hotness.

I totally Rock!

2008-06-12T08:10:00.005-05:00

Not only did I say no to ice cream cake....I said no to ice cream cake smothered in hot ooey gooey fudge! I seriously rock! To my husband's credit, he also resisted the cake (I think mostly just to support me but for the record, I would have stood my ground even with him chowing down on ice cream right beside me)

So we get to DQ last night after a very filling supper of Sheppard's pie and tossed salad (Yum!) and there is a huge cake there for 9 of us to celebrate Scott's uncle's birthday. So we do the sing and dance thing and then the cake is getting passed out. Huge pieces of delicious ice cream. hot fudge crunch and whipped cream. To top it all off, Scott's aunt ordered two huge containers of hot fudge for everyone to smother their cake in. Dear. Lord.

I politely decline the first piece that comes around to me and pass it on to Scott's father. Then I decline the next piece until everyone has a piece but Scott and I. Oh wait a minute, everyone turns and looks at Scott & I. Carolyn and Scott didn't get a piece of cake! As Scott's aunt starts cutting off a massive chunk of unnecessary fat and useless calories (this is how I must describe it to myself in order to truly convince myself that I wont' die without a piece) No thanks, no cake for me. WHAT!?!?! You don't want cake? No thanks. I'm quite full and I'm trying to be good. Then the huge hunk of cake is all of a sudden right under my nose. Are you SURE you don't want a piece??? Have a piece of CAKE! It's a BIRTHDAY! C'mon!!! Nope, none for me thanks. And that is how it all went down. Let June 11th, 2008 forever be known as the day when Carolyn took a stand against delicious ice cream cake covered in decadent hot fudge and WON!

Proud of me ladies?

After all that drama, heartache, and fuss over the cake, I jumped on the scale this morning to see NO loss form last week. Ugh.

I have decided that Monday I am jumping back on the Simply for Life bandwagon with serious determination. It won't be easy but the results will be well worth it and I'm to the point of desperation that I am ready to throw myself wholeheartedly into another plan. It worked for me last year, and it will work for me this year. I'll post more about it next week.

I can do it.....

2008-06-11T07:46:00.002-05:00

I can say NO to Dairy Queen ice cream cake. I know I can do it and I'm going to feel like a million bucks walking out of there with a belly full of diet Pepsi and not DQ Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard ice cream cake. I love a challenge right? And this one is going to be easy peasy.

So tonight we are going to Scott's parents for supper (Sheppard's Pie) and then the whole family is going to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cake for Scott's uncle's birthday. We are all meeting there at 7:00, right after dinner. So my plan today is to hit the gym right after work for some HIIT and lower body weights, then I'm off to Scott's parents for supper and on to DQ where I will treat myself with.....................................a diet Pepsi! :) I figure if I order a diet Pepsi (something I never drink during the week) it will feel like I am having a treat and it will be easier to pass on the cake. I've already made up my mind that I'm turning down the cake. I was a bit wishy washy last night but this morning when I woke up, I decided I didn't need the cake and if I'm going to make a stand against these last 10 pounds, I better get a backbone and start saying NO! (thanks). Also, I've told Scott that I am turning down the cake and he's agreed to jump on board too. Although I have a feeling he will have a piece anyway. (Sorry babe, but you tend to cave around ice cream) But that's not going to soften my stand against the cake. I've made up my mind and I'm a stubborn one so I'm sticking to it.

In other news.....
I had a great OP day yesterday. 20 mins elliptical at the gym and 20 mins interval Stairmaster. Wowsa! Want to work up a super sweat? Interval train on the Stairmaster. I also did 25 mins of weights. Overall, great workout.
Tonight I'm hoping to run for 30 mins and get in 20 mins of weights. I'm in a bit of a rush today so hopefully I can squeeze it in before it's time to leave for supper.
Last night I also made the Pumpkin raisin muffins again - sans raisins. Instead I added 1/3 cup mini choco-chips. Yum!! These could be dangerous to have in the house though. Scott ate 4 of them last night! Yikes. I had 2 (Boo me...but I had the extra points left over, however not the best choice to make late at night).

Can't wait to tell you all how much I rocked the No Cake Rule tomorrow!

2008-06-10T06:06:00.003-05:00

I feel so good about yesterday!

1. I stayed OP all day and turned down chocolate chip cookies TWICE!
2. I ran at 6.0 mph for 20 mins (I usually stick to 5.0 or around there but I felt like a challenge yesterday. I actually didn't find it that much harder to run 6 mph, I could tell my body was working harder but my breathing basically stayed the same, just more sweat) I also jogged for 5 mins, ellipticalled for 20 mins and did 20 mins of weights.
3. I went for a 20 min walk after supper. Nothing big but considering I just came home from the gym, it was nice to get a little extra exercise in after supper. We basically just walked to our mailbox which is once street down from us. We've decided to walk this every night, instead of stopping in with the car to grab the mail. Plus it's a great time for Scott and I to just unwind and talk about our days.
4. I stopped eating after supper. No unneeded snacks. Especially since supper wasn't until 7:00 last night, I wasn't even hungry...so why load up on useless calories right before bed?
5. Randi rocks and has totally kicked my butt into gear yet again. Her no-nonsense approach seems to be working on me lately. I actually thought of you Randi while I was saying no the second time to the choco-chip cookies
6. I didn't sleep a wink last night because Scott and I had a close call on the way home from the gym last night. We were driving on this long stretch of woods about 5 mins before my house. The speed limit is 80 kms , which everyone takes advantage of. So there we are cruising along and I see something coming out of the woods out of the corner of my eye. So I gasp really loudly and grab Scott's arm. There are cars behind us and a few coming towards us in the other direction as well. So Scott slams on the brakes just in time for this MASSIVE Moose to come barrelling out of the woods and across the street right in front of us. My first instinct was to lay on the horn so that everyone would pay attention and a) not hit the Moose and b) not slam into the back of our car. Apparently your not supposed to honk the horn at a Moose because they may charge. Luckily this Moose was more interested in getting to the woods on the other side of the road so he didn't pay much attention but Wow! I think it really shook me up because I thought about it all night long. If he had of been only 2 seconds later, we would have ran right into him. Ugh. I can't even think about it. It was the first time I've seen a Moose up close. They are so HUGE!
7. This post is so random, I don't even know where to go next.
8. I'm moving into another position at work in 2 weeks. It's a position I have worked in before and it looks like I'll have a much better shot at getting a permanent placement from this position so I am excited about it but it does mean giving up my own office. Right now I am a casual employee with the Province (Dept of Social Development, formerly Family and Community Services) so I would love to get some stability in my job. Here's hoping!
9. That's it for me today. I've got a physio appt & a dentist appt today. Lucky me!

Monday Monday...la la....la la la la

2008-06-09T06:08:00.004-05:00

Monday already? Seriously?

I must say I did pretty well this weekend, minus a few slip ups but I kept portion control in mind all weekend and even had a few minor NSVs over the weekend. Aside from the fact that I didn't get to see my hubby at all for the whole weekend (So yes, that means Scott & Carolyn day had to be postponed, boo) It was a pretty good weekend.

Friday we tried the Mexican Pizza recipe for supper and loved it! We even cut the points down further by using an extra large pita pocket for the crust instead of dough. I topped it with a little sour cream and it was sooo yummy. I think we may be having it again tonight. I was surprised at how filling it was too! Friday night was Scott's ball game and we were meeting the family at DQ before the game for an ice cream. I know I had resolved to get a plain ice cream cone but when we got there, the waffle bowls were calling my name. Keeping in mind though that they are a whopping 17 points EACH, I asked hubby if he wanted to split one with me. While he was shovelling it in, I spent time talking to my 2 year old niece and took 1 bite for his 2. So he ended up taking int he majority of the calories but I still felt like I got a treat.

Saturday Scott was out for the whole day helping a friend work on his house (which turned into an all day Sunday event as well) so I spent the morning cleaning the house and cooking up a few things and the afternoon was spent shopping with a friend. I got together on Saturday night with a few girls for a few glasses of wine and we ended up going out dancing so I'm pretty sure I burned a few calories on the dance floor. Hopefully I burned off the chocolate bar I had after supper and the 2 handfuls of chips. Ugh.

Sunday was a lazy day and since Scott was out for the entire day working on his friend's house, I ended up going out to brunch with the girls, where I did not make good choices at all. But I did keep portion control in mind and I stopped eating when I was full and even pawned the rest of my bacon off on my friend so I wouldn't sit there and pick at it. The rest of the day was pretty on plan. Weighed myself this morning and I'm right where I thought I'd be....but no where near where I want to be so I need to step it up. Summer is basically here! 2 weeks left in the Summer Challenge and I'm still hovering around the same weight. So for the last 2 weeks of the Challenge I'm kicking it up:

5 workouts this week AND next week so a total of 10 before the Challenge is done
I want to lose 3 lbs in the next two weeks. Completely doable.

We're in the home stretch. How are you ladies preparing for Summer?

2 New recipes!

2008-06-05T06:24:00.003-05:00

Well I completely stole them from Amy's & Mandy's blog but they are new to me.

So last night after working all day, hitting the gym for 30 mins of cardio and 30 mins of weights, and after spending almost 2 hours roaming around the grocery store, checking out new products, I finally came home and hit the kitchen to spark up some creative geniusness. What's on the menu?

Red Lentil Curry & Pumpkin Raisin muffins

Both are sooo good! The curry isn't what all what I had expected but I had it with rice and veggies for lunch and it was super tastey. Next time, I may add a little sour cream like Amy suggested. For some reason though, mine came out pretty thick, more like a paste. Still yummy though. The muffins are great but next time I think I'll try a different type of raisin. The once I bought are maybe too big??

Yesterday I did the worst thing ever! Got to the gym, all psyched up to sweat it out. I get to the changing room, haul all my gym crap out of my bag and start undressing.....then I reach for my workout pants. Wait...where are my pants? I pause to retrace my getting-my-gym-bag-ready steps from that morning and realize I left them in the dryer! ARGH. I'm here, I want to workout but I'm wearing dress pants. Grrr. And I have about 1 hour before I have to be at Scott's parents for supper. Crap. I wish I had some amazing story about how I overcame this minor obstacle and magically turned my dress pants into a pair of workout capris but I don't. I just left the gym. Booo me. But life happens sometimes right? I was hoping to get in a walk when I got home but we didn't get home until late so I settled with a vow of kickassness (yes, I realize this is not a word) for the gym tonight.

Finally it's Friday!

Weekend plans:

Tonight we are having Mexican Pizza for supper, yet another recipe stolen from Mandy.
Can't wait to try this one out. Looks sooo good. I might throw on a little taco seasoning too. I'm a little surprised that wasn't any on there, and maybe a few black olives too. Yum. I'll let you know how it turns out. After supper is DQ with the family (I'm ordering a small plain ice cream cone) and then Scott's soft ball game is from 9:00-12:00am. It's supposed to rain so I might just putter around at home.
Saturday Scott is out all day and night helping a friend work on his house so I'm flying solo for most of the weekend. Not much planned. Hoping to get in a little shopping with the girls and possibly go out dancing tomorrow night. I might try out a few new recipes tomorrow if I'm home for most of the day. I always feel so productive when I cook in the mornings.
Sunday is Scott & Carolyn day. Just the 2 of us. We might head out for a hike and a picnic. I love Scott & Carolyn days, my favorite days! (How cheesy am I right now?)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Terrific Tuesday

2008-06-03T11:14:00.002-05:00

1. I feel awesome today. No reason. The sun is out, it's warm. I like my outfit and my pants don't feel tight at all. I'm having one of those days where this whole weight loss journey actually seems possible, like I know I can do it, I just need to set my mind to it. (Aren't those the lyrics to some old 80s song?)

2. I bought the stuff today at lunch to make Red Lentil Curry. Got the recipe from Amy's blog. My kitchen is feeling neglected and the meals that I am popping out are BORING. Need to spice things up a bit. I just bought the ESBM cookbook and have only tried ONE recipe so far. Tonight, I'm going to pick 2 new recipes to try out this weekend.

3. I went over my point range yesterday without even knowing it. Guess it pays to journal, huh? I also felt like I had NO energy at the gym. I ran for 10 mins and then gave up. Boo me. To my credit, I could feel the blisters coming back on the arch of my feet so I jumped on the elliptical. I NEED to buy new sneakers this weekend. No ifs ands or buts. I did 50 mins of cardio yesterday and no weights. Boo me again.

4. I'm going to go see Sex and the City tonight with 3 other girls. Can't wait. In order to avoid the popcorn and candy, I bought a bag of baby carrots to munch on. Yay me! I also packed a supper instead of hitting up Wendy's or Tim's with the girls. I cooked some chicken on the BBQ last night, cut it up and I'm having a chicken and veggie wrap with fat free Ranch dressing for supper.

5. I ordered the Cheat to Lose Diet book from Amazon and got it on Saturday. You may have been reading about it on Angie's blog. I haven't started reading it yet but I'm anxious. The only thing that scares me is the first three weeks are cleansing, no cheats, no wine. That is big for me. I do loves me a glass or two of wine on the weekends. And with Summer here, we have something planned every single weekend. It usually involves wine and food. But if I'm going to get serious for Summer, I have to make some sacrifices right? So tough though. Obviously I need to do something since my weekends have been out of control. What do you ladies think?

6. I am almost 100% positive on signing up for a 5K on Canada Day, July 1st. Scott said he would sign up for it too but he runs quite a bit faster than I do but that's ok, he can wait for me at the finish line. If I'm going to do it, I HAVE to get some new kicks asap. I keep doubting that I can do it though and chicken out. I know I can do it....I just need to work myself up to running 5K. How long does 5K usually take anyway?

Monday Monday

2008-06-02T07:46:00.009-05:00

My weekend went by pretty quick. We were so busy all weekend that we didn't have much time to relax and enjoy ourselves.

Friday I was in another town for work and I met my Dad there for supper. We went out to a greasy diner type place but I ordered a salad and a grilled chicken and veggie wrap so I did pretty well there. Friday night was Scott's ball game so we went to watch. Had 2 glasses of wine after the game and 1 cooler. More points than I wanted to use but oh well. I was starving by the time we left the game and was CRAVING greasy cheesy pizza but I suggested Subway instead. Got a 6 inch turkey sub (although I could have easily polished off a footlong) and stuck with diet Pepsi. YAY me!

Saturday I had a pretty low point day. I was busy getting ready for a family reunion for Scott's family so I didn't have much time to munch. Ended up skipping lunch altogether in favor of making 30 homemade hamburgers. Supper was a BBQ at our place. Had potato salad (not much), 1 hot dog, a handful of chips and a bunch of veggies, and a few crackers snuck in there too. But I think over all I did pretty good for the day. I also made the Angel Lush Cake that I saw on Angie's blog. I topped it with blueberries instead of strawberries and it was SOOO good. Oh and I made the angel food cake instead of using a store bought one. So mine was only 2 layers but it was much bigger. Love this cake. It's absolutely perfect for a Summer BBQ type event because it's very light and yummy. Won't weigh you down. Overall, I could have done SO much worse at the BBQ. I kept my portions small and stopped eating when I was getting full. HUGE accomplishment for me. I did indulge in a few glasses of wine though. Probably more than I should have.

Sunday is usually my downfall but this was the best Sunday by far and my worst indiscretion was a chocolate bar. I know, still not stellar but my typical Sunday involves chocolate and chips and Delicsio Pizza and ice cream (I crave the sweets after a night of a little too much wine) So I definitely improved this weekend. Scott even asked if he should go to the store for more treats and I said no way and made a yogurt/milk/fat free chocolate pudding/fat free whipped cream milkshake which was just as good and half the points! Yum!

I'm anxiously awaiting for Randi to post today! Congrats on your Tri Randi! Can't wait to hear all about it.

Day 3

2008-05-28T09:53:00.002-05:00

So within the Summer Challenge, Randi and I are counting down the days left and trying to pump up the momentum a little. Jaimie is joining in too and has challenged herself to 20 workouts in the last 28 days of the challenge....and I, of course, am following suit! 20 workouts in 28 days. Today is Day 3 of the last 28 days and I unfortunately missed the gym yesterday. With good reason of course. I had to travel 1.5 hours out of town to get a root canal done by a specialist. $1500 later....yes $1500. Seriously? Yowsa. Ugh. Move on Carolyn.

Right....so we now have 26 days left in the challenge. Are you still challenging yourself? Pushing yourself? Still motivated? Still keeping your goals in the back of your mind? If not, Smarten up Ladies! Summer is just around the corner. So run the extra mile, stay on the elliptical for an extra 10 mins, lift an extra set or just say no to the timbits flying around your office (I just did!). Do I sound like a cheesy infomercial yet??

If you haven't checked it out yet, Angie is completely 100% motivated and throwing herself wholeheartedly into a new meal/exercise plan that will no doubt have her looking radiant in her wedding dress. Check it out, her dedication is contagious! Scott and I are even thinking about ordering the book and trying out the plan. It certainly makes a lot of sense when you do some research on it and I even have a friend who joined Body for Life a few years ago with her hubby. And boy, did it ever work for them! My only reservation is the cheat day. I know, that sounds like the best part right? But I think of how much junk I could eat in one day and it scares me! Can you really eat junk all day for one whole day and still lose weight? This plan says you can, and who am I to judge? I'm going to think about it for a few days and see if I can find the book.

That's it for me today ladies!

Maybe....Just maybe....

2008-05-27T06:59:00.004-05:00

I'm in better shape than I give myself credit for.

So yesterday I get to the gym after work and decide to mix things up a little. I'm planning on 30 mins of cardio and 30 mins of weights. Cardio first.....I sign up for a treadmill. 5 min warm up. Maybe I'll try running? Just 10 mins. I can do 10 mins right? So I set the treadmill at 5mph (I know, not super fast but it's still a pretty fast pace for a non-runner with really short legs) Typically when I try running, I used to get out of breath after about 5 mins and have to slow down. Either that or I give up when I get tired of my butt bouncing up and down over and over again. So a friend jumps on the treadmill beside me and starts running too. After 10 mins of running, I feel my body starting to warm up but to my utter surprise, I'm not out of breath in any way and I'm able to hold up a conversation with my friend just as if I was walking. Hmmm. Odd. This has never happened before. Granted I haven't tried running in about a year or so but a year ago, I could only get through about 8 or 9 mins before I had to slow down. Let's shoot for 15 shall we? 15 mins pass and here I am....INCREASING the speed a little. Still gabbing to my girlfriend about a future shopping trip and how much our men suck for having super fast metabolisms and being able to eat whatever they want. Before I know it, the clock on the treadmill says 35 mins. That's when it hit me.....I have been running for 30 mins straight, maybe I'm in better shape than I give myself credit for! Sweet! Cool down for a few mins and then off to weights. I think I experience the ever elusive "Runner's high" because I felt sooo energized and completely proud of myself.

Then 10 mins later, I noticed the arch in my foot is really sore. After my weights, when I get to the changing room, I notice that I have 2 big blisters right under the arch in my feet. As an inexperienced runner, I'm really not sure what this means other than that I probably need to invest in some new running sneakers. All you avid runners out there.....any advice, suggestions? What am I looking for when I shop for some new kicks? I know you can go and get an assessment done at the Running room but for someone who's not intensely serious about running, I don't want to fork over a massive amount of dough. I would love to incorporate running into my weekly plan but want to do so with minimal cost. What am I looking for? or what's wrong with my current sneakers? I'm pretty sure it's because they are about 2 years old. They never gave me blister when I ran in the before....

So I am counting down the days until the end of the Summer Challenge (and so is Randi!). I am staying accountable everyday for the next 26 days. Yesterday was Day 1. 26 days to go. 26 days to a leaner and fitter (sooo not even a word) body. 26 days for me to smarten up and hold myself accountable.

In 26 days:
The scale will be show me a kind and wonderful number
My pants will fit better
I will feel confident in my bikini again
I will look back on the last 26 days and know that I stayed accountable, even during the weekends
I will be see & feel the results of incorporating weights into my routine
I will finally take the tags off those size 7 pants that have been hanging in my closet for the past 3 months.

Here we go ladies, we're in the home stretch!

Scary Scale....

2008-05-26T06:13:00.003-05:00

This weekend was better than the last few have been but certainly was not perfect.

We were on the run all weekend so we ended up eating out 3 times! Ugh! We made a pact though last night that we will limit the eating out to once MAX per week and it has to be somewhere good like Subway or another place that has healthy options. We used to eat out all the time (fast food about 4 or 5 times a week) before we started WW and I find we are slipping a little and getting back into eating out instead of preparing and bringing snacks or a sandwich with us. Friday night was Subway. Not bad, turkey sub with tons of veggies and sweet onion sauce. Mmmmm. I did eat a whole footlong though...I was starving! Saturday we went to Quizno's and got the Tzatziki Chicken sub and flat bread BBQ chicken pizza. Very tastey. Sunday we were out of town for a funeral so we stopped at a diner along the way and I got a chicken and veggie wrap. But the chicken was fried and the ranch dressing was full fat so I didn't really even consider this a healthy option. Blah. To my defense, it was the healthiest option on the menu. Everything else was deep fried (probably twice over to warm it up) and came with french fries or poutine.

I need to get control here ladies. Why have I been slipping so much on the weekends? It's been a year of hovering around the same weight and now the weight seems to be slowly but surely creeping back on. In May of 2007 I was exactly 10 lbs lighter than I am now. How did that happen? I know how it happened:

Weekends full of, but not limited to, the following:

Wine, chocolate bars, ice cream, big feet/hot lips, pizza, garlic fingers, chips, more wine and more JUNK!

I know I have been saying this so often lately but after my scale scare this morning, I really have been psyching myself up all morning. Telling myself I have to get serious. In May of last year I was EXACTLY 10 lbs lighter than I am right now. 10 lbs! That is scary. 10 lbs is a lot and it certainly shows. I never really realized it until I took a good look in the mirror and I started remembering how my pants used to fit. How flat my tummy used to be. How great I used to feel.

So I'm going to start journaling everyday on here to help with accountability. On the weekends, I'm going to plan out my 35 bonus points and stick to them. Do you know how long it's been since I've had a weekend where I stayed within my 35 bonus points. Probably about 6 months. Can you imagine? 6 months?!? No wonder I'm gaining weight! I'm a saint all week and then a devil all weekend. Not a good balance. Not a balance at all really.

So here I am.

Journaling. EVERYTHING.
I have almost 4 weeks left in the Summer Challenge and I'm going to attack this last 10 lbs.

1/4 C Kashi Go Lean Crunch
1 C All Bran
1/2 C blueberries
1/2 C Skim milk
Flavored coffee with sugar (ran out of Sugar Twin)

Fruit to go Raspberry (fruit leather)

Tuna Sandwich
(weight watchers bread)
1/2 C Vanilla Yogurt mixed with 1/3 C Fat Free Cottage Cheese and 1/2 C blueberries

1 apple

Tuna Sandwich
(again)
4 point pasta frozen dinner
(I know this is not a great option and wayyyy too many carbs but we are staying in town after work for ball practice and I forgot to prepare something last night to bring with me for supper. At least there is some protein in there.)

Total points: 20

I may have a snack when we get home from Scott's ball practice. Either yogurt or fruit.

27 Days left in the Summer Challenge. 27 Days to make a good run at 10 lbs. I'm not expecting it all to come off but I am hoping for a loss of 5-7 lbs. I'm going to start weighing in on Saturday mornings to help myself stay accountable during the weekends. So here I go.....

Summer Challenge Update....Where are you girls??

2008-05-23T08:31:00.003-05:00

Ok. So we are halfway through the Summer Challenge.

4 weeks down, 4 weeks to go.

How have you ladies been doing? Time to anti up.

If you've been rocking it, keep it up. If you've been kind of wishy washy, you've got 4 weeks left to kick it up and accomplish your goals and if you have completely forgotten what the Summer Challenge was all about.....time to seriously refocus, you have 4 weeks left until Summer! Remember Summer? That season that comes every year, where it gets really hot and humid and you wear way less clothing and an occasional bathing suit? Remember the shorts and tanks tops and cute summery outfits, the BBQs, the bonfires, the frozen drinks? It's all right around the corner so smarten up and start preparing. Envision the best summer of your life. One where you feel confident and sexy and you wear that bathing suit with pride. That great Summer where you see the results of all your hard work staring back at you from the mirror. 4 weeks is still a long time. In 4 weeks you can totally make a huge difference. You could be a whole pant size smaller in 4 weeks. All it takes is a little hard work....ok a lot of hard work but you wouldn't have signed up if you don't like a challenge, right?

So update me and all your fellow challengers.

How are you making out with your goals? And what is your plan for the next 4 weeks?

Quick refresher course on what you planned to do in 8 weeks when we began.....

Jen - wants to log 52 workouts & to follow the 8 healthy guidelines
Randi - wants to follow structured food plan, follow exercise plan and to lose 1 inch from her waist.
Kelly - wants to exercise at least 3 times a week.
Shannon - wants to be 130 lbs
Shelley -wants to see the 140s again
Jenn - wants to lose 8 lbs and be a "buff bride" Anneliese - wants to lose 13 lbs to bring her to the big (well actually, small) 145
Leigh Ann - wants to follow Canada's food guide, lose 12 lbs, and drink all daily water before hitting the diet Pepsi
Jaimie - wants to log in 52 days of following the 8 healthy guidelines!
Jennifer - wants to get back into size 10 AE shorts, log a 40 min run 3 times a week
Christina - wants to lose 10 lbs and to exercise 5 days a week
Vanessa - wants to lose 8 lbs and log in 1500 mins of exercise S
Suzi - wants to exercise 5 times a week and lose 12 lbs
Brittany - wants to lose 22.4 lbs and get in some sort of physical activity 5 times a week
Marissa - wants to exercise 5 times a week and be able to run 7 miles without stopping or walking
Neha - wants to exercise 4 times a week and lose 12 lbs
Fatinah - wants to lose 8 lbs
Seabreeze - wants to avoid emotional eating and to take part in an 8k race on July 27.
Krista - wants to fit into summer clothes, lose 7 lbs and exercise 6 times a week.
Caroline - wants to lose 19.6 lbs and to exercise 4 times a week
Sonya - wants to lose 10 lbs, & exercise 32 times
Carrie - wants to exercise 5 times a week, lose 18lbs, & do sit ups before bed 5 times a week SarahSundae - wants to lose 15 lbs and exercise 5 times a week
Deborah - wants to be able to climb her very steep driveway without stopping (Nice goal!)
Angie - wants to see that magical 163 on the scale
Jeannie - wants to lose 10 lbs, exercise 4 times a week and to be able to run 25 mins straight Healthy Mummy - wants to lose 10 lbs and exercise 5 days a week for 1 hour
Cara - wants to lose 12 lbs and wants to be able to run 5K
Amy - wants to lose 10 lbs and exercise 5 days a week Sara - wants to hit her 10% goal and lose 8 lbs Scott - to log in 40 workouts
Sparky - wants to lose 6 lbs
Kimberly - wants to lose 7 lbs and drink at least 2 L water a day
Christy - wants to lose 5 lbs, exercise 4 times a week and try a new recipe once a week (love that one)
Eurydice - wants to log 15 mile of running per week and try out a new veggie every week. Carolyn - to exercise at least 5 times a week and to find some balance on the weekends. Count ALL points. Post Dominican goal-lose 10 lbs.

***My update:
With the exception of the week I was in Dominican, which doesn't really count for me. (Hello? It's Dominican ladies!)
I have exercised every week 5 times a week. Monday to Friday I have been a total gym rat.
My weekends......could be better. BUT they have been getting better (I DID say no TWICE to DQ blizzards last weekend) and I'm trying to be more conscious of limiting my weekend treats instead of just having a free for all. So I'd give myself a C+ on that goal and an A+ on my gym goal. So far I have lost between 6 and 7 lbs post Dominican so I'm getting there for my 10 lbs goal. Over grade? B

Here's your chance ladies....whether you get to brag or you have to confess your sins. Let it out.

Workout Revamp

2008-05-22T08:49:00.006-05:00

I seriously love you guys. Thanks so much for the tips on revamping my exercise routine.
I spent a good chunk of yesterday doing some research on High Intensity Interval Training and I'm totally psyched. I started off pretty slow last night at the gym but I think I'll really like it. I do believe I'm going to have to invest in a heart rate monitor though because there's really no way for me to know what my heart rate is at any given time. Any suggestions on picking one up? I've look briefly on ebay but I might take a look around at a few local sports stores too.

I've decided to hit the gym 5 times a week and do HIIT on three of those days. On those days I will do 30 mins HIIT and 30 mins strength training. I started with the strength training last night. One of my best friends is home from out West for 6 weeks for a work placement and she is a huge gym rat with a bodybuilding boyfriend so she is showing me some strength stuff. AND she has a membership to my gym! YAY! So last night we did lunges, LOTS of squats, and a little bit of ab work and a few plank positions. It's so great having someone else who is really motivated. I wish she would move home to stay!! Although my hamstrings are killing me today but I love it. It's been sooo long since I've been sore after a workout and I know I NEED to get some strength training into my workouts.

Eating has been good, well great actually. Went to get some groceries last night and did not buy ANY carby snacks. No All Bran bites, no Fiber Source bars. However I did buy an angel food cake mix and a can of pumpkin. I'm wondering if it would turn out well if I threw these things together with some pumpkin pie spice? Anyone try it before? Cupcakes maybe? I actually bought the angel food cake mix so I could make an Angel Lush Cake that I stumbled across on Angie's blog. Instead of using store bought angel food cake, I though I'd make my own, use rounds cake tins and make it a 2 layer cake instead. Sounds yummy though and it's perfect for a Summer BBQ. Mmmmm BBQ.

I also have to add today that Randi rocks. Everytime I have a question regarding exercise or diet, she's all over it and has a definite opinion one way or the other. I don't always agree with her opinion and sometimes her opinion totally puts me in my place and kicks my butt but I can always count on her to be completely 100% honest all of the time and really...you don't find that very often these days! Thanks Randi! (plus she totally knows she rocks and I love that about her!)

and a HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my girl Christy! She's celebrating with a aLatte! That's an NSV if I've ever heard one.

Getting Serious...

2008-05-21T07:00:00.002-05:00

Too many random thoughts to actually form paragraphs today so here we go...

1. Thanks ladies for all your wonderful comments on our Punta Cana pics. We are already planning our next trip down South for next March...we are thinking Jamaica (actually it's not really our choice since our good friends are getting married down South and we are in tow with them, but THEY are thinking Jamaica.) Anyone been? Suggestions?

2. I need to seriously re-evauluate my diet. Weekend splruges were far too many and included: wine, small handful of chips, 2 brownies, 2 slices of pizza, 1 cookie, 2 chocolate bars (yes 2!) and onion rings. Granted this was over the course of 3 days people. But added up, it looks like a massive amount of JUNK! It should also be noted that I did say NO to DQ blizzards 2 times this weekend.

3. I need to get rid of the processed junk in my lunch. All Bran bites, Fiber Source granola bars. Yuck. I know they are low in points and that's why I love them so much but they can't be good for me. I'm hoping to buy more fruit this week...anyone have any other suggestions for snacks that aren't high in carbs or sugar? Somethin I can whip on on the weekend and take with me for snacks all week long?

4. I also need to start doing some research on exercise. How do I get the most bang for my buck at the gym? Lately, I have been doing 20 mins bike, 20 mins elliptical and 20 mins Stairmaster and every other day I do 20 mins of abs on top of that. I know I need to incoporate weights. I'm starting this next week but....should I do 30 mins cardio, then 30 mins weights 5 times a week or should I do 3 days of cardio 60-70 mins cardio sessions and 2 days of weights. It's so confusing to me. Also, is it better to do 30 mins of cardio a day, everyday, 7 days a week? or do you get more benefit from 60 mins cardio intervals in one day 3 or 4 times a week. See? Confusing.

5. I had homemade Chili for lunch. Yummm.

6. I just spent an hour reading and catching up on a new blog. Check out Lex. It's seriously like reading my own blog, we have so much in common!

7. It's very dreary here today and I just feel like cuddling up on the couch with a movie or a good book. For the first time in a long time, I really don't want to go to the gym. But I will. I'll force myself. I'll go and I'll kick some serious butt. Then I will feel much better.

8. Is it Friday yet? Why do short work weeks feel so long after a long weekend?

Punta Cana Pics

2008-05-19T15:32:00.017-05:00

As promised.....

Finally, the bikini pics

The happy couple

My handsome hubby

Awwwww

Getting nice and crispy

Mmmm Coco Loco's...

Before a show..

Another bikini pic

First day on the beach...that is a sunken ship in the water behind me

Ughhh...So tired...

2008-05-14T13:41:00.002-05:00

of feeling bloated! I honestly feel like I have been forced to wear a fat suit for the last 4 days.
Monday I felt back on track and better than ever and even though I've been eating within my points and going to the gym (yesterday was 50 mins of cardio), yesterday and today I have felt like a total blimp. I'm so bloated! I think the Dominican food is catching up with me. TOM is also kicking around so that may have something to do with it. But Wowsa, I feel pretty awful. Isn't that the worst feeling, when you can feel your tummy protruding but it's so sore and bloated that you can't really do anything about it?? I can't even eat my afternoon snack today because I just don't think there's any room in there. Blah.

On a positive note, since I'm taking a cue from Christy and trying to be more positive. I got my Dominican pics from my broken camera. Scott was able to get the card read and the pics saved to a CD so I'll get to check them out tonight and hopefully post some tonight or tomorrow night. I long for those days again, I can't even imagine putting on my bikini now!
Another positive note, my wedding rings feel loose again. So I know that most of my awful bloatness is probably from re-introducing a ton of fiber back into my diet rather than from lbs gained in DR.

I'm all caught up on your blogs now and I'm so glad to see that most of you are still tracking your Summer Challenge progress. One of my goals was to keep track on the weekends so this weekend will be the big test. Worst weekend ever to do it since it;s a long weekend but I'm going to give it all I got.
Friday night is stay in movie night with hubby so I should be good there. One small treat and that's it/ Nothing more than 5 points.
Saturday night one of my best friends is home from out West so we're having a girls night, drinks and lots of dancing. This may get difficult but I'm thinking of drinking flavored Vodka and Crystal light instead of wine to cut down on the calories. Also I was going to make a cheesecake for her as a welcome home thing but maybe I should hold out. I know I'll just end up eating too much of it anyway so maybe I'll bring something else. Any suggestions?
Sunday I will be slightly hungover which means trouble. BUT I'm hoping to try a new recipe on Saturday to have on Sunday so if the food is already made and ready, I won't want to waste ti so it should help me stay on track.
Sunday night Scott and I are going to the drive-in movie theatre. Triple bill on long weekends and it's so fun! This may pose a problem because a) I will still be slightly hungover b) the concession stand sells very yummy onion rings c) what's the drive-in without greasy food and chocolate. So I will allow myself a treat on Sunday night IF and only if:

1. I'm good on Saturday night and don't eat any fast food or chips or junk
2. I'm good all day Saturday and Sunday. Regular lunches and suppers
3. My chocolate treat does not come from the Bulk Barn. Portion control is out the window at this joint and narrowing my choice down to one thing is impossible so I always end up getting way more.

That's it for me today!

I'm Back!!!

2008-05-13T06:26:00.003-05:00

Not that I really want to be.....although I am happy to be home, I'd much rather be soaking up the sun on a white sand beach right about now.

What an AMAZING trip! Scott and I had the time of our lives. There was tons of drinking and eating and laying on the beach, dancing, relaxing, snorkeling, kayaking, boogey boarding, swimming with sharks and sting rays, shopping, more eating, more drinking and it was all soo much fun! It was soo nice to get away for a whole week with my favorite person in the world.

Scott and I flew into Halifax on Sunday morning at 5:00am into a snow storm! Seriously??!??! Scott and I in our flip flops and shorts and tank tops, walking through the slush and snow was not a pretty sight. Stupid winter, go away already.

Side Note: My damn camera broke as soon as we got back to Saint John so I can't get my pics off it. As soon as I do, I'll post a few of me in my Dominican bikinis!

So now I am home. And it's time to pay the piper. About 8 lbs worth of paying. Ugh. Would I do it all again though? Yup, in a heart beat. But I can't, I have to buckle down the hatches and get serious. Summer is on it's way and I'm ready to kick some serious butt and jump on the Summer Challenge bandwagon. I'm adding a poundage goal to my Summer Challenge. At first I was very reluctant to set a goal weight but I'm confident that I'm setting one that I know I can reach as long as I stick to the plan and be good on the weekends. There are 6 weeks left of the Summer Challenge and I think that 10 lbs is a reasonable goal. I'm assuming (and crossing my fingers) that I'll see a pretty big loss this week and maybe next week too since weight that goes on fast usually tends to come off pretty quickly. I already feel like I am "deflating" a little.

I totally rocked Monday although I was tempted to stay in "vacation mode" and eat a few measly chocolate covered almonds from the lunch room. But I didn't & I did great. Ate lots of fruit and veggies and protein and to top that off, I went to the gym and worked out for over an hour and a half! 75 mins of cardio and 25 mins of abs. Take that 8 lb vacation gain! Pack it up and get out!

Can't wait to catch up on you ladies and find out how everyone is doing with the Summer Challenge. Don't forget to e-mail me your progress so I can update everyone on how you are doing! I'll post an update on Thursday so get to me before then if you want your progress posted. Thanks ladies!

The Eve of Punta Cana

2008-05-01T06:03:00.003-05:00

We leave tomorrow on the big trip...so unfortunately that means I won't be posting for over a week (We don't get back until the wee hours of May 11) and even more unfortunately, I won't be able to catch up on your blogs until I get back. But maybe the sun and sand will help compensate for my lack of contact with Blogger....I think it might :)

I'm so psyched though to read all about your goals and accomplishments with the Summer Challenge on all of your blogs. Last night the Summer Challenge (and the fact that I will be wearing a bikini in 2 days) saved me from a late night snack attack. I actually had my hand in the granola bar box but pulled it out and got a glass of water instead. By the way...has anyone tried the Fiber Source Honey Almond granola bars? Yum, only 2 points with 5 grams of fiber.

Yesterday was 50 mins of cardio (20 mins elliptical and 30 mins bike). This is a pretty low intensity workout for me but for some reason I was sweating like you wouldn't believe! I couldn't get over it. I sweat more yesterday than I usually do after a good long haul on the StairMaster. I couldn't figure it out, then I got thinking. I've been tanning in the tanning bed (not something I usually do but I'm attempting to prep my skin for the Dominican sun) and I think I got a little burnt yesterday at lunch...I wonder if that had anything to do with it. Ladies who tan....any insight?

Short and sweet today.
I'm completely in line with my Summer Challenge goals so far. I've logged in 3 workouts so far and I'm going today after work and I'm even going tomorrow before we leave for Halifax (where we are catching our flight) That's right ladies. You heard me. I'm not letting the fact that I am leaving tomorrow for Dominican keep me from getting in my 5 workouts this week. How's that for devotion??

3 Days to Punta Cana......

2008-04-29T18:22:00.004-05:00

Summer Challenge Update - So the final tally is in and there are 36 of us who are going to rock some hardcore goals. Get ready to look and more importantly feel fantastic this summer. Haul out your shorts and tanks and skirts and bathing suits ladies because we are going to be seriously strutting our stuff in no time. The goals are absolutely fantastic, I wanted to take on all of them myself! Eurydice had a great idea with a goal to try a new veggie every week, Deborah had another good one with being able to climb her very steep driveway without stopping. Seabreeze's goal was to not give into emotional eating. I love that, because we've all been there. I think this challenge may make us much more aware of where our bad habits lie. It makes me so ecstatic to see you ladies getting excited about the Challenge and excited about meeting your goals. You have no idea what this is doing for my own motivation. I was seriously just two seconds away from toasting a WW bagel that I didn't have the points for.....but then I thought, honestly, "what would the Challengers think? I can't post about eating stuff outside of my points!" So THANKS!

Two NSVs to post about today!
1. Yesterday at the gym I was working out on the elliptical and a man that works out at my gym everyday came over to strike up a conversation. We were talking about how dreadful/awesome the StairMaster is when he said "By the way, I've been meaning to tell you that you have been doing fantastic and your hard work really shows! You have been shedding quite a few pounds." It was said in a very non-creepy/stalkerish way and I thought it was so nice! Made my whole day! I went on to tell him I haven't lost any weight at all and he said "Don't let that fool you, you have been toning up and that's what's important" I seriously wanted to jump off the elliptical and give this strange man a hug. Especially since it's something my own Father would never say in a million years.

2. I completely tore it up at the gym tonight. This was my longest workout in the history of me working out. It was 80 mins from start to finish. I know most of you have probably doubled this time but up until about 2 months ago, I was one of those "count every second and don't go a single minute over what you planned to do" exercisers. I would get to the gym and jump on a machine, then I would watch every single minute pass until I finally, finally hit 40 mins. Then I was out of there before the sweat dried. Lately I have been watching the clock far less and have been concentrating more of getting a great workout. Tonight I did 20 mins on the elliptical, 15 mins on the bike, then 20 mins of abs, then I hopped on the StairMaster and did 22 mins. I even raised the intensity every few minutes and did this until I literally though my legs might give out, I was basically running up the stairs as fast as I could for 2 mins. I love to challenge myself on this thing. This is workout #2 of my 5 for the week.

And now the downfall....

or the bright side......

(ha, as if going to the Dominican Republic is ever a downfall)

We leave for Punta Cana in 3 days. Weight will inevitably be gained, desserts will be enjoyed in copious amounts, Banana Mama's will come one after the other on more than one occasion, bacon will be had for breakfast, deep fried food will wiggle it's way onto my lunch menu. It's going to happen, I'd be kidding myself if I thought for one minute that I would count points in Dominican. But I can set SOME guidelines for myself right? Well I can try anyway...

So Carolyn.....

1. Walk whenever possible. Trolley smolley. You have two working legs and a bunch of extra calories to work off. You'll feel better and you know it.
2. Drink plenty of water, it is your friend. Pina Coladas are not a breakfast side dish. Grab a bottle everywhere you go. You'll need it after your pale self gets burned by the sun and you need to rehydrate yourself after all those drinkies last night.
3. Don't eat foods that you know are only going to make you sick in the morning. If you have to indulge, try to at least pair it with a salad.
4. Take advantage of the amazingly fresh fruit you'll find at the resort.
5. Being in another country is not an excuse to eat everything in sight. It's not your last meal, you'll eat again. Probably in another hour or 2 so don't stuff yourself until you feel like you may explode. It's uncomfortable and your bikini clad bod that you busted your butt for at the gym will not appreciate it.

I'll going to have to print this off and bring it with me! When I come home, I'll be setting a weight goal for the last 6 weeks of the Challenge so watch out!
Hope everyone is keeping the Challenge in mind and it sounds like we already have a few successes! Congrats to Caroline who lost 3 lbs this week! Wowsa! Let's follow suit ladies!

And we're off!

2008-04-27T19:15:00.011-05:00

Wow Ladies! I am seriously impressed with participation level in this challenge. I'm going to have to enlist some admin support if this gets any bigger. The Challenges you ladies have decided upon for yourself are amazing! I can't wait to hear all about your successes and triumphs along the way as we get closer to summer...and more importantly, closer to reaching our goals. I want to thank each and every one of you for stepping up and joining the Challenge.

After a little encouragement (ok, a lot), even my hubby has decided to join the Summer Challenge! He's challenging himself to log 40 gym workouts & to stop trying to entice me all weekend long by offering to go to the store for chocolate and candy. (yes, he does this at least 4 times every weekend)

Jen - wants to log 52 workouts & to follow the 8 healthy guidelines

Randi - wants to follow structured food plan, follow exercise plan and to lose 1 inch from her waist.

Kelly - wants to exercise at least 3 times a week.

Shannon - wants to be 130 lbs

Shelley -wants to see the 140s again

Jenn - wants to lose 8 lbs and be a "buff bride"

Anneliese - wants to lose 13 lbs to bring her to the big 145

Leigh Ann - wants to follow Canada's food guide, lose 12 lbs, and drink all daily water before hitting the diet Pepsi

Jaimie - wants to log in 52 days of following the 8 healthy guidelines!

Jennifer - wants to get back into size 10 AE shorts, log a 40 min run, 3 times a week

Christina - wants to lose 10 lbs and to exercise 5 days a week

Vanessa - wants to lose 8 lbs and log in 1500 mins of exercise

Suzi - wants to exercise 5 times a week and lose 12 lbs

Brittany - wants to lose 22.4 lbs and get in some sort of physical activity 5 times a week

Marissa - wants to exercise 5 times a week and be able to run 7 miles without stopping or walking

Neha - wants to exercise 4 times a week and lose 12 lbs

Fatinah - wants to lose 8 lbs

Seabreeze - wants to avoid emotional eating and to take part in an 8k race on July 27.

Krista - wants to fit into summer clothes, lose 7 lbs and exercise 6 times a week.

Caroline - wants to lose 19.6 lbs and to exercise 4 times a week

Sonya - wants to lose 10 lbs, & exercise 32 times

Carrie - wants to exercise 5 times a week, lose 18lbs, & do sit ups before bed 5 times a week

SarahSundae - wants to lose 15 lbs and exercise 5 times a week

Deborah - wants to be able to climb her very steep driveway without stopping (Nice goal!)

Angie - wants to see that magical 163 on the scale

Jeannie - wants to lose 10 lbs, exercise 4 times a week and to be able to run 25 mins straight

Healthy Mummy - wants to lose 10 lbs and exercise 5 days a week for 1 hour

Cara - wants to lose 12 lbs and wants to be able to run 5K

Amy - wants to lose 10 lbs and exercise 5 days a week

Sara - wants to hit her 10% goal and lose 8 lbs

Scott - to log in 40 workouts

Sparky - wants to lose 6 lbs

Kimberly - wants to lose 7 lbs and drink at least 2 L water a day

Christy - wants to lose 5 lbs, exercise 4 times a week and try a new recipe once a week (love that one)

Eurydice - wants to log 15 mile of running per week and try out a new veggie every week.

Carolyn - to exercise at least 5 times a week and to find some balance on the weekends. Count ALL points.

Here we are!
I will be following along with all of you and checking in on you. The first update will be around May 12 so I will be asking all of you ladies to comment or e-mail me and let me know how you are making out on your goals (hello accountability!) I'll be posting updates as we get closer to Summer. Don't forget to check out the blogs of your fellow challengers and make sure to leave some encouragement!

8 Weeks til Summer Challenge!!

2008-04-25T07:41:00.004-05:00

Alright Ladies. Summer is coming, there's no way to stop it. Short, skirts, tank tops, bathing suits, it's inevitable. Do you really want to go through another summer not loving your legs in a pair of shorts, or wearing a t-shirt over your bathing suit, or suffering from thigh chaffing (hey, it happens)??? Here we are, on the brink of hitting our summer goals. I say this because I know we can ALL reach our goals, whatever your goal may be, in 8 weeks you can do it. Whether your goal is to hit the gym 4 times a week, or to lose 10 lbs, we are all going to get there. So here's the deal...

1. Pick a goal. It can be to lose 10 lbs, to hit the gym 4 times a week, to stay on track on the weekends, to break the "up a pound, down a pound" cycle, to look smoking hot in your wedding gown, whatever. All I ask is that you choose something that's challenging to you. Push yourself. It's YOUR goal. You name it, you rock it!

2. E-mail me or comment to let me know that you're in, what your goal is, and how you are going to kick some serious butt.

3. I will ask everyone to check in with me every 2 weeks (dates to follow). Update me on how your doing with the challenge, your struggles your triumphs and most importantly, your successes! (ohhh there will be plenty of successes ladies!) Before and After pics are always a great measure too!

4. I will post updates every 2 weeks and other sporadic updates as I read your blogs and see you ladies kicking butt and taking names.

5. Check out the blogs of the other challengers! Very important, chances are you have a similar goal to the next blogger or it's a goal you've been working toward and achieved. Many of us have gotten here today due to the inspiring posts and constant encouragement of other bloggers. We've all been "down that road" before and we've learned from it. All these ladies are unbelievably intelligent, witty, and wise, so use them! Soak it up, they may have thought of something that you might not of!

I will post the official Start of the Challenge on Monday so you have until Sunday night to join in, think of your challenge, and get it to me. Here are a few ladies who are ready to rock the next 8 weeks....

Jen - Jen wants to get in 52 gym sessions/workouts in the next 56 days. I love this girl for setting the bar so high! We'll all be counting the days along with you Jen!

Randi - Challenging herself to put more structure in her menu. Want to add a weight loss goal to that too Randi? We all know you love challenges! ***She's going to lose 1 inch from her waist too!
Kelly - Challenging herself to get in 3 workouts a week. Hmmm I know you Kelly, I know you can get in 4 every week! What do you think?!

Shannon - Wants to hit 130! She's so close! (and already smokin hot!)

Shelley - Wants to see those 140s once again (I'm soo with ya Shelley, except it would be my first time seeing them!)

Jenn - Wants to kick Billy Blanks butt and lose 8 lbs....AND be a "buff bride"!

Anneliese - Wants to lose 13 lbs and see that magical 145 on the scale.

Leigh Anne - Wants to meet all requirements for Canada's Food guide...and to drink all daily water before hitting up the diet Pepsi. Drink up!

Carolyn (ME!) - I want to start holding myself accountable on the weekends. Count EVERY point...and I'd just love to see the 140s (It's about 5 lbs away)

Krista, Christy, Eurydice, Fatinah - I'm counting you ladies in since you wanted in but I need to get some goals :)
Everyone else is welcome to buy in...just let me know the details. Those who are already in can change your challenge before Monday, just let me know.

***Update

Jaimie - just stepped it up and joined the challenge! Sweet! She's got a good one too, she's challenging herself to 52 workouts in the next 56 days, Wowsa! That's exactly why this girl rocks!

Jennifer - is trying to get back into size 10 American Eagle shorts (the sizes run so small there!) She's also challenging herself to a 40 min run, 3 times a week.

Christina - wants to lose 10 lbs and exercise 5 days a week (I think I'm going to join you on the 5 day a week rule. We can soooo do that right?)

Vanessa - just joined! She wants to lose 8 lbs and log in 1500 mins of exercise. (She's got some ever popular skinny jeans to reunite with)

Suzi - is in too. Goal is to exercise 5 times a week and to shed 12 lbs. Thanks for joining!

I can't even believe I'm typing this.......

2008-04-24T07:07:00.003-05:00

...but I have come to LOVE the gym. Who friggin knew?

The girl who once used any and every excuse to not go to the gym, including forgetting a hair elastic (seriously?) now can't go a weekday without hitting up the gym. Wowsa. How times have changed. I remember 4 months ago, every day at 3:30pm on the dot, I would begin to think of reasons to miss the 4:30pm scheduled gym visit; forgot my socks, too tired, PMSing, headache, sore back, too hungry, bad day at work, too many things to do at home, forgot my sneakers (on purpose), forgot socks, don't want to get all sweaty before a dinner out. You name it, I've thought of it. But now....

I feel awful if I can't make it to the gym at LEAST Mon-Thursday everyday after work. I have to get in at least those 4 workouts in order to function throughout the week. Most Fridays I hit the gym for a light workout but nothing too intense since I usually have dinner plans on Fridays. But then the weekend hits.....and my exercise mojo is thrown out the window. It's not like I sit home on the couch all weekend watchin reruns (although it's tempting...) I'm usually puttering aorund the house or running errands or shopping but no formal form of exercise has been consistently showing up on the weekends. So my goal? 30 mins of something on Saturday AND Sunday. Whether it's yard work or a walk to the store, or mowing the lawn. I need to get something going on during the weekends. Maybe that will be my Summer Challenge goal....hmm. Anyone else think of any ideas for the Summer Challenge? Let me know if your interested!

Last night at the gym, I had one of those awesome workouts where I honestly felt like I could keep going for hours. I did 12 mins on the rowing machine, 5 mins on the bike, and 38 mins on the stepper (Wow that thing is brutal...in a good way) I was soaked by the end of it. Oh and I also threw in 150 crunches at the end using the stability ball. It took about 65 mins for the whole workout and I left feeling refreshed and super energized. Tonight I'm planning on something similar.

Who's in for the Summer Challenge? It starts this Saturday since that is 8 weeks exactly from Summer. What are your goals?

Picture Post

2008-04-22T19:24:00.011-05:00

My Dominican Motivation:

I know, I know, I'm totally coping out by not putting pics of me IN the bikinis.

Wedding Pics from last weekend....

Hubby and I

Not quite sure why my face looks all squishy...it was sooo hot in there!

I saw this pic and was so proud of my collarbone!! Where did it come from? Haven't seen it in YEARS! (me on the bottom left)

Random Pic from Girls Night out. (Me far left)

And Stagette...Moi and a friend
Moi and the Bride...the back says Maid of Honor

That's it Folks.....who doesn't love some pics though!

Also, I'm still sorting out the details for Summer Challenge but if you're interested, leave a comment and I'll put you on the list!

Thanks ladies!

Summer Challenge Anyone?

2008-04-22T06:16:00.002-05:00

So I briefly mentioned yesterday something about a possible Summer Challenge, and many of you seemed interested. We have about 8 and a half weeks until Summer gets here so throw out some ideas for the challenge and maybe we can get something together before the 8 week mark. I can't believe it's so close!

Last night was.....ok. I had a half a piece of lasagna, some Caesar salad, one small piece of garlic bread and a tiny piece of McCain Deep & Delicious cake. There may have been a few scoops of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups ice cream as well. Ooops. BUT I did kick some butt at the gym last night. 40 mins of cardio and 10 min of abs. I'm planning on hitting the gym at least 5 times this week. AND I'm hoping to get in some form of activity over the weekend (Billy Blanks/walk outside)

Anyone else find themselves slipping a little? I feel like lately I have just been kind of drifting on and off plan. I do good during the week and then the weekend is just kind of a free-for-all. I don't like that feeling. I think if I keep going on this way then I'll end up with another 20 lbs hanging around without me even realizing it. Before I know it, I'll be back to hating my body, hating the scale & hating the way my clothes fit. I've been using WAY too many excuses lately, birthdays, girl's night out, hell I'll even use Friday as an excuse to have a few glasses of wine, a few pieces of pizza & way too much chocolate. It wasn't until I was reading Amy's Post about Girl's night and how she totally rocked it OP. She stayed within her points and drove herself home! She didn't use it as an excuse to over indulge. When I read that, it just seemed so foreign to me. Can she really go out and not overeat? overdrink? overindulge? And THAT'S when I really realized that I have been getting way out of hand. Using lame excuses to have way more treats than I should. The funny thing? I enjoyed my treats SO MUCH more when I was having them far less frequently. I really looked forward to that glass of wine or that Mars Bar or the homemade pizza on Friday night. Probably because I felt I had worked so hard and I deserved it. Instead of just mindlessly munching away, I was actually looking forward to that homemade pizza all week and saving up all my flex points for it. That's exactly what I want to get back to. And maybe a Summer challenge is just what this chick needs.

How is everyone else making out?

Weekend/Wedding recap

2008-04-21T06:11:00.003-05:00

What a hectic weekend...sometimes I wonder when life is actually going to slow down....oh right, life should slow down in about 11 days when hubby and I hit the beaches of Punta Cana, Dominican with a pina colada in each hand. :) Can't wait! Although I must say my weekend indiscretions have left me feeling a little less prepared for my bikini than I'd like to be.

My weekend actually started on Thursday when I hit up a buffet after work for the wedding dinner. I had a small piece of lasagna, Caesar salad, 3 meatballs, a small piece of garlic bread and 2 small brownies. Did I mention the 2 glasses of wine as well? Not a good start to what was already a super busy weekend. Friday went well. Subway for supper and a few snacks after the wedding rehearsal but nothing major.

Saturday, wedding day, actually wasn't too bad. I had a WW bagel for breaky and then didn't get a chance to eat again until 6:00 that night! I was starved! The wedding supper was good but the portions were small. I did have a piece of cheesecake for dessert but after not eating all day, it was heaven. Note to self: Not eating all day does not lead to good choices later on. I say this like there is a ton of days where I just "forget" to eat. Yeah right. Even when I am eating lunch, I'm thinking about what I'm going to have for supper.

Sunday was the downfall. There was a wedding burnch at 10:30 which consisted of a huge buffet breakfast. Hash browns, waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit, cereal. I had a little bit of everything but mostly stuck to the cereal and OJ. It kept me full until about 6:00 when supper rolled around. Homemade pizza was on the menu. Yum. But certainly not the best choice point wise.

Anyway enough dwelling on the past, Today is a new day and it's my Hubby's B-day!

Happy Birthday Babe!

So tonight's supper is going to be a tough one but I can divulge in case hubby happens to check my blog today. Not very point friendly but I think I can manage to control myself. I better anyway. 11 days until it's bikini time. Yikes!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We need some kind of summer challenge me thinks. 2 months today until Summer is officially here!

I'm Back!

2008-04-17T06:08:00.002-05:00

So I've been away for a little while. Sometimes life just gets in the way, ya know? But I've missed blogging! and I've missed reading your blogs everyday...although I have been keeping tabs on you ladies, just haven't done much commenting lately. What's been going on with me? (in case you were wondering...c'mon I know you were!)

1. Birthdays, Mine, 2 close friends have passed, and Scott's is coming up on Monday. Birthdays, I have concluded, equal cake and wine and ice cream. Not good.

2. Weekends are still a bust for me. I can't seem to keep it on track. Although I have been doing much better and I haven't been throwing complete caution to the wind, but I have let it get a little carried away at times. Seriously Carolyn...Peanut Butter cups as an after dinner snack on Sunday???

3. Weddings!!!! I am the maid of honor in a wedding on Saturday so that has seriously taken up most of my spare time. Showers, Stagettes, wedding favors, cake ordering, dress altering, you name it. Tonight is the rehearsal dinner and tomorrow is the actually rehearsal. Saturday is the wedding and Sunday is a wedding brunch. 4 day wedding anyone?

4. I am still hovering around the same weight. 154ish. I'd like to get down to 149. Wow 5 lbs just seems like such a little amount of weight but it has been like 8 months since I've been there. Isn't that crazy??? Ugh. That sounds so depressing.

5. If you haven't checked it out. Check out Randi's bikini pics....seriously. If I was her I would be wearing a bikini to work everyday. You look AMAZING Randi!!!

Now 5 random reasons why I am awesome: (I sound like Randi)

1. I love going to the gym now! & when I am there, I push myself. I will do a good 45 min intense cardio workout and then just when I am just about to finish with about 2 minutes left, I challenge myself to 5 or 10 more minutes. I love this about me. I also don't feel right if I don't go to the gym Monday through Friday. I need to get those 5 days in. I just feel off if I can't make it.

2. I bought 2 new bikinis for Dominican and can't wait to get in them. Granted I certainly don't have the toned abs that Randi does (losing 70 lbs has left me with a few little stretch marks that I am NOT happy about. But they are a reminder of how far I've come I guess. They are barely noticeable but to me they stick out like a sore thumb.......hmm...does a sore thumb really stick out? When you think about it, what an odd expression...) I would post bikini pics but I'm not sure I have the courage...

3. I love my body. I do, I love it. It has it's flaws. My thighs are not as toned as I'd like them to be, along with my butt, but over all I know I look good, even great. I get checked out at the gym and 2 weekends ago, when we had a girls night out, 1 guy offered to buy me a drink and another tried to pick me up (with some super cheesy pick up lines!) Of course I'm happily married but it's still flattering!

4. At work yesterday, there was a Birthday in my department. We all got together and had the most insanely delicious chocolate caramel cake. I asked for just a small small piece, had a few bites and then rolled the rest of it up (it was the best part too with all the icing!) in a napkin and tossed it when no one was looking. Sweet.

5. I'm finally buying girly clothes! Last weekend I bought my first strapless bra (I could never wear them before because I was always so heavy chested and there was just no support.) So in honor of my first strapless bra, I went out and bought 3 strapless tops for Dominican and a fancy black skirt. Plus a pair of sandals, and two tanks tops, and a bikini. I'm way overbuying for a vacation where I'll most likely just wear bathing suits and wraps most of the time!

I'm off to check up on you ladies!

Oh. My. Cake.

2008-04-04T08:43:00.002-05:00

I'm not up to formulating full paragraphs today so point form it is!

1. Ice cream cake. Not just any old ice cream cake. Blizzard cake. Have you seen one of these things?? Take the yumminess of regular ice cream cake and add in Smartie bits throughout and top with chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate sauce and whip cream. Oh. My. Heaven.

2. I did exercise some willpower on my birthday yesterday. Yay me! I passed on Montana's for supper and instead hit up Subway for a 6 inch turkey breast sub...yum. Just as good and probably 1/5 the points! AND as much as I wanted more, I stayed away from the leftover cake last night after everyone left.

3. Hubby gave me the best birthday ever. Surprise presents all day long. Placemats from Peir 1 that I've been wanting, under the counter wine rack, tickets to a hockey game tomorrow night, and a beautiful framed black and white pic of us that I adore. and did I mention the Smartie/chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard ice cream cake? (side note - Smartie/Chocolate Chip cookie dough Blizzards are my absolute favorite!)

4. On top of all that wonderfulness, when we got home, his family, my family and my best friend were all waiting for me at my house...with presents!

5. This morning I feel super nauseous and have a fever. Hope I'm not coming down with something. I'm hoping it will pass in a few hours. It may have been the cake. Not sitting well with my tummy...at all.

6. Tonight I am meeting up with about 10 girlfriends and we are going to a fancy Thai place in town in honor of my birthday and 2 other friends that have birthdays this week. Then we are hitting up my favorite wine bar (mmm wine) and then going out dancing. I'm hoping I'm feeling better. My plan for points? No dessert at dinner and I'm limiting the wine consumption to 2 glasses. I'm going to enjoy the company instead of the extra booze. :) Work off that Thai food on the dance floor!

7. Tomorrow is Scott & Carolyn day fully equipped with shopping for new spring clothes and Dominican stuff, buying some stuff for the house, and a playoff hockey game for our local team. Can't wait!

Hope you ladies have a fabulous weekend!!!

Brithday post...and Punta Cana

2008-04-03T06:12:00.003-05:00

So today is my Birthday! The big 2-5!

The plan was to hit up Montana's tonight since we have a new one that just opened up in our city but since I am going out with the girls tomorrow night to a fancy Thai place, I thought maybe hubby and I could just eat at home or even hit up Subway. I know it's my birthday and all but is that REALLY an excuse to go way over in my points? Mmm not really. and I know that if I go to Montana's I'll want to eat something really yummy and high in points and I'll be able to justify it because it's my birthday so I'm thinking why not just avoid the whole situation all together and eat at home or at Subway?? I thought hubby might be disappointed but I mentioned it this morning and he seemed all for it.

Speaking of this morning...I jumped on the scale and for some freak reason it showed me up 3 lbs! WHAT? I have been doing so good all week. I did go over a bit on the weekend and ate more than I planned but seriously? 3 lbs? I seriously thought it was going to be a loss since my clothes are feeling looser and I'm feeling super fit. I'm pretty sure it's just water retention or something like that but it did make me realize that I seriously have to get my weekends under control. Thus the skip-Montana's plan. If I know I'm going tou to eat on Friday night I may as well save as many points as possible, right? How else am I going to get through a weekend on-plan? I just have to face the facts that every weekend there's going to be something going on, I can't keep making excuses and going way over my points. So here comes Operation: OP weekend. I know I can do it, I've done it many times before.

On another note, we booked our trip to Punta Cana yesterday. We leave May 3rd and are staying at the Gran Bahia Principe Punta Cana resort! Can't wait! That will give me great motivation over the next 4 weeks. I've got a super cute bikini hanging up in my closet that's calling my name.....

Frustration....

2008-04-01T06:06:00.002-05:00

Ugh...another weekend goes by where I didn't count. I didn't go crazy but I still didn't count. I know I went over, I know I did. When will this awful going-over-my-points-on-the-weekend cycle be over? Seriously! I just feel like getting through a weekend wiuthout going over my flex points is almost impossible. How did I do it before?? Every weekend I stuck to my 35 flex points. I know it's possible but lately it just seems absurd!

This coming weekend is no exception. Thursday is my Birthday so Scott made dinner plans for us on Thursday night. Friday night a bunch of girls and I are going out to a really nice Thai restaurant and Saturday night Scott and I are having a date night. Do you get extra flex points on your birthday weekend? I know it's going to be a rough weekend food wise so I'm setting a plan in place to minimize the damage of my birthday weekend. Exercise. Yup, that's my plan. Here is my kick butt workout plan for this week

Monday - 50 mins cardio
Tuesday - 50 mins Yoga (lunch)
50 mins cardio (after work)
Wednesday - 45 min Body Ball class
Thursday - 50 mins cardio
Friday - 50 mins cardio/weights
Saturday - 65 mins of Billy Blanks
Sunday - Rest day but maybe a walk outside if it's nice.

So this is how I'm going to prevent the ice cream cake from stay on these hips of mine. Do you ladies think it will work?

Other ideas to minimize the weekend splurging:
SMALL piece of cake on Thursday night. It IS my birthday!
No dessert on Friday night. Instead I'll have a glass of wine with dinner (WAY less points)
Eat lighter point meals during the day on Thurs, Fri, & Sat.
Stop eating when I'm full! Even if it means having dessert later. I'm so bad with this one. I'll eat until I'm stuffed and THEN on top of that I'll have dessert and feel absolutely gross afterwards. Not going to do that this weekend.

How is everyone else making out? Losing? Gaining? Maintaining?

Fit and Fat?

2008-03-27T06:56:00.003-05:00

Maybe it's just me.....

Does anyone else feel their biggest immediately after a workout? For some reason lately, especially after intense cardio workouts, I feel my biggest. I feel all jiggly and certainly not fit. It usually wears off about and hour after my workout and then I feel fit and happy that I just kicked some butt...but aren't most people supposed to feel super fit after a rocking workout? I don't get it. Hmmm.

Last night was my Body Ball class and the instructor, who I find usually goes a little too easy on us, totally rocked it last night. The exercises were fun but definitely challenging and my legs and butt are cursing her name today, which is the way it's supposed to be!
I'm aiming for 6 workouts this week but I'll be ok if I can only punch out 5. It's going to be a busy weekend but my plan is to get in some Billy on Saturday morning first thing. I love Tae Bo. Seriously love it. I know at least Jenn knows what I am talking about. At first, I thought Billy was a little too over the top but after doing the workouts 3 days in a row for 60 mins, I honestly feel like I am seeing results. I feel lighter, my clothes are looser and my arms feel more toned. I'm going to try to get him in at least once a week but hopefully twice and I'll hit the gym on my other days.

Off topic but the weirdest thing happened to me yesterday. I picked up a box of All Bran Bites in the groceries the other night. There are supposed to be 5 pouches in a box but when I opened it up, there was 10 pouches stuffed into one box! Weird eh?

Well that's it for me today. I'm totally rocking WW and I'm loving every single minute of it. How is everyone else making out?

Easter wrap up.....

2008-03-26T06:13:00.003-05:00

So I think I made it through Easter relatively well. To be honest, this was probably my best Holiday as far as food goes in the past year. Usually I go into a holiday weekend with that "Oh, it;s the Holidays, It's only Easter/Halloween/Christmas/Thanksgiving once a year, may as well live it up!" attitude. This Easter, my perspective was a little different. Although I must be honest with you ladies, I did go over my 35 flex points. But for the most part, I made good choices and got in tons of exercise. I decided that since I have had such a hard time controlling my food intake on the weekends, I would focus mainly on working out. I had 4 days off from work and I managed to get in over 60 mins on 3 of those 4 days of good ol Billy Blanks and his Tae Bo crew. I got up early every morning (except Sunday) and kicked some serious butt for over an hour each morning. So last week was probably my best week as far as exercise goes. I worked out everyday from Mon-Saturday and took Sunday off. I found that it did impact my food choices throughout the day too. I kept thinking, well if I eat that ice cream and cake....that 65 mins of Billy time this morning will be for nothing!

So.....

This weekend is going to be a rough one. I have a Potluck/Fantastia party to go to on Friday night at a friends house. This should be relatively ok since I've decided to stay away from the wine that night and take my own car. BUT there will be tons of yummy food there so I might just eat a super light supper so that I can try a few things there. Or I might bring a veggie tray as my potluck dish so that I can graze on that as the night goes. My main plan though is to find a seat that is no where near the snack table.

Saturday I'm planning a Stagette party for a friend of mine who is getting married next month. Any ideas for this ladies? Basically the Theme is going to be Black & White (since those are the colors of the wedding) everyone is wearing black except of course the bride who is wearing white. I told everyone to bring a black shirt/tank/t-shirt so that we can use iron ons. I think you can get the ones that you basically can print anything on them through your printer and then they iron on the t-shirt. I'm hoping to make those up this week but I'm looking for fun/cute/sexy phrases to put on the shirts...any ideas?? Amy, Angie....I know you ladies are going through (or just went through) the whole wedding thing right now...any awesome ideas for the stagette? What was the funnest/craziest stagette you've been to?

So my plan for Saturday is to get up early and meet up with Billy yet again for another 65 mins of punching, kicking and all over Tae Bo-ing. This will probably help me stay good on Saturday night!

How are you ladies making out this week?

A slight slip up...and St. Patty's Pics!

2008-03-23T10:07:00.007-05:00

So last night I had a minor slip up. 2 glasses of wine, a piece of cake and about 1/2 cup of twix ice cream. Ok...there was a small plate of taco dip too. But it could have been worse and thrown in with all that was a lot of veggies from the veggie tray. But I feel awful this morning and wish I could take it all back! It wasn't even great cake! Don't you hate that? Spending points you don't have on food that's just so-so?

I'm hoping that my 60 mins Tae Bo sweat fest yesterday morning will help out. Today I think I'm taking a day off from working out. I've worked out the past 6 days in a row and Billy has a way of making your arms kill the next morning. Why do I still feel guilty for not working out though? Maybe I'll get in a walk outside. I should get some form of exercise in since I indulged a little too much last night.

Today is another Easter dinner. Did great at the one yesterday. Filled up on veggies and just had a small sliver of Graham Cracker Pie. I'm going in with a plan today to stay away from the potato scallop and just have salad and ham with 1/2 cup of chocolate frozen yogurt for dessert, only 2 points and sooo yummy!

I can't wait for a normal weekend again!

Hope everyone else is having a wonderful Easter!
Here are a few pics from St. Patty's Day that I've been meaning to post!

Me and 2 friends of mine. I think my antenna got caught in my friend's hair! I couldn't move my head!
I can't figure out why this is so small...isn't blogger odd sometimes? This is my showing off some major pipes!
I'm kind of thinking Scott is going to disown me after posting this picture but I think it's cute...minus my face being all squished up!

So far so good!

2008-03-22T06:36:00.002-05:00

Just a quick check in on this wonderful Easter weekend to hold myself accountable.

I must say that I am rocking my new and improved plan. I am measuring every little thing that goes into my mouth. I'm writing everything down, and when we took my little 2 year old niece to Tim's last night, I even said no to chocolate glazed timbits that were fresh out of the oven!

Today and Tomorrow might pose a slight problem, but I am up for the challenge! Today and tomorrow I'm running into Easter dinners left right and center. But I can do this! Thursday night Scott and I went out to a fancy Indian restaurant and our meal was absolutely delicious. I had the butter chicken with rice and Naan bread. It was amazing but unfortunately the meal ate up almost all of my flex points. I had 2 left over at the end of the night (which included cheesecake, just in case your wondering how I blew through 33 flex points on butter chicken!) Yup only 2 flex points left over for the whole Easter weekend, which includes two Easter Dinners and a Birthday celebration fully equipped with ice cream cake!! Uh oh....... How am I going to get through this?

Well.....I could get up early every morning and earn me some activity points! So that is exactly what I am doing. Yesterday I got up early and did 60 mins of Tae Bo. Although I didn't have to use any activity points at all so that was great. Today I may run into some slight trouble as we have an Easter Dinner at 1:00 and a joint Birthday party for Scott, myself, and my BIL's girlfriend. Ice cream cake (major weakness for me) will surely make an appearance. So off I go to meet up with good ol Billy Blanks.

How is everyone making out?

Back to old faithful

2008-03-19T09:19:00.003-05:00

So I've been on a roller coaster of eating SFL meal plan during the week and then reverting to my old ways on the weekend. The old ways that lead to weight gain, bloating and all over badness. These old ways include wine, pizza, chocolate, garlic fingers, cookies. You name it. I ate it last weekend.

So obviously it's time to switch things ups. I can't stay on this roller coaster long. Lose 5 lbs during the week on my super clean SFL meal plan, gain 5 lbs on the weekend eating garbage that I don't need or want. Not a good cycle. I need consistency. What to do? Hmm...... Didn't I lose almost 70 lbs on Weight Watchers? Didn't I rock the plan for a very very long time? Didn't I feel successful and confident? Didn't I lose weight while still eating the foods that I love? Didn't I, didn't I didn't I?

Yes, I did.

So here we go again ladies. We are back....with a vengeance.

This is how I'm going to make Weight Watchers rock my world while I lose these last 10 lbs!!

1. Measure everything. Even the extra grape that rolled onto the counter while measuring.
2. Journal EVERYTHING, even the extra grape that rolled onto the counter while measuring.
3. Count ever SINGLE point (ok I think the grape has been counted but what about that extra little lick of PB you took when you were spreading it on your toast?)
4. Plan my weekends. Plan every single flex point BEFORE Friday afternoon. Doesn't mean it's not going to change a little but if I plan it out before the weekend, I'll be less likely to stray.
5. Post Menus online. I won't only be accountable to myself but to all you ladies too! I'm a lot less likely to lie to you guys than I am to myself!
6. Exercise on the weekends. No more taking Friday-Sunday off. If I get up Saturday and get some activity in, not only will it give me more energy but I might think twice about that Mars bar Saturday night!
7. Stay away from the wine. It's not the end of the world. One or two glasses of wine is enough on occasion. No need to be downing a bottle.....or more. I have two occasions coming up that may involve wine:
a) Bachelorette Party and I'm the maid of honor. I'm not going to kid anyone, I'm going to have more than a glass or two of wine. BUT I will allocate my flex points to the wine in my weekend plan. (See #4) I'll just have to give up the chocolate that weekend!
b) Birthday dinner with the girls. Limit myself to one glass of wine with dinner. NO MORE!
8. Cut out the processed junk. This is going to be hard one. I do love my All Bran Bites. 100 calorie packs, granola bars. Mmmmmm. Who's got a yummy substitute?
9. No more muffins, even 1 point yummy WW ones. These things have a habit of sneaking into my tummy 2 or 3 at a time. 3 one point muffins do not equal 3 points Carolyn, you know this. Stop kidding yourself.
10. Eat the majority of my points during the day. If I've learned anything from SFL it should be to eat way more protein and to make lunch my biggest meal. Before on WW, I was saving 10-12 points just for supper and nighttime snack. Not good for the metabolism.

I start back to WW on Friday morning March 21st. I can so do this. I know I can. My goal is to see 149 lbs when I hit the beach in Dominican. I've got 6 weeks. I'll find out this Friday how many lbs I have to go to hit my goal. I've got a super cute bikini hanging in my closet for motivation!

Here we go.....!

Sorry!

2008-03-18T06:16:00.003-05:00

I know I've pulled a bit of a disappearing act, but do you ever have those weeks when life just seems so unbelievably busy? Where does the time go?

Here is my last 2 weeks in a nutshell

1. I discovered that 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt and 1/2 cup of 1% cottage cheese is delicious! For those of you who think you hate cottage cheese, try this! It's so good for you too. Top with 1/2 sliced banana or other fruit and you've got yourself one yummy little treat.

2. Hubby is home!! His flight form Halifax to Saint John was cancelled but he hopped on a last minute flight to Fredericton (about 1.5 hours from me) so I drove up to get him in torrential downpour and made it JUST in time to see him walking through the gate at the airport. It was love at first sight all over again!

3. Hubby and I decided to go to Dominican in May. We leave from Halifax on May 3rd! SOO excited and in honor of said trip, I went out the other night and bought my very first bikini! Hello, milestone!! Very cute halter style. I'm planning on picking up another one before the trip. So fun!

4. Went to a St. Patrick's Day party on Saturday. I ate way too much food, drank way too much wine and ended up blowing my meal plan out of the water from Saturday at 7:00pm-Sunday at 10:00pm. Bad idea. How did I forget all about that bikini I just bought. Brightside? I won a prize for having the best St. Patty's Day getup! Will post some pictures tonight.

5. Welcome back to Christina! She took some time off from blogging but now she is back! Love this girl!

6. I can't wait to read up on all of your blogs! I've probably missed so much. I have been sneaking in every now and again but haven't been the faithful & devoted reader that I should be. Thanks girlies for checking in on me. I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged.

7. My weight has been on a bit of a roller coaster, lose a few pounds, hit the weekend and gain a few pounds. You all know the cycle. Damn cycle. But I'm working on a plan for this weekend. Since we have 2 Easter Dinner's to go to I've got to plan out my meals and portions so that I can make it through this weekend without throwing it all out the window.

Rule #1 - No wine......NO WINE.
Rule #2 - Measure out my meat (4oz) and fill the rest of the plate with veggies
Rule #3 - Split my dessert with Scott. One of the desserts is going to be a birthday cake for myself, Scott and another family member as our Birthdays are all close together. Mmmm Ice cream cake!
Rule #4 - Salad, Salad, Salad! I'll be making sure there will be salad served at each dinner and if there isn't, we'll bring one ourselves!

How is everyone else planning out the long Easter weekend? It's rough eh??

Moms....How DO you DO IT?

2008-03-07T12:55:00.002-05:00

Wowsa! I love my little 2 year old niece like nobody's business but after 5 days of single parenting, I'm wiped! This has been the busiest 2 weeks of my entire life!

First we have last weekend with the flooding and the driving the car into a snowbank. Then on Monday my brother and SIL take off for Cuba and leave me with their sweet little 2 year old who I absolutely adore. All this with Scott out of town for work for 2 whole weeks! I'm beyond exhausted really. How do single Moms get by? Seriously? I know you get used to it and it's different when it's your own child, but Wow. I'll be looking forward to a solid 8-9 hours of sleep tonight! That being said....I swear I'm having separation anxiety! I miss her already! Her grandparents are taking her tonight so I won't see her and about 10 mins after I dropped her off at Daycare this morning, I wanted to rush back for one more kiss! Sigh.....

On top of all that, I'm hosting a Bridal Shower for my friend tomorrow afternoon and I haven't even had time to go and pick up all the stuff! With Grace (my niece) around, I haven't even had time to think about the Shower until today. I ran out at lunch and grabbed a bunch of decorations and balloons and bridal showery things but I still have to make a batch of sugar cookies, make a few dips, pack everything up, decorate and clean. Does it ever end?

BUT my light is at the end of the tunnel.........................

Scott comes home tomorrow night!!!!

I can't even express how excited I am to see him. Although Ontario is calling for a huge storm so I'm hoping he isn't delayed. We both took Monday off from work so we had a few days together uninterrupted!

On my weight loss front, I'm still doing well. Holding steady at 7 lbs lost in the last 2 weeks. I haven't been super strict this week but have still been doing really well and I feel pretty fantastic! Having Grace around has made it kind of hard to be super strict on the food front. But my clothes are feeling much looser and I've been getting to the gym everyday this week at lunch so really....when I think about it, I'm rocking it! I definitely could have used the single parent thing as an excuse to skip the gym but I went 4 times so far this week!

That's it for me today. Hopefully I'll be back into some major bloggin next week when things settle down! How is everyone making out?

Still hanging on.....kind of.

2008-03-03T07:05:00.002-05:00

Ahh Mondays. A great day to start all over again, wouldn't you say?

I actually didn't do too bad this weekend. I did have a few treats but I mainly stuck to things I was allowed to have, I just had more of them than usual. Considering the weekend I had, I'm quite proud of myself (more on the weekend in a bit) Friday night I did have a 1/2 glass of red wine and a 100 calorie Aero bar. Nothing has ever tasted so good, I assure you. Saturday was pretty good all day, and Saturday night I made a banana and yogurt smoothie as a treat. I really didn't need it but that little treat kept me from going crazy over the weekend. I also had a little bag of All Bran Bites too. Not something I should have had but it's better than a whole chocolate bar right? I needed something to do while I'm shop vaccing my flooded basement right?

...........

Which brings me to my "strength of character" weekend as I am now calling it.
Friday night was great. A friend came over and we watched a chick flick and did some scrapbooking. Then came Saturday, and with it? A blizzard that dropped over 30 cms of snow. Ugh. So I decide to make one last ditch effort to go to the store to stock up on girly movies and possbly another 100 calorie Aero bar. I only made it about 30 feet before I plowed into a snowbank at the end of my driveway. And that's exactly where my car stayed (not by choice, the thing wouldn't budge) Fine. I'm snowed in. Not a bad thing right? I'll catch up on some landry, put the dishwasher on, clean up and just relax. Called the plow guy and set him up for Sunday. All good. Put on a little Nanny Diaries action and I'm starting to let go of the stress of backing my car into a snowbank. Pause the movie for a yogurt and Banana smoothie, The blender is downstairs in the landry room. Run downstairs, crack open the door and *Spalsh* I'm standing in a swimming pool that once was my landry room. My little mat that used to be in front of my washer to keep my feet warm when doing landry is now floating around my landry room and could possibly be used as a floatation device. The water was gushing out of the back of my washing machine. After a good 10 mins of frantic running around and screaming I got the water shut off and was left with a good 4 hours of quality shop vac time. Sigh. I can't believe I'm glad to be back at work!

Scott come homes this Saturday! Woohoo! Can't wait to see him. He has been working so much down there and he is exhausted and ready to come home. This week should be busy though since I am picking up my 2 year old niece today and she is moving in with me until Friday while her Mom & Dad are in Cuba! I'll be so busy I won't even have time to miss Scott!

Foodwise the weekend was ok not stellar. I was drawn to chocolate chips for some reason but I managed to keep it under control. If I was doing WW I definitely would have been way under 35 flex points so I'm happy!

Happy Monday everyone!

Those 4 little words.....

2008-02-28T19:24:00.002-05:00

make it all worth it.

Basically I've been struggling. I haven't fallen off my plan even for one little second but I'm still struggling. I am getting a little tired of eating SO much veggies and protein. I know it's super good for me and I can absolutely tell that I am losing weight but it still gets a little monotonous.

Until today....2 huge successes that make the past 4 days seem like a vacation.

First of all, even though I told myself I wouldn't get on the scale until Friday. I jumped on this morning. Down 7 lbs! 7 lbs ladies!! Now three of those are "artificial pounds". When I weighed myself on Monday morning, it was after a day of "hangover breakfast" and almost a whole Delicsio pizza and a bag of Cadbury Mini eggs (those things are unbelievable) so I was up 3 lbs from what I was last Friday. I knew they would fly off pretty quickly but they took 4 of there little buddies with them. Sweet! I'm back to my pre-Christmas weight! I feel super fit and I have been working out everyday. My pants feel looser for sure and I can completely tell that I'm losing wieght, especially in the tum-tum area. My tummy is flat again! Halle-freakin-leua! The muffin top is slowly becoming a low fat one. :)

Secondly...and here's the big one.

I decided that since Mon-Wed were all out sweatfests at the gym that I would hop into a Yoga class tonight to strech out my poor sore muscles. I walked into class, grabbed a mat and found a spot. One of the ladies that goes to a few of the classes I do was totally checking me out. I sat down and she said "Wow, You've lost weight!!!" I totally played the "oh, you think so?" card but I loved every single second of it. Then she went on to "Yeah, you definitely look slim and toned!" I could have jumped off my mat, ran over to her, threw my arms around her and planted a nice big juicy one on her. Thank you Yoga lady! You made my whole week! (especially since I don't have hubby around to gush over how fantastic I look)

So I'm back in the game. This weekend I had already planned to let myself have a little treat but I'm going to keep it to 5 WW points. I'm thinking a 100 calorie Aero bar. Those little babies rock! So that will give me something to look forward to and will keep my head in the game. I'm going to spend 2 pts tomorrow night and save the other three for Saturday. Spread the love a little.

What I'm eating today:
Breakfast:
1 cup of Kashi Go Lean
1 cup of milk
1/2 banana

Snack:
1 oz of almonds

Lunch:
1 Cup of WW pasta
1 tsp of basil pesto
2 1/2 cups of veggies
4 oz of chicken breast

Snack:
1 yummy juicy pear

Supper:
Chicken strips. These things are amazing! I took 4 oz of chicken and cut it into strips. I rolled it around in fat free italian dressing and then rolled it in italian breadcrumbs and baked for about 30 mins. I used about a tbsp of fat free ranch dressing to dip them in. YUM.
2 1/2 cups of veggies

No snack because I didn't eat supper until 7:30 since Yoga ran until 6:00.

Thank you SO much for the support ladies! It's really keeping me focused and the pounds are finally hitting the road!

Day 2

2008-02-26T06:57:00.002-05:00

Day 1 was a success. I stuck to the plan all day and got a good 55 min sweatfest at the gym last night. 25 mins on the bike (ramping up for the Spin class that starts on March 3rd YAY!) 18 mins on the elliptical and 12 mins on the Stairmaster. Felt soo good afterwards.

Around supper time I started the "how am I going to get through this first week on this strict plan- I want my 100 calorie packs back" mentality but I went downstairs and turned on the computer and read all your comments and I was totally back in the game. You ladies are so supportive! It's exactly what I needed to get me through Day 1. I was surprised at how many people said it would be easier to stick to plan while Scott was away and in most cases this would be correct but I am one of those lucky little ladies who has a hubby who eats super healthy (with the excpetion of the occasonal weekend blow out) and he is constantly encouraging me to make the right choices and get to the gym. Before he found out he was going to Kansas he was even trying to think of ways to change his eating so that it would better fit with my SFL plan. Sweet, right?

I made the most amazing Salmon last night. This was my first time ever even buying fish let alone trying to make a little gourmet meal out of it. I wrapped it up in tin foil, topped it with EVOO added a little salt and pepper. In a bowl I mashed up a cracker and some Epicure lemon dill spice and threw that on top of the salmon. Cooked it for 20 mins and then opened the tin foil and broiled for a few mins. It was sooo good. It was honestly like something out of a restaurant. I also bought some Haddock...any ideas on how to make this super yummy? I'm a total fish virgin.

Day 2:
Breakfast:
1/2 cup vailla yogurt
1/4 cup cottage cheese
mixed with a cup of fruit

Snack:
1 1/4 oz of low fat cheese

Lunch:
1 cup of pasta
2.5 cups of veggies
3 oz of chicken

Snack:
1 cup of baby carrots

Supper:
4 oz chicken breast cut into strips. Dipped in fat free Italian dressing and rolled in Italian breadcrumbs. Grilled on the George foreman grill. These are soo good. I tried them out last week.
1 tbsp light Ranch dressing for dipping.
2 1/2 cups of veggies (maybe a salad?)

Snack:
1 1/4 cup of fat free jello OR popcorn.

Exercise today will consist of 50 min Yoga class at lunch and we are expecting a storm this afternoon so I think I'll head home after work and check in with Billy Blanks after supper.

Is it odd that I already FEEL like I'm losing weight? It's only been 1 day! I can't wait to get on the scale on Friday! (been a loooong time since I could say that eh?)

Day 1 of many.

2008-02-24T18:03:00.005-05:00

I'm completely psyched and more than ready to get down to business and finally say goodbye to these last 15 lbs. They have been hanging around for so long and looking back, for the past year I have been playing around with least last 10-15 lbs. Up a pound, down a pound, up a pound, down a pound. Not a good cycle.

Our party went really well. I surprised myself by staying away from the food most of the night. I was too busy mingling and having fun so there wasn't much hover time and I stayed away from the Potluck table as much as possible. Although I did have more than a few bites and I tried a little bit of everything. Which is not a bad thing at all....what IS a bad thing is the breakfast I had this morning which included bacon, hashbrowns, & all the perfect trimmings for your typical "hangover breakfast". And I'm also pretty sure that the pizza I had for supper last night was not a good choice at all. I did make one good choice yesterday though, I spent about 2 hours after supper getting ready for my week. I made a huge chicken vegetable soup and cooked up some lunch portions. No excuses now. It's all right there in front of me.

I also took Scott to the airport yesterday morning first thing. Not fun. This is the first time we've been away from each other for more than one night since we've been married. I miss him like crazy already and he's only been gone a day! The house was sooo quiet last night. He did call me from the Toronto airport and then again from Kansas last night so I know he made it fine and he's all settled in. Two whole weeks. Ugh. At least it gives me motivation to stick to my plan and look better than ever when he comes home!

Meal plan for today:

Breakfast:
1 Cup of Kashi Go Lean
1 Cup of skim milk
1/2 Banana

Snack:
1 cup of baby carrots

Lunch:
(this is the hard part! It's sooo much food!)
4 oz of chicken breast
1 cup of brown rice with reduced sodium soy sauce
2 1/2 cup of veggies

Snack:
1 apple

Supper:
Either
4 oz of salmon and 2 1/2 cups of veggies
-or-
2 1/2 cups of chicken veggie soup

Snack:
Either
1 bag of 100 cal popcorn or 1 1/4 cup of fat free Jello.

Honestly, it's kind of nice to take the guesswork out of what I am eating. There isn't a lot of wiggle room, which is exactly what I need right now. Structure.
I jumped on the scale this morning and I was up almost 3 lbs...most likely due to the awful choices I made yesterday but I'm not worried, I know they will fly off in no time and they'll be taking some of their buddies with them.

How did everyone make out this weekend?

Into the Battlefield.....

2008-02-22T12:22:00.002-05:00

that is this weekend.

I'm seriously fighting to stop the "it's my last weekend before my big mega-strict meal plan starts, better get in all the pizza, wine, peanut butter cups, Mars bars, cookies, and other similar crap that I can" mentaility. It's slowly creeping in. Like Stephen King's "The Mist" only instead of the Mist containing a supernatural flesh eating monster, it's filled with fat and empty calories. Don't even know where that one came from.....

So tomorrow is the big party at our house. Probably about 20-25 people coming over and what are they bringing with them? Food and booze. Sigh. See why I'm fighting off the last weekend binge mentality?? I can see why I wanted to throw a party (love being the hostess!) but why did I have to throw a Potluck in there too? Why did I encourage each guest to make their favorite, super yummy homemade dish and bring it with them to MY house? My house that will be overthrown with leftovers and the unbelievable remnants of a massive party Sunday morning. The same Sunday morning that I have to get up at 8:30 and drive my hubby to the airport where he will inevitably board a plane that will take him thousands and thousands of miles away from me for two whole weeks. Still following me? This also falls on the same Sunday morning that my friends and I decided it would be a great idea to go out for hangover bacon and eggs and french toast and pancakes and all those awful/wonderful things that make being hungover SO much better. Why can't all you ladies come to the party and bring your own favorite low point, low fat, low calories, super yummy homemade dish and we can all make good decisions and count our points together and talk about how great it feels to stay OP even during this rocking party? Can you come? All of you? I can give you a lift back to the airport on Sunday morning when I have to say goodbye to my husband for two whole weeks. I'm going to the aiport anyway so you won't be imposing. :)

That pretty much wraps up my weekend. Sunday afternoon will be filled with pining after my husband (did I mention he's leaving for Kansas for two whole weeks?) and also hours upon hours of preperation for my upcoming week on the new meal plan. I figure if I cook up all my lunch/dinner portions before hand...how can I say no? It's right there..in front of me. It's called setting myself up for success and I'm doing it. All afternoon Sunday. Without my husband...who is going away for two whole weeks.

Bring on the reassuring comments ladies...apparently I need them.

2008-02-21T07:28:00.002-05:00

I must say I'm kicking some serious butt at the gym this week.
Monday was a 10 min elliptical warm up and then a 45 min Body Scuplt Class
Tuesday was a 50 min Yoga class at lunch and after work was 10 min on the bike, 20 on the elliptical and another 20 mins on the StairMaster (aka Satan as Katie refers it to)
Wednesday was a 45 min Body Ball class (wish it could have been a little harder last night)
Today is probably 10 mins on the bike, 20 on the elliptical and another 20 on the Stairmaster. It almost took me out on Tuesday but I like a challenge. Since no one else really signs up for that machine at the gym (I think it's kind of intimidating and plus it's pretty intense) I may as well get on there and show them all how it's done!
Friday is going to be a 30 min introductory class to the new SPIN BIKES we got in! I'm so psyched that our YMCA is getting a new spin class. I've heard so much about them from everyone but have never taken one. Any tips or suggestions? Love it, hate it?

Anyone watching Big Brother this season? I missed Tuesdays episode and there is a change in the partners but they didn't say a word about it last night! What happened on Tuesday. Last night I couldn't even believe Jenn. She is way too into the game and what she said about Ryan...I would be livid. Didn't you just want to rewind the tape and show it to him?!

I'm T-4 days and counting until I start SFL. I'm actually excited and thanks everyone for the positive feedback. The plan is pretty simple and involves a lot of protein and veggies for the first 2 weeks. The "cleansing" weeks. It's not available online, I think it's more of a local nutritionist that does it and apparently they charge mega bucks for the consult. Luckily I got it form a friend (who did pay the mega bucks....but also lost mega lbs too). We'll see how I make out! I'm thinking of taking before and after pics so if I do, I'll post them!

How is everyone doing this week?

My last week of point "freedom"!

2008-02-20T07:13:00.002-05:00

This week has been going well. I've been eating well and staying within my points but the scale has been holding steady and even climbing a little....much to my dismay. I'm not getting too discouraged though since I know my new meal plan is on the horizon. Day one starts in 5 days. So my days of freedom are limited. And honestly...I think that's good thing for me right now. My choices have not been the greatest lately and at the end of the day when I have 2 or 3 points left, rarely do I push aside the processed snacky foods and pick up a piece of fruit. I have been slacking on the guidelines and especially on the weekends. The weekends have been my major downfall. I work hard all week, eat healthy and workout 4 or 5 times every week and then on the weekend, I end up counterbalancing all my hard work and say yes to pizza, wine, chips, chocolate. Whatever is really available really. I'm looking forward to taking the guesswork out of my meal plan. It's all laid out for me and there is very little room to wiggle. No All Bran Bites, no muffins, no granola bars.....no chocolate, no pizza, no wine. I can sooo do this. I need to do this. Summer is JUST around the corner and before you know it I will be forced into shorts and skirts and tank tops and bathing suits. I want to wear them all with confidence so here I go.

I did decide to allow myself one treat on my meal plan but I will save it for Saturday night and it has to be between 5-10 WW points. I might even lower that depending on what I have planned for the weekend.

Has anyone tried Fiber Source Honey and Almond Granol Bars? I can't find them online but they are pretty new & soo delicious! I tried the Apple Cobbler kind a few weeks ago and it was pretty good but decided to give the Honey & Almond one a go last week and they are SO yummy! 5 g of fiber and they are only 2 pts each! I found them at Walmart, Superstore only had the apple kind. Definitely give them a try!

Big get together at our place this Saturday night. We've been planning it for a while and it's a Potluck so this will be my last hoorah before SFL starts on Monday morning. I'm going to try to hold back a little bit and not go crazy and stuff my face. I think the trick is to focus on the company and not hang around the dining room table all night! Plus I'll try to stick with hubby since he's leaving me first thing Sunday morning for Kansas City for 2 whole weeks! I'll make sure to post some pictures!

How is everyone else making out this week?

I'm Back!!!

2008-02-18T08:57:00.004-05:00

It's been sooo long. This is possibly the longest I've gone without blogging. A number of reasons why I suppose but just so you all know, everything is fine and I have been staying pretty OP...for the most part. Those darn weekends are sneaking up on me again! There have been numerous misdemeanors over the past week what with Valentine's day in the mix. Thai food, cheesecake, pizza, chips and dip and CHOCOLATES! They've all been able to weasel their way into my meal plan. I haven't written in my point journal for 4 days. Can you believe it? I'm scared to get on the scale. Just plain ol scared. So I haven't. I don't really plan on it either. My clothes are still fitting well and besides the previously mentioned bumps off the wagon, I have been trying to make healthy decisions. I was away from home for 3 meals over the weekend and I opted for Subway for 2 of them and the other was a Jr burger and potato at Wendy's. Who am I kidding? I haven't been on plan at all over the weekends. Not counting points = NOT on plan. Plain and simple. Although I did try to make healthy choices, there were a lot of choices that weren't healthy in the least bit (Subway cookie with my sub???) Even when I made choices that were relatively healthy, they weren't the healthiest options available.

I have been keeping up with your blogs and you ladies have been doing SO great! Definitely a good motivation for me. I'm taking off this last 15 lbs before the summer hits if it's the last thing I do.

So I've made a decision. I'm ready. I'm commited and I'm psyched. February 25th is the day. I'm committing myself for at least 1 month but will re-evaluate once the month is almost over. I'm jumping back on SFL (Simply For Life). It's a local meal plan with tons of protein and mountains of veggies. It's basically just very very clean eating. No bonus points (although I'm tweaking the plan to allow myself ONE small treat on Saturdays to keep me from going insane. Although I've decided this treat has to be under 10 WW points) I've spent a few hours planning out every meal for the next 2 weeks. I've made up my grocery list and I've set aside a few solid hours of cooking/preparing for this Sunday. The first 2 weeks is tough since it is the "cleansing phase" so the choices are a little more restricted. Lunch is the big meal and often it's hard to finish since it is so much food but the plan is designed that way so that after a few days your metabolism seriously gets a wicked jumpstart. I did the plan in May for about 4 weeks. 2 weeks of cleansing and 2 weeks of Fat Burn. And it worked. Seriously worked and not just taking off water weight kinda worked. It stayed off. (Well it came back gradually over the period of that last 8 months but I can only blame myself for that. A summer filled with wine, campfires, BBQs, pizza etc is a sure fire way to gain a few pounds) But in that 4 weeks on SFL I lost 15 or 16 lbs!. Funny...that's EXACTLY how much I'd like to see fly off before the summer hits. I know it won't be easy. I know I'll want to cave in on the weekend but I won't. I can't. I'm so tired of fighting this last 15 lbs that I'm just ready to get rid of it....for good. PLUS I know you ladies will be a mountain of support and I'll be checking in every single day so tell you all how fantastic I am doing on my new plan. So Feb 25th is the big day! What do you guys think?

Other than that I've been keeping it pretty low key. I've been out a lot lately with friends and have let the social schedule get away from me. Too much munching and wine and movie treats. Scott is leaving for Kansas this Sunday for 2 whole weeks. I don't think we've ever been away from each other for more than 1 night. It will be a change. But hopefully I can just channel all the loneliness into my new meal plan and in 2 weeks, when he comes home, he'll be wowed!

How is everyone else making out? Losing, gaining, maintaning?

Major Milestone

2008-02-07T11:58:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I hit a huge milestone. Let me draw it all out for you ladies.

Work has been insanely busy lately so I really haven't had much time for blogging and commenting (although I have been reading all your blogs!) By the time I get home from work, I just don't feel like sitting in front of my computer at home (Hopefully we'll be getting a laptop soon so I can blog anywhere around the house rather than being stuck in the basement) anyway this is all besides the point....back to my milestone.

So yesterday morning I was working away and I called Scott to see if he wanted to meet for a coffee at lunch but he was stuck in a seminar all morning and afternoon. I knew I was going to the gym after work for my Body Ball Class so I debated on what to do for lunch. I did have a few errands to run but I just didn't feel like running around town. I pretty much sat and mulled it over for about 15 mins before I jumped up, threw on my jacket and headed to.......THE GYM! Even though I knew I wanted to keep my plans to attend the class at 5:00. I went and got in a great 40 mins cardio session and still made it to Body Ball at 5:00. How much do I rock right now? I actually went to the gym 4 times in 2 days! (Tuesday was Yoga at lunch and Cardio after work) This was huge for me and I felt so great afterwards.

Today is Cardo after work and I'm planning on:
20 mins Elliptical
20 mins StairMaster
15 mins on the Bike

I seriously don't know what has happened to me but I went from seriously dreading the gym and using every excuse possible to talk myself out of going....to making extra stops at the gym just to get in an extra workout. Not saying I love going yet but I don't even think about not going anymore. How sweet is that? I miust be in some weird fitness zone or something.

Scott continues to bring home mounds and mounds of Peanut M&Ms from work. Someone at his work is related to or knows some perchasing person for something and last night Scott came home with a box...yes a BOX of Mega Peanut M&Ms which contained 24 king size bags of M&Ms. The day before he came home with the jumbo bags of M&Ms. I told him to hide them on me and for the most part I havent even given them a second thought. Thankfully I'm not super big on Peanut M&Ms so they really haven't been a temptation. But still...Yay me for resisting! (It does hlpe that Scott hid them from me and I literally have no idea where they are in the house)

Another temptation? This weekend is my best friend's birthday so all the girls decided to get together for a girls night on Saturday. I was put in charge of the cake so instead of getting a crappy cake from Sobey's or Superstore (Good cakes but I think I can do better) I decided to make this.......

I know, I'm torturing myself right?

BUT most of my friends aren't really dieters so I figure just because I'm watching what I eat doesn't mean I can't make something super yummy for them. I decided to allow myself one small small piece but I will cut it out before hand and stick with that. Plus it makes me feel so much better to make something really yummy for my favorite friends rather than to buy a crappy dry cake form the grocery store. My plan for Saturday is to stick with wine and enjoy my friends rather than hover around the snack table. We are also going out dancing so I'm sure I'll work off some calories there!

Tomorrow is Friday ladies! Hang in there!

Any big plans on the weekend?

Oh I almost forgot. SFL is Simply for Life. I guess it's more of a local plan but basically you go to a nutritionist who gives you a specific meal plan, very specific. Then you go back and get weighed in every single week. It's like crazy expensive and costs somewhere around $300 or more to get the plan and to get weighed. I already have the menu plans so I'm good to go on that front, it's just decided to do it and getting in the right frame of mind. But like I said before, if you do it and stick to it, you do lose a ton of weight. I lost 13 lbs in 3 weeks last time I did it and I kept it off with WW. I'm thinking about attempting it again for a few weeks to get this last 10 lbs off.

It's been a while....

2008-02-05T08:23:00.000-05:00

Where does the time go?

I weighed in on Friday and I was only 2 lbs away from being back to my pre-Christmas weight. I know, you're probably thinking..."You're STILL carrying around Christmas weight?!?!" But I am. It's true. Last year it was so much easier to take it off but for some reason it seems to be sticking around this year. I'm not too worried about it though. I know it's slowly coming off. Hopefully I've learned my lesson and next year I won't be so food crazed. I think my body likes this weight zone because it doesn't seem very anxious to move around any. I'm still toying with the idea of doing SFL for a few weeks to shed off a few pounds and get down to the lowest I've ever been, just to see if it's possible. I think my biggest hesitation is that I'm actually happy where I am now and I don't want to go through all that restriction. I really do wish I could lose another 10 lbs and I really really want to. But giving up those flex points is going to be a tough one. I'll have to pick a 2 week period that I have NO plans with friends, no dates, no outings basically. This plan (at least the first 2 clensing weeks) does not allow for much flexibility. I'm actually making it sound a lot worse that it really is. I know if I do it and stick with it, than the weight will fly off pretty quick. Choices, choices. I guess I'm just getting anxious about these last few pounds, I have been playing around with them since May of last year! That seems like forever! Actually in May of last year I was actually smaller than I am now (due to the SFL plan). Hmmm what do you ladies think?

My weekend was good. Dinner and a movie date with another couple on Friday. Went to Swiss Chalet. Ordered the Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich (9pts) and a baked potato (5 pts w/sour cream) with diet pepsi. I also had 1 perogie and half of a spring roll (5 pts) High point supper but that's why I saved up my flex points!
Saturday we had my 2 year old neiece for the afternoon. SO much fun! We took her shopping and to the pet store. Saturday night was homemade pizza night (which I royally screwed up!) and stayed in with a movie. I made the dough but doubled it up for a super thick crust and it turned out all doughy. Not good. Next time we'll stick with the single!

Went to a Superbowl party on Sunday night and had 5 points left. I had one very small piece of spinach and tomato thin crust pizza and a 1/2 of a cookie. There was food everwhere!!! It would have been so easy to just pig out! I did pretty good though, drank about 6 glasses of water and chewed about 3 pieces of gum to keep the food out of my mouth! haha.

Today is Yoga at lunch and Cardio after work. I didn't make it to the gym yesterday so I'm palying catch up. I did squeeze in 40 mins of Tae Bo on Sunday though so I figure I'm doing ok. Tomorrow I'm hitting the gym at lunch for 40 mins cardio since we are heading to the in laws for a turkey dinner tomorrow night. Mmm Turkey. My plan is to fill up on veggies. Tomorrow night Scott and I are going to play Volley ball. Nothing competitive, just a recreational team. Should be fun and it's more active than sitting at home on the couch!

How is everyone doing this week?

I rock!

2008-01-31T13:45:00.000-05:00

Today is one of those days that I just feel great about myself. I'm making great choices, I'm exercising regularly, the sun is shining, could it get any better?
Yesterday I hit up the gym after work for a KILLER Body Ball class. My best friend who just joined my gym came with me for the first time. I don't know if the girl has ever done any strength training in her life and I had to talk her into the class since she was a little apprehensive. The class usually isn't too bad and you can use small weights to make it less intense. I saw the instructor in the changing room and she mentioned that she had some new stuff and wanted my feedback after the class. Great right? Well not so great for my best friend who's never done weight training before. The class was brutal. The new stuff was pretty intense. Really good workout but basically we were working some muscles to the point where even my muscles were about to give out, and I've been taking the class for a few months. Needless to say, this morning I got a few nasty e-mails from said friend, cursing my name!

Today I hit the gym at lunch for 40 mins of cardio. 20 mins on the bike, 10 on elliptical and 10 on the treadmill. Nothing too intense but I feel great this afternoon!
Last night I made an attempt at cooking some Tilapia. I took 2 recipes and basically combined them (Thanks Kate!) I had a small bite last night and it was really good. Looking forward to having it for supper tonight with some rice and veggies.

A HUGE shout out to Angie too who had her first official run with the Running Room yesterday! I'm so proud of her. I'd second guess myself the whole way but she just dove right in and did amazing!

I'm so proud that I am following through with my New Year's Resolution to spend more time in the kitchen, I even learned that I LOVE cooking! It's so much fun! Especially on a Saturday moring or a Sunday afternoon. So far I have made:

ESBM Meatloaf (YUM!)
ESBM Tuna Casserole
WW Cheeseburger Casserole (Hubby's favorite)
WW 0 Point Italian Soup
WW 1 point Banana Bran Muffins
Cambpbell's Rice & chicken casserole
Breaded Parmesean Tilapia
Maple Glazed Ham

I've come a long way form just Tacos and Basil Pesto pasta. (Basically the only two things we ate at home pre New Year's resolution) This week I am making Amy's whole wheat pizza dough on Saturday and on Sunday I'm devoting a few hours to make up some lunch stuff for the week; ESBM meatloaf (at the request of my hubby) and the Basic 0 point WW Cabbage soup. I wasn't crazy about the Italian one but this one seems pretty decent.

Got any recipes you think I need to try? Let me know!

SFL for those of you who asked is a super strict meal plan. I thought it was more nationwide but apprently not. Basically the first 2 weeks are detox. It's very high protein. Breakfast for the first 2 weeks is a lot of cottage cheese and fruit or yogurt and fruit or Kashi Cereal. Lunch is 4 oz of meat (protein), tons of veggies and a pile of rice or pasta. To the point where you don't think you can't possibly eat another bite of food. But yuo have to eat it ALL. The first few days of this is brutal but after about a week, I swear you are hungry again in an hour. Your metabolism gets a HUGE boost. Supper is a protein and a ton of veggies. Snacks are fruit or almonds. I can't remember exactly but I may dig out my old sheets. It's crazy strict but if you follow it, you will lose weight, and a lot of it. After the first 2 weeks, it lets up a little more but still not something I could live on. Definitely not as flexible as WW. I did it for 3 weeks and lost like 13 lbs. 13 lbs!!! 7 in the first week. And after I went back to WW, I didn't gain it all back either. I just have to find the motivation to do it again is all. I love the freedom of WW! I've been flipping back and forth so that proves that I'm not ready yet. Maybe a few weeks before my wedding in April. Take off a few lbs before I have to walk down the isle. Hmmm... What do you ladies think?
I have to pick weeks though that I don't have any plans with the friends...or else wine seems to wiggle it's way in somehow.....

My week so far....and a mish mash

2008-01-30T12:21:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was a bit of up and down. I made it to the gym at lunch for my 50 min Yoga class at lunch. Felt great about that. I'm really starting to love Yoga. My instructor is fantastic and I really think that is part of the reason I love it so much. I've always been so nervous to try Yoga but now I can't imagine missing my class!
I had my first physio appt last night after work (I've been having a lot of problems with a joint in my back for the past few months) So I got 2 treatments for that and it was like being on a massage table, loved it. Hopefully it will help to workout the pain. (Side bar - my physio therapist did an assessment on me last night and said I was "extremely flexible" Yay! I think it's the yoga!)
Last night I didn't get home until about 9:00pm but since I had promised myself I'd get in some cardio, I threw on my workout kicks and popped in Billy Blanks. About 15-20 mins in, my DVD player crapped out on me. Kept freezing. Nothing like cutting you off just when you're getting into it. Frig.
Today I'm heading to the gym after work for 20 mins of cardio and then a 45 min Body Ball class. I think I need to be getting in more cardio. Before Christmas I was doing all cardio and I was losing much more weight. I know strength training is super important but I seem to have slacked on my cardio to fit in the strength training. Not a good idea. The scale isn't moving much (most likely due to my weekend indulgence). I've even been toying with the idea of diggin out my old SFL (Simply For Life) meal plan and giving it a try for a few weeks. Has anyone else tried SFL? I don't know how nationwide it is. I tried it back in May and lost quite a bit of weight. Not something I could live on forever but maybe it's what I need to get a jump start. I'm still carrying around 4 lbs from Christmas! The first 2 weeks of the plan are just so strict! The first few days are super hard too. What do you ladies think?

Thanks Amy for the pizza dough recipe, I'll be trying it out this weekend!

Also, for the first time ever, I bought fish at the grocery store! I've never cooked fish before in my life and I bought a big portion of Talapia. Anyone have any recipes? I'm completely oblivious!

and Thanks girls for the motivatin after such an awful weekend (which Randi thinks was not-so-awful) It's just what I needed anyway!

A Not-so-great weekend

2008-01-29T09:13:00.001-05:00

Ugh. I've been dreading this post but it's time to come clean right? I can't put it off any longer!

Friday night with the girls was a blast but after 4 Margaritas, a glass of red wine, too many multigrain tostitos to count, guacamole and lemon/dill chip dip....I felt awful on Saturday morning. On top of all that, I had to go and give a presentation for work on Saturday afternoon. I started out great and had my usual breaky of All Bran, milk, & V8 juice. By the time I got out of bed and on the road, I didn't even have time for lunch. Of course lunch was provided at the presentation so I grabbed a turkey sandwich and a marshmallow square. That didn't fill me up for long and hubby and I had fajitas for dinner which really weren't too bad. Decent and point friendly. Then came the movies........It's going to be hard to type this one. I had that awful "I already messed up, may as well go all the way" mentality. 1 Mars Bar about 10 Nachos and Cheese, about 20 giant swedish berries and 1 large diet coke later.....I REALLY felt awful. Seriously I thought I was going to be sick.

Did that stop me on Sunday???

Again, morning started out great. Regular breakfast and a tuna sandwich for lunch. Doing good...until the dreaded birthday party for my niece. What are they serving? Pizza! My ultimate trigger food. 2 slices later and a large portion of ceasar salad, I felt stuffed and bloated. Did that keep me away from the birthday cake? NO!
Wow when I type it all out, it sounds so disastrous doesn't it? But when you span it out over 3 days, it's so easy to justify isn't it? I knew I did bad and I was anxiously awaiting Monday morning so I could start the week fresh again.
On a bright note, after coming home from the birthday party around 7:00 on Sunday, I decided I felt too full and I couldn't wait until Monday to do something about it so I threw in Billy Blanks Tae Bo for a good 40 min workout. I loved it and it was over before I knew it. Hubby did it with me and we were both sweating up a storm by the end of it!
So yesterday I was back on track and feeling much better. Except for the awful Root Canal I had to get first thing yesterday morning in the middle of a blizzard. On top of that, the anesthetic kept wearing off so I was in excruciating pain. She couldn't finish it and had to refer me to a specialist. There was one part of the nerve that would not freeze, she even put the needle right in the nerve but it still didn't help. Tears were literally rolling down my face. At least my dentist is super nice and she felt awful about the pain. So I have to go a specialist to get it completed. NOT looking forward to that let me tell you. so I left work early yesterday since I couldn't concentrate for more than 10 seconds. The pain was ridiculous and lasted pretty much until supper time. So I didn't eat a thing until around 5:00pm. Nothing. You know the pain is bad when I miss a meal! I haven't missed a meal since like High School when I had the flu!
Anyway so I didn't get to the gym yesterday either which I feel awful about. Today I have physio after work for some trouble I'm having with my back so I'm heading to the gym at lunch for 40 mins cardio. I dont' want to fall behind on my exercise so I'm hoping to throw in my tae bo video some night this week and catch up.
How was eveyones weekend? Hope you all stayed OP unlike myself.

It's Friday!

2008-01-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

It's Friday! I feel amazing and my jeans seriously look 10 times better than they did last week (a little bit of muffin top action going on last week) The girls are heading over tonight for some Margarita's and munchies. I ended up making a low fat lemon and dill dip and I bought low fat crackers and Multigrain Tostitos. I also made a guacamole which is amazing but I'll only try a few bites since it isn't the greatest for you. Who would think that an avocado has so much fat in it? I made it with low fat sour cream but still...not so low in points.

A friend at work gave me this quick, 5 min recipe and seriously, for 5 mins worth of work, you won't believe how yummy they are. I made a little batch last night during a commercial break and threw them in the fridge overnight. Try it!! (but only if you have the points!) YUMMM!

1-1.5 oz semi sweet chocolate chips (I used about 1.2oz.....plenty)
1 Tbsp of Peanut butter (I used reduced fat stuff)
1 Cup of All bran flakes

Melt PB and chips in microwave until smooth, add in All Bran and mix. Drop onto a plate or cookie sheet with a teaspoon and throw into the fridge over night. Voila. Seriously, you're not going to get over how yummy they are. AND you get 2 for 1 point. (each batch makes 12 "cookies" so they aren't huge but definitely satisfies the junk craving) I bet the ones I made are actually lower in points though since I used low fat PB. 1 Cup of All Bran is only 1 point. 1 Tbsp of low fat PB is 2 pts and then you just have to count the chocolate chips. Hmmmm......

So yesterday was my 5th time to the gym this week!! I think this may be the first week I've gone 5 times. I'm also planning on doing my new Billy Blanks DVD this weekend (I bought into the Tae Bo thing) A friend of mine has one and she said she noticed a huge difference in her butt after just a few weeks. Who couldn't use a firmer butt....so off I go. I'll let you know just how torturous it is on Monday.

Tomorrow is pretty low key. I have to go into work for a few hours to give a presentation at a local Nursing Home. Lots of food but I'm planning on eating lunch before I go. Tomorrow night I'm hoping to hit up "Cloverfield" with hubby. Heard it was great and I love those kinds of movies.

Sunday is my niece's 2nd birthday bash so we are quite excited for that. It's going to be a pizza party so I think I'll save some points and have 1 piece and then bring a salad or something with me to have on the side. I'm usually out of flex points by Sunday so I'll have a low point breaky and lunch to accommodate. Usually 1 piece of pizza is like 6 points right? I can factor that in no problem. The only worry I have is tonight since the girls are heading over and who knows what they will bring with them. I think the problem we usually have is that we all sit around the table and munch and gab, maybe this time I'll leave the food in the dining room and make everyone sit in the living room!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Gyming it up & feeling great!

2008-01-24T07:27:00.000-05:00

So I've been to the gym 4 times so far this week and I'm planning on going today at lunch as well for a 40 min cardio session. I feel great! Although I had to miss my strength training class last night due to mandatory bridesmaid dress shopping. So I went at lunch instead and jumped on the bike/elliptical for 40 mins.

Bridesmaid dress shopping was actually pretty fun last night and guess what? HUGE NSV! I was the smallest bridesmaid out of 5! How often does that happen? Those dresses do tend to run small though so I think everyone was a size larger than they thought. I was seriously having anxiety about the dress I ordered for a friend's wedding in April. I ordered a 10 but I was getting a little weary about whether or not I'd be able to squeeze into it. Well last night I grabbed a few 12s and a few 10s and set off to the changing room with the feeling of dread. You that feeling - "I'll break the zipper getting into it if I have to, but I'm not going up another size" kind of feeling. (Just goes to show you how obsessed we women are with sizes....thus the reason for vanity sizing!) Well I started out with a 12, just in case. Slipped it on and......what?? It's too big?? Way too big actually! Look at all this room!

Dare I try on the 10? Hmmmm

Ok Here I go. It fits!!!! Fits great actually. Even a little loose up top but through the waist and hips...perfect!! Huge sigh of relief at this point! Not only is my 10 going to fit me in my April wedding but I might actually have to get it taken in a little! Ok the nightmares of not fitting into my dress can stop now. Please!

I'm having one of those "I feel super fit and great" days and I'm loving it. Got a little extra swing in my hips. You ladies know what I'm talking about. It's days like this that I don't even care about the number on the scale, I care only about how great I feel and how appreciative I am to myself for how far I've come and for all that I have accomplished. I can honestly say that I am proud of myself and happy with who I am. Look how great I've done over the past 2 years? I've turned my life around, I've made so many wonderful changes and through all of those, I've really gotten to see my own strength, what I can accomplish, and just how wonderful I am. I hope this feeling in contagious because I want all of you ladies to take a step back, see how far you've come and appreciate yourself.

Self help book anyone??

Have a great day!!

Weigh in...

2008-01-22T19:58:00.002-05:00

Wasn't as great as I had expected. In fact it was downright disappointing. But a loss is a loss right? I wasn't too discouraged. I was hoping to see a nice loss but after all the wine on Saturday night, I guess I should have known better.

So what did the scale have to say??

Down 1 lb

But that is one pound that I don't have to carry around with me this week right? There are a few reasons why I don't think I saw as much of a loss as I was anticipating.

1. I've been doing a lot of strength training in the last 2 weeks. New to me but apparently muscle weighs more than fat or so they say. So hopefully I've gained some muscle along the way.

2. Wine on Saturday. Wine Wine Wine. Sigh.

3. TOM showed up just after weigh in.

4. I've been saving too many points for supper and after supper snacks. I need to be eating more points during the day

So there you have it. I'm really not too worried about it and I'm totally working towards a nice big juicy loss next week.

Not much going on this week. Work is crazy busy and I have lots of meetings going on. I'm getting to the gym as much as possible. So far I've gone 3 times this week.

Monday was 15 min elliptical warmup and then 45 min Body Sculpt Class

Today was a 50 min yoga class at lunch and then 45 min cardio workout after work.

I'm hoping to get to the gym tomorrow but it's once again time to go shopping for bridesmaid dresses so that might tie me up after work. Maybe I can run down to the gym on my lunch hour though. Hmmmm......

Took a few pics of my time in the kitchen on Saturday.... Although I didn't take a picture of the wicked meatloaf I made last week. Sooo yummy.

1 Point WW Banana Bran Chocolate Chip Muffins! Mmmmmm

0 point WW Italian Soup....Not 100% crazy over it but not too bad

Last but not least...Tuna Casserole. Yumm!

Oh I need ideas ladies! I'm having a few girls over for a bite on Friday night before a movie. What in the world am I going to make? I need something easy but low in points as I want to make sure I track everything. Any ideas? Nothing fancy...just some munchies and finger foods maybe??

A Great Weekend!

2008-01-21T07:12:00.001-05:00

I passed up SO many temptations this weekend!

Friday night is usually homemade pizza night but I decided to skip the pizza and save up my flex points for a few glasses of wine on Saturday. We had a new recipe instead. Meatloaf from the ESBM girls (which as REALLY yummy) with rice and veggies. We ended up staying in on Friday and rented a movie (Good Luck Chuck....funny!) so I did have about 6 points worth of chocolate on Friday but I counted it and instead of having nachos like I wanted, I settled for a 100 calorie bag of popcorn. Sweet.

Saturday was good. I spent the whole morning cooking. I made 1 point Banana Bran Muffins, Tuna Casserole, and 0 point Weight Watchers soup. I stuck within my points and even had about 10 pts leftover before I went out. So on our way out, Scott and I stopped at Wendy's, instead of getting a big greasy burger, I got a grilled chicken snack wrap. Hit the spot and was only 5 points. So we got picked up in a SUV limo which was sweet and it took us to the hotel that friends of ours were staying at. When we got there someone had some super greasy popcorn and I didn't even touch it, even though by this time, the snack wrap was wearing off and I was hungry! When we got to the pub, a few girls and I ordered some Nachos....not the best things to order but there was 3 of us and the plate was pretty small. I counted all the points too. The rest of the night I stayed away from food and even had to convince my hubby that stopping for pizza on the way home was NOT a good idea. When we finally got home (not our home, we stayed in town at Scott's parents) Scott dished out a bowl of ice cream and I had 2 pieces of toast. Then we called it a night. So over all, I think It did pretty well. I ended up drinking a bottle of wine plus 1 glass. Plus I spent a solid 3 hours dancing my butt off so I think I maye have earned a few activity points!

Sunday was a little harder....that awful I'm slightly hungover and all I can think about is eating greasy food feeling stuck with me most of the day. But I had toast for breakfast and a turkey breast wrap from Subway for lunch. I had a bridal show to go to so I was there all afternoon. Scott picked me up close to supper and asked me about 6 times if I was SURE I didn't want fish and chips from Deluxe. It took all I had to say no 6 times! We ended up just heading home and having tuna noodle casserole (ESBM girls again) It was yummy AND low in points! Score.

So that was my weekend. Oh there was a slight run in with a cinnamon roll last night but I had some points left over and the nutritional value was on the package so I didn't stress too much about it. Counted it and moved on. Could have done without it though....

So I'm wondering how Christy and Sonya made out this weekend. My first OP weekend in a while. 7 days under my belt now!

Days 3 & 4

2008-01-18T07:06:00.001-05:00

4 days under my belt and I am feeling pretty fantastic. 4 days completely OP. 4 days of eating healthy and counting points. 4 days of exercise and determination.

I secretly weighed in this morning and I am down 2.5 lbs from Monday. I'm sure most of it was water retention but hey, 2.5 lbs is 2.5 lbs. I won't count my official weigh in until Monday when I weigh in at the gym. So hopefully that 2.5 lbs may even become 3 lbs by Monday. Although I'm going in with no expectations since tomorrow night may be a night filled with wine so I'm really not sure if that's going to throw me off for a few days. (now throw ME off, but throw my weight off) There's no stopping me now. On Day 25, I've decided to treat myself. Haven't decided on what yet but most likely a new pair of runners or a new gym outfit.

My exercise this week has been great but I'm hoping to step it up a little next week. This week:
Monday: 15 min elliptical warm up & 45 min Body Sculpt Class
Tuesday: 50 min Yoga class
Wednesday: 15 mins elliptical warmup & 45 min Body Ball Class
Thursday: 15 min on treadmill and bike & 40 mins on elliptical

I'm taking a day away from the gym tonight but tomorrow night will be filled with tons of dancing since we are going to a local pub that has a great band playing tomorrow night.

This week a friend at work brought in a cookbook for me to browse through. It's call Crazy Plates and it's by the same girls who wrote the ESBM book. I made the meatloaf last night and it is SO good. Scott's been asking me to make meatloaf for him for seriously about 3 years but I've never made it before so I just kept putting it off. I only tried a small bite since I only had 0.5 pt left but Scott had a whole piece and said it was excellent. I'm forgoing my usually Friday night homemade pizza tonight since I'm saving up my flex points for wine tomorrow so I thought I'd make it for tonight for dinner. Anyone else have a meatloaf crazed hubby at home - e-mail me and I'll give you the recipe. So good.

Other than than my night out tomorrow night, this weekend it pretty ow key. tonight we are going to either go to a movie or rent Good Luck Chuck. Sunday I have a bridal show to go to for the whole afternoon.

Congrats to Christy and Sonya who are kicking butt this week!! You girls are great motivation!

Randi also asked a great question: If I do go off plan for one day...should I just not count that day or do I start back at 0? Any suggestions? (Although there's NO way I'm falling off the wagon) I'm thinking that I should go back to 0. Gives me more motivation to stay OP!

Day # 2 ...Clean as a whistle!

2008-01-16T14:33:00.001-05:00

2 fantastic OP days under my belt and already I can feel the momentum building. Everyday on plan brings less cravings for chocolate, more energy, more confidence, and just generally more satisfaction and pride. I'm not going back. I feel too great now. How could I forget how great it feels to be OP? Why would I ever want it any other way?

Congrats to Christy and Sonya who are counting away the OP days with me. I honestly thought about having a snack last night around 9:00pm (which is past my promised 8:00pm cut off) even though I didn't have any points left but then I thought..."What in the world would I tell Christy and Sonya tomorrow??" So I grabbed a big glass of water and sipped away while watching Biggest Loser. Counting the OP days has really helped too. I'm already thinking that once I get to 25 days, I might reward myself with a new pair of shoes, or a new purse, or the new pair of jeans I've been wanting.

I didn't get to the gym twice yesterday like I was planning but I did make it to Yoga class and it was a hard one! My arms were killing me afterward. Does anyone else find the downward dog "resting" pose to be pretty intense on the arm muscles? Maybe it will get easier in time since this was only my fourth class. I almost had to break it once because I thought my arms would give out but I held on long enough for her to change poses. It was rough though.

Tonight is Body Ball class so I am looking forward to that. Although last Wednesday they switched the instructor and I found it a little too easy. Hopefully we have the old one back tonight.

I really think that weighing in on Mondays is going to have a good effect on my weekend choices. I used to weigh in on Fridays so if I over indulged on the weekend I always had the mentality "well I have a whole week to take it back off so why not have that extra piece of carrot cake?" but I can't use that excuse anymore since I will be weighing in on Mondays at the gym for the challenge I joined. The next few weekends are going to be a little rough. This weekend we are going out for drinks with friends for a 30th birthday party. Escalade limo rental and all. It's been a while since I've been out with friends and had a few glasses of wine so this weekend I'm going to save 30 of my flex points for wine. Sounds awful right? But I love wine. And most of the time, after 2 glasses, I want 2 more. Especially when I'm out with my best friends. So if I know I'm going to probably polish off a bottle of wine, I should just plan for it right? Does anyone know how many points a bottle of red wine is? Not a flattering question eh?

That's it for me today. I'm off to the gym!

Day 1

2008-01-15T08:16:00.000-05:00

Hi. My name is Carolyn. I'm a foodaholic/junkaholic/chocoholic and I've been clean for 1 Day.

Now that I got that over with.....

Day 1 was great. I think I really got back to the basics. Drank a massive amount of water, ate tons of fruits and veggies and stopped eating by 8:00pm (something I kind of got away from over the Holidays) I'm excited about being on plan again. It feels like it's almost been a hassle to count points lately especially over the Holidays, but I'm excited again and anxious to follow the plan.

Yesterday I also signed up and got measured for the "Get UnStuffed" challenge at my gym. I even had to weigh in. I wasn't suprised because I weighed myself yesterday morning. Although the number at the gym was abour 3 lbs heavier than at home. Time difference I guess. When I weigh in at home, it's first thing in the morning, sans clothes. At the gym if was around supper time and after Id drank about a litre of water (I totally wasn't trying to pull a Neil here). It's a 10 week challenge and you get weighed every week and you have to record your cardio/strength exercise. You get points for each. At the end of 10 weeks you also get measured so I will be anxious to see if I lose any inches.

I also hit up the gym yesterday for 10 mins warm up on the elliptical and then a 45 min Body Sculpt strength training class. I'm not as sore today as I was last Tuesday but I can't figure out if its because my muscles are getting used to being worked or if the class wasn't as hard as last week. I'll keep it up though. Today is Yoga at lunch and cardio after work. Week # 2 of hitting the gym twice in one day!

Christy & Sonya...how you ladies holding up??

A Great OP weekend......

2008-01-14T07:32:00.000-05:00

is exactly what DIDN'T happen this weekend.

I think I've reached that point ladies. The point where you just cant go on anymore. The point where the number on the scale literally horrifies you and makes you want to cry. The point where the thought of gaining even one more pound is enough to induce temporary insanity.

I've had enough. Seriously enough. I can't spend one more day in my current out of control-I can eat what I want-who cares if I gain a few pounds state. The Holidays are over! Seriously, it's January 14th. Get over it!

So today is my day one. My first day of rededicating myself to Weight Watchers. Every point will be calculated, journalled and accounted for. Every meal will be balanced. Everyday will include at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies. The gym will see me walking in the door at least 4 times a week but I'm really aiming for 5. Water will always be within arms reach. I can do this. I need to do this.

My motivation:
1. The size 10 maid of honor dress I ordered for my friends wedding in 14 weeks.
2. The bridesmaid dress I have to order next month for another friend's wedding.
3. The unworn size 7 pants hanging in my closet with the tags on.
4. The "Get Unstuffed" challenge at my gym that I signed up for this morning.
5. The bikini I plan to buy this weekend.
6. Our trip to New York City in May.
7. The fact that my size 9 pants feel a little snug this morning.
8. The showers/bachelorettes coming up for previously mentioned weddings
9. August trip to PEI where Scott is in a wedding. He's going to be in a tux, I have to look great too!
10. And finally.....because I just hate feeling huge and out of control.

So there we have it. Time to get serious. I'm starting from scratch. Everything I "thought" I knew the points for will be re-measured. Measuring cups will be out constantly to keep portions on track. Everything will be journalled. (including wine which is a big one for me)

Who's with me? I'm ready to take off this last 15 pounds (if your observant, you know a few weeks ago this was 10 lbs) Time to get to goal. what have I been waiting for? I've been playing around with these last 15 pounds for the past year! Ridiculous!

A HUGE Thanks to Roni as well for putting on the Movie and a Popcorn contest! I'm psyched about the Netflix subscription & popcorn!! I never win anything, I was shocked when I did! Thank you!!

I HATE black licorice.......

2008-01-10T09:06:00.000-05:00

so why do I LOVE those Licorice Allsorts soo much?? They have been sitting outside my office now for 2 days. 2 huge boxes of them. Taunting me. Begging me to have just one. Why do I have a weakness for those little things? Anyone else have this problem? On top of those, there is also a cheese ball and crackers, chips and dip, and a box of Turtles. Aren't the Holidays over now? Didn't people in my office get the memo?? It's over ladies and gents. No more junk!! Geeeeezzz.

I had one. That's it and I promised myself I wouldn't have anymore.

On other news, I am totally ROCKING the gym this week so far I've been there 4 times since Monday! 4 TIMES!

Monday:
15 mins cardio
45 Min Body Sculpt Class (Still sore from it!)

Tuesday:
50 Min Yoga Class at lunch
then I went BACK to the gym after work! 2 times in one day. This is a huge first!!
10 mins Elliptical and 30 mins Treadmill (Was still pretty sore from Monday's class so I took it a little easy)

Wednesday:
45 Min Body Ball class....this was brutal since I was still sore from Monday and Yoga had my abs burning!!

Tonight I'm heading back again for some more cardio. Probably 20 mins elliptical and 20 mins Stairmaster and I might throw in a little treadmill or bike. The gym is SO busy these days. Apparently I heard they had 60 new members sign up so far in January! It's hard to find machines that aren't signed out. So frustrating.

My gym is also holding a little competition that I'm thinking about joining. "Get UnStuffed" Basically it's a 10 week program and you get points for lbs lost, mins of cardio, mins of strength training, inches lost etc. Although I hate the scale and have decided to avoid it at all costs, I think I might join. Since I just started strength training, I'd love to see my progress, especially in the inches lost department. So even though I might not lose a lot of weight, if I lose a few inches, that would be great. I also think it would help me to stay accountable and it would motivate me to drag my butt to the gym. What do you guys think?

Hang in there ladies, it's almost Friday!

What does OP mean to you?

2008-01-08T07:11:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I'm reading all my daily blogs and I come across Ms. Kelly (I'm a religious reader, she's great) and she went the WHOLE WEEKEND without using any flex points at all. I don't know how she did it. The girl is a hero. Then I got thinking.....is my definition of OP different from everyone else's? When I tell everyone I had my first OP weekend in months....do they know that I used every last one of my flex points? Am I lying to them by saying I stayed OP even though I used a few of my flex points to have a chocolate bar and baked Doritos on movie night on Friday?? I've always saved all my flex points for the weekends so I can splurge a little. Whether it's a few glasses of wine or some munchies for the movie, I love having them for the weekend so I can treat myself. Sometimes it's homemade pizza, sometimes it's chocolate, sometimes it's a fancy dinner out with hubby, sometimes it's wine, sometimes if I have saved the points, it's a combination of a couple splurges! Is this wrong???

If WW says I can have 35 flex points a week and still lose weight...why wouldn't I take advantage of them? I guess I should note that I don't count activity points. Gym time doesn't give me any extra points in my books. So maybe this makes up for the fact that I use 35 flex points each week. In fact I actually did a little experiment last Spring where I took a few weeks and tried different ways of using/not using flex points. A few weeks, I cut it down to 20 flex points, a few weeks I used no flex points and a few weeks I used 35 flex points. And to be quite honest, I lost more weight (not a lot more but about 1/2 lb more) on the weeks that I ate all my flex points! How is that even possible? Maybe your body needs the variation?

How many of you ladies use all of your flex points?? Every week? Every other week? Do you save them all up for the weekend or do you use a few every day and spread them out? I think it would be interesting to find out so let me know.

On another note, Hubby and I decided to take a trip to New York in May! We are total Big Apple virgins so we need advice. We are thinking of driving down since it is only about 9-10 hours and we can stop along the way and see a few other places like Boston, Portland (Hello, Bath & Body Works!) but we are just starting out with the planning so we really have no idea where to stay, what to see, what expenses we are looking at.....Suggestions??

Happy Tuesday!

PS Body Sculpt class last night is already taking it's toll. I'm SORE today!

Speaking of PS...has anyone seen P.S. I Love You yet???? Go see it!! Bring kleenex.

Monday Monday.....

2008-01-07T07:17:00.001-05:00

My first OP weekend in SOO long! It has seriously been about 3 or 4 months since I've stayed within my points on the weekend! Of course I did save up my 35 flex points and I ended up using them all but still! I counted every point and I watched my portions. I even said no to cookies at our course on Sunday (I had one later but I counted it and it was good!)

Nothing too eventful to report about the weekend. We rented a few movies and did a little shopping but other than that it was pretty low key. I got together with a few girls on Saturday night and stayed away from the wine and junk food...somehow. A friend of mine is getting married and asked me to be in the wedding, which is always a surprise and I felt very honored. I am the maid of honor in a wedding in April, Scott's in a wedding in August and I'm in another wedding in September. I just picked out my dress for the April wedding...let me know what you think. It's going to be a black and white wedding so my dress is black, which is great because I can wear it again!

In other news, I am starting my new workout plan today and I'm actually pretty excited about it. Today is 15 mins warm up cardio and then I'm checking out the 45 min Body Sculpt class. If all these weddings are coming up, I better get in shape so I can look hot in my bridesmaid dresses!

Short and sweet today.....How was your weekend?? Everyone back on track now and ready to get rid of the extra Holiday pounds?

Friday Friday!

2008-01-04T07:44:00.000-05:00

It's Friday! Finally, even though this was a short week since I only worked 3.5 days, it feels like a long one.
Work has been busy and I'm still doing Holiday visiting with friends that are home for the Holidays. Last visit was last night, a few of us went out to dinner before one of my good friends flew back out west to Alberta this morning. We ended up going to Vito's (I think it's more of a local restaurant but it's basically standard Italian food) Scott and I decided to order two meals and then split them. We ordered a small order of lasagna and a Chicken Souvlaki dish that came with chicken skewers, greek salad and brown rice. (It was on the Simply For Life menu) We skipped on the oil dressing on the salad and didn't add anything to the rice. I had saved up my points for the day so I had 13 points left and I managed to stay within my points so I was pretty happy about that. Although greek salad with no dressing really isn't all that great.
When we got home around 9:00pm, I was craving a snack but instead I filled up a huge glass of water and sipped away during CSI: Miami. Nice eh?
So I couldn't' do it....my break up with the scale. I caved. I got on the scale this morning. I just wanted to see how I was doing. I seriously think I'm addicted. I knew I was doing great so why did I need to verify my greatness with a number on the scale? At least 3.5 of those holiday lbs flew off pretty quickly. Those ones must have been the water weight. Believe it or not, there are still a couple Holiday lbs holding on for dear life. YES you read that right, I lost 3.5 lbs and I still have more to go to get back to my pre-Holiday weight. But I had a great Holiday filled with lots of wonderful time with family and catching up with old friends and of course, lots and lots of amazing food, so I can't complain. Now I just have to pay the piper.
I did make it to the gym yesterday after work but only for a quick 35 min jaunt on the treadmill. Nothing too intense since I had a dinner date right afterwards. But at least I went right? Better then nothing. I'm hoping to get in some activity this weekend too. I might try out my new Yoga DVD that I got for Christmas and I'm thinking that Scott and I might go skating as well. Monday I start my new exercise regime:

Monday:
15 min warm up
45 min Body Sculpt class

Tuesday:
50 min Yoga class at lunch
50 min Random Cardio (elliptical and Stairmaster are my favorites)

Wednesday:
15 min warmup Cardio
45 min Body Ball Class

Thursday:
50 mins of Random Cardio

Weekends are gym free unless I'm able to hit up a class or squeeze in some cardio but Scott and I usually stay pretty active on the weekends so I'm sure there will be some form of activity in there.

What do you guys think? I'm not sure if the 2 classes are enough strength training? Although they are both full body workouts and both involve using weights & resistance bands. Plus I think Yoga is gong to be great for strength training as well but since I'm new to it, let me know what you ladies think.

Happy Friday everyone! It's -36 C today in my city. That's right..... -33 F for all you ladies down south. It's freezing. I can't imagine being outside for more than 2 minutes. Bundle up!!

Day 1 down.....363 days to go

2008-01-03T08:16:00.000-05:00

It's amazing what 1 good OP day can do to your confidence. Tuesday I felt sloppy, frumpy and basically just huge. But after a great OP day yesterday, I feel much more in control and I feel ready to take on these extra pounds that jumped on track over the Holidays AND get down to my goal weight (which is now about 15 pounds away instead of 10)

Last night I went shopping at Suzy Shier. I needed some new dress pants and although I thought maybe I shouldn't go shopping since I have these extra pounds on, I went anyway since I didn't want to miss the big sales. I figured that I could just buy the pants a little snug and then as the pounds floated away, they would be perfect. So I brought a few size 9's in with me hoping, I could squeeze my Holiday stuffed butt into them. I tried on a few pair that were no good (they fit, just didn't like them) Then I tried on the last pair and they felt a little snugger ( not even a word, I know) and there was a little muffin top action but not much and I knew if I dropped the Holiday weight, they would be perfect. (plus Scott said I look super hot in them) Off I went to the cash register. When the sales girl started folding them up the tag was on top and I realized they were a 7! A 7! I know many of you ladies have been talking about vanity sizing so I kind of had mixed feelings about buying a 7. Am I supposed to be happy or do I chalk it up to vanity sizing? Any shoppers notice vanity sizing taking over Suzy?

Anyway so today is another great OP day and I'm looking forward to staying on track. I feel so much better already! I'm hitting the gym tonight and looking forward to it. Yup, I said looking forward to it. It's been way too long. I'm actually anxious to get my butt to the gym. I'm thinking about hitting up some strength training today since I have a dinner date later and don't want to get too sweaty. We'll see though how it goes.

How is everyone making out back on the wagon?
Anyone have any great recipes for me to try out in the kitchen this weekend?? I think I've decided that Sunday will be my "try-a-new-recipe" day. Suggestions??

Firmly planted on the Wagon.

2008-01-02T07:16:00.000-05:00

That's it. I've had enough. My pants are tight, I'm not drinking enough water, the scale showed me a horrible number this morning and I just feel gross. I had a great Holiday but now it's time to come back to reality...even with a few extra pounds. I can't ignore them any longer. Time to start kicking butt again and get rid of these extra pounds. I knew that staying away from the gym for almost 2 weeks and basically eating whatever I want for 2 weeks was going to take a toll but this morning, the scale shocked me back to reality. I knew those awful pounds were there; I could feel it in the way my clothes fit, and that extra jiggle I can feel in my thighs. Ugh. I do it every year.

BUT....

No need to dwell on it now. Those extra pounds are already there but they aren't staying. I'm actually quite happy to be back on track. Last night I was anxious to start the day today on track and back at the gym. I feel more in control already. I've got my litre of water at my side and a nice healthy low point lunch packed up. It's on. I decided this morning that my next weigh in will be two weeks from Friday. January 18. I figure this gives me enough time to get back in the zone and not obsess over these few pounds that I am carrying. Hopefully most of them will be gone by then. My goal is to stay completely OP AND hit the gym at least 4 times each week. My minimum gym time/week is 180 mins. In that, I'm going to incorporate some strength training as well.

New Year's was great. I had a little too much wine on Monday night and WAY too much to eat all day on Tuesday. I completely let the "this is your LAST cheat day, better make good use of it" mentality get to me and I had a huge breakfast of bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and pancakes Supper consisted of nachos and peanut butter cups. How awful is that??? Ahh well. I enjoyed it. Nothing I can do about it now right? Except get my (bigger-than-last-week) butt back on track.

Hope everyone had a great New Year's! Anyone come up with any resolutions yet? I've got a few to jot down...

1. Strength training at least 2 times a week
2. More outdoor activities such as skating, sliding etc.
3. Attend more fitness classes
4. Spend more time in the kitchen trying new recipes
5. Be more open minded (I'm a huge "plan" person. I like to have everything planned out and it gets to me when I have to deviate from my plan in any way. I need to be more go-with-the-flow, like my husband is.)

That should start me off. What about you ladies?

PS - I went to see P.S. I Love You and it is amazing!! Make plans and go see it right now! (or don't make plans and spontaneously go to the movie theatre on a whim....see? I'm trying!!)

Also check out Roni's Popcorn and a movie contest here from Orville Redenbacher! Mmmmm Popcorn.

Turkey Soup for Dummies

2007-12-28T07:52:00.000-05:00

I would seriously buy this book if I could find it! I started making turkey soup last night, and I'm stumped. What veggies do you put in turkey soup? I made the broth and cut up all the chicken last night & I was thinking of swinging by the grocery store today to grab some of the "No Yolk" egg noodles to put in the soup but other than that, all I got is carrots. Any ideas ladies? I don't think I've ever made soup before. How crazy is that? What have we been eating all this time? I seriously need to expand my knowledge in the kitchen. Especially in the soup department. I'm hoping to make a big batch of turkey soup and then I can freeze it in lunch size portions. That's the plan anyway, if I can just get the thing made....help?

Yesterday was a great OP day. I did have one chocolate at the office but I counted it into my daily points so I'd say I'm still doing pretty well. I didn't make it to the gym since I still feel awful with this cold/flu thing. It completely wiped me out. Energy is at an all time low. Although I must admit that if I'm going to be truthful with myself, it's probably from the cold/flu & a lack of gym time. I just went home and jumped into my PJs but then I got a weird burst of energy so I spent an hour making turkey broth and cutting chicken and I also made a banana bread. Although perhaps that was a bad idea. I did bring a small slice with me in my lunch but I'm counting it in my points. We are going to a family thing tonight so I think I'll cut up the rest of the banana bread and bring it with me so I don't have it tempting me at home.

I'm still coming up with my New Year's goals but I know a big part of it is going to involve strength training. I really want to start toning this year and working more with weights. I know it's an important part of exercise but I have pretty much chosen to ignore that fact for the last year or so. But now that I have a gym membership and a new super cute pink MP3 player (Thank Scott!), I really have no excuses. Plus it will get Randi off my back (Thanks for the Christmas card!!) I'll punch out a more concrete goal though when the time comes for New Year's. I've also been trying to be more aware of the sodium content in some of the foods I am eating so that might be factored in there too.

Other than tonight, we have a pretty low key weekend. Tomorrow a few girls and I are going to see P.S. I Love You. Gotta love a cheesy chick flick with the girls every now and then! Then it's just Scott and I for the rest of the weekened! (yay!)

Christmas is gone for another year...

2007-12-27T10:39:00.000-05:00

Well it came and it went. It left a few pounds behind though. Too much wine/chocolate/turkey/chips and dip...you name it, I probably ate it over the course of the last week. To name a few of my discrepancies:

Christmas baking (WAY too much)
Cookies
Chocolates (Ferrero Rochet is NOT intended for Breakfast!)
Waffles
Eggs & Bacon
Pizza & Garlic Fingers (my last hooray last night before my wagon ride this morning)
Nuts & more Nuts
Chips and dip
Apple Pie
Chocolate Mint Pie
Lemon Meringue Pie
Whip cream
Nuts & Bolts

BUT the good thing about all this? It's GONE. All of it. I threw out any remaining baking, chocolate, nuts, chips. Everything went in the garbage last night in anticipation of my big OP day today. Christmas is wonderful but who needs temptation thrown in their face every second of the day?
On top of that, I woke up with something resembling the flu yesterday. I'm sweaty and nauseous and bloated and feel gross all over & I had to come back to work today. I'm sure a few OP days will get me back on track though. I think my whole system is just out of whack from the Holidays and lack of gym time. I was hoping to hit the gym after work today but depending on how this cold/flu progresses, I might just hit the hay early.

On a brighter note, has anyone started thinking about their goals for 2008? I've started coming up with a few but I've decided not to look for a number on the scale. I think I'd rather set goals like strength training twice a week, getting outdoors more, maybe a 5 or 10K, more goals related to overall fitness rather than a number on the scale. Something to think about anyway.

Hope you all had a GREAT Holiday and are all ready to get back on track with me. Even though New Year's is just around the corner, don't put off getting back on the wagon until then. You'll feel so much better (and look way hotter in your New Year's outfit) if you start now.

Short and sweet today ladies!

One last time for 2007!

2007-12-21T17:42:00.000-05:00

Thought I would punch out one last post for 2007. What a year it has been. Although the pounds haven't been flying off as they did last year, I have had so many successes. Of course with those, came lots of frustration, anguish and anxiety but it's Christmas, and now is the time to focus on the positive (really I should be doing this ALL year around). I've come a long way this year and I'm very proud of myself. My most recent success was making it through Yoga class yesterday. Who knew it would be so hard on the muscles?? Yikes! But I loved it and a year ago, I wouldn't have been able to hold all those crazy poses.

I can't say Thank you enough for the support I've received on my blog over the past year. It has kept me sane and encouraged me to push myself beyond what I "thought" were my limits. Thank you so much ladies. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

It's Friday! (For me!)

2007-12-19T10:03:00.000-05:00

Today is my Friday since I took off Thursday and (actual) Friday this week to give myself a little vacay. I have to come back to work on the 27th and 28th so I figured if I can't take off those days (seniority thing) then I may as well take off a few days before Christmas. Actually I'd rather take off the days before Christmas anyway because then I can stay home and get prepared for the Holiday and I'm not all rush rush rush.

Update on my Goals:
Day 2 Tuesday:
- Stay away from Christmas baking
- 50 mins of Cardio
- Stay away from Christmas Buffet at work

I had 2 very small Rice Krispie Squares. I took your advice ladies and I really wanted a small treat so I had one. I saved the points so I figure I'm still doing ok. As long as I count the points and limit my potions right? You guys were right, I was being a little hard on myself.

I did get in 50 mins of Cardio. 42 Mins on the treadmill (walking/running intervals) and then I did 10 mins of abs. (Thanks to Scott, I tried to talk him out of going to the gym last night but he stood firm and we went and I'm SO glad we did!)

I did stay away from the Christmas Buffet but we had a little Holiday party in the afternoon and there was mounds and mounds of food but I stuck to the veggies and 2 pieces of shrimp (I don't even like shrimp that much but it was the only other semi-healthy thing on the table besides the veggies)

Overall I think I did pretty good on yesterday's goals. Here is a reminder of the goals I have laid down for today:

Day 3 Wednesday:
- Stay away from Christmas Baking (or limit it to ONE piece but ONLY if I have the daily points left over)
- 15 mins Cardio 45 mins Strength Training
- Christmas buffet at work for lunch (my dept's turn to do the table so I want to try everyone's goodies but I'll limit myself to fruit, veggies, 2 meatballs and count ALL my points!)

My plan for the gym is 15 mins of cardio/warmup and 45 mins Body Ball strength training class. I'm excited, I really like the class and I find it's very interactive and the time flies!

I didn't bring a lunch today but so far all I've had from the buffet is 2 small tastes of homemade hummus. Yum! Bad idea though since I had a client some in and all I could smell was garlic! Oops!

Lunch will be a few meatballs and tons of veggies and fruit from Christmas Buffet table. This will be my last day with that temptation. Good riddance!

How are you ladies doing this week? Only 6 days until Christmas! Are we all ready for it? what is your plan over the Holidays? Free for all on Christmas Eve? Christmas Day? I think we should set a date to get back on track. I think everyone has the same idea about basically letting loose a little on Christmas Day so when do we get back on track? Do we really want to wait until January 1st? Not me! I'm thinking December 27. Some of us are back at work, back in routine, Christmas is behind us. What do you ladies think?

Day 1 - Exercise: Check.....Avoiding Christmas Baking: Check!

2007-12-18T08:33:00.000-05:00

So my plan for this week and next week is basically to take it day by day. I really think that's the only way to get through this Holiday Season. I've made goals for myself each and everyday this week to help me stay accountable and not go crazy on the Holidays (and gain 7 lbs like I did last year!) Most of them are redundant but hey...that Christmas baking is damn good so everyday that I get through and don't have any, is a huge victory. Especially since I'm still baking and hubby is still indulging!

Day 1 Monday:
- Stay away from Christmas baking
- 50 mins of Cardio
-Stay away from Christmas Buffet

Accomplished both goals!!
30 mins StairMaster and 20 mins elliptical & Stayed away from all Christmas baking! I even made up the trays for my potluck tomorrow and didn't even have one little nibble of anything. I did have 3 pieces of Broccoli form the Christmas buffet at work but I dipped it in lowfat Ranch and counted the points.

Day 2 Tuesday:
- Stay away from Christmas baking
- 50 mins of Cardio
- Stay away from Christmas Buffet at work

Day 3 Wednesday:
- Stay away from Christmas Baking
- 15 mins Cardio 45 mins Strength Training
- Christmas buffet at work for lunch (my dept's turn to do the table so I want to try everyone's goodies but I'll limit myself to fruit, veggies, 2 meatballs and count ALL my points!)

Day 4 Thursday:
-Stay away from Christmas baking
- 60 min Yoga class
- Eat all meals at home

Day 5 Friday:
- Some form of activity (probably shopping since I'm taking my 2 yr old Niece for the morning and I have a feeling she'd love to go see Santa)
- Stay away from Christmas baking
- Eat all meal at home
- Limit my wine intake (might get together with the girls)

Thursday and Friday are going to be tough since Hubby and I are taking a vacation day those days (YAY vacation!) so I won't have the routine of my workday but I also won't have the temptation of the Christmas Buffet table at work. We'll be keeping pretty busy bu my goal is to eat all of my meals at home. That will keep me from chowing down at any fast food joints.

Menu for Today:

1.5 C All Bran - 2pts
1/2 C Milk (Skim) - 1pt
1/2 V8 Juice - 0pts
Multivitamin

Tuna Sandwich - 3pts
1 orange - 1pt
All Bran Bites - 1pt
Banana before workout - 2pts

4 oz Ham w/mustard - 4pts
1/2 cup packaged Herb & Wild Rice - 4pts
Mixed Veggies - 0pts
Becel - 1pt

Total: 19 points

May have a snack later but it will only be 1 pt.

So what do we think ladies? Any suggestions on my eating, exercise or goals?? Bring it on!

Christmas Baking got to me

2007-12-17T08:31:00.000-05:00

Well my weekend wasn't a complete bust. Although the Christmas baking did get to me on Sunday while I was home all day trying to wait out the big storm we got here in Atlantic Canada. I had 8 monster cookies over the course of the weekend. Used up all of my flex points but that's what they are there for right? Other than the cookies, I think I did pretty well this weekend. I ate all of my meals at home so I was able to limit portions and make the right choices. I know I should have limited the cookies a little but it could have been a lot worse right?

I had a slight NSV on Saturday night. Scott and I hit up "I am Legend" (really good movie!! Love Will Smith!!) I bought some Baked Doritos to take with me but I wanted something chocolatey too. So I went to the candy isle in Walmart to find something sweet. Nothing looked really appealing. Then I asked Scott to swing by the Bulk Barn on the way but I got to the parking lot and then thought, "you know what I don't really want anything, let's just go to the movies, I really only want chocolate because it's Saturday and it's supposed to be a splurge day" So Yay me! (although I did have a bite of hubby's chocolate bar once we got there, it's still better than getting my own!)

Sunaday the Surprise party for my good friend was cancelled because she was stuck in Toronto and her flight to NB was cancelled. Booooo. (but Yay that I didn't have the temptation of booze and lots of food!)

I've decided to follow Christy's example and start posting my menu everyday up until Christmas. I just think it give me that extra accountability that I need and will keep me away from the Christmas baking. I'm also enforcing my previous "No Christmas Baking Monday-Friday or Something Really Awful Will Happen to Me" this week so I won't be touching it. I'm bringing a good chunk of it to work on Wednesday for a huge Potluck that my department is putting on for the whole building so I imagine there won't be much left after this week. (not a bad thing at all)

Gym plan for this week:
Monday - 50 mins of machine cardio (most likely StairMaster and elliptical)
Tuesday - 50 mins of Machine Cardio (gotta burn off those cookies)
Wednesday - 15 mins elliptical/ 45 min Body Ball Class (More Strength training Randi!)
Thursday - 50 mins Cardio OR Beginner Yoga Class for 60 mins.
Friday - No Gym time, Vacation Day!
Saturday - May hit up the gym if I can the time in, we have a lot of visiting to do that day!

Menu for Today:

1 C All Bran & 1/2 C Milk - 3 pts
1/2 C V8 Juice - 0 pts
Multivitamin
All Bran Bites - 1 pt

Tuna Sandwich on WW bread - 3 points
Orange - 1 pt
Banana before workout - 2 pts

Homemade baked beans - 8 pts
1 slice WW bread - 1 pt

Snack (yogurt & fruit?) - 2 pts

That's it for me today. How did you ladies make out over the weekend?? 1 More week until Christmas Eve! Everyone done shopping??

The Christmas buffet is wearing down my defenses!

2007-12-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

I had a cookie. Not a Monster cookie but a cookie from the Christmas buffet at work. My cookies are better. I also had a half of a piece of Banana Bread (no butter) That's it. I told myself I would allow myself one treat at the buffet table today and now I'm done. No more. I had to post about it asap before I went back again for one of those homemade chocolate truffles that someone brought in. I'm not going back. Now that I've posted my plan, I feel better already. I feel stronger and I feel like going back to the buffet table isn't even an option. Thanks Ladies! (Randi, e-mail me at 2:00 your time would you and check in on me?) I need to know your gonna hold me accountable! I'm holding strong though....even though all my co-workers keep stopping by my office and saying "Carolyn, did you try the (insert super yummy Christmas treat here) yet?? It's soo good, you have to try it!" Ugh. I'm staying away. No more treats from the buffet table until Wednesday next week (my department's turn to do the Christmas buffet) so I'll try a few things then but from what I can tell, most of us are bringing in some decent stuff, fruit trays, veggie trays, meatballs, salad and of course I'm bringing the sweets so I can get a large chunk of them out of the house!

My plan for the weekend? (Since you didn't ask)

Friday night:
Wendy's for supper with my best friend, SIL and 2 year old niece
A few hours of shopping
Home to make a Banana bread and freeze it for company over the Holidays.

The Plan: Junior Hamburger & baked potato for supper. No treats afterwards! Maybe one, but it will be a coffee from Java Moose with a flavor shot! Mmmmm

Saturday:
Visiting family during the day, dropping off presents & cards etc.
Movie night with Scott. We're hitting up "I Am Legend" with Will Smith. Can't wait!

The Plan: Eat my normal breaky, a light lunch and maybe pasta for supper. Plan out movie treats and get them before we go. Probably Baked Doritos (4 pts) and a Mars Bar (6pts)

Sunday:
Course at 11:00 and then we are having my brother, SIL and niece over for lunch.
Surprise party for a good friend who's coming home from out West. (Lots of food and booze)

The Plan:
Having beans and Brown bread for lunch. Have a small portion. Eat a nice healthy and filling supper so I don't go crazy at the surprise party. Limit myself to 1 drink.

What are you ladies doing this weekend?? Everyone read for Santa??

Carolyn: 1 Monster Cookies: 0

2007-12-13T18:36:00.001-05:00

I REALLY wanted these.......

But instead I had these:

Monster Cookies: I'd say 3 points each VS Sweet Potato fries: 3 points for a plate full

Note: to really appreciate this, you need to know that Scott had 7 Monster Cookies right in front of me and I still didn't budge!

Randi would be proud....

2007-12-13T09:24:00.000-05:00

So I managed to stay away from the Christmas buffet at work for the rest of the day yesterday so I'm counting that as a major success. Today it's filled with fruits and veggies so I had one piece of pineapple but I think I'll stick to my lunch for the rest of the day. The dips get me everytime so it's better to just stay away, fruits & veggies or not.

So after work yesterday I hit the gym but just wasn't really feeling the StairMaster or the elliptical. I was pretty much dreading it, although I knew there was no way I was not going to workout so I decided to just tough it out and deal with it. But when I got to the board, I couldn't figure out what to sign out, they all just looked dull and unappealing. Then comes the light bulb moment. There is a fitness class that starts everyday at 5:00 at my gym. I looked it up and Body Ball was on the menu. So I jumped on the elliptical for 15 mins for a warm up and then hit the class. One word. Ouch. Basically the class was a full body strength training session with the stability ball (Yes Randi, finally a little strength training!). It burned let me tell ya! I thought I wouldn't be able to walk today but actually I'm doing ok....and the best part? The time FLEW by! I couldn't believe 45 mins had passed. So add that session to my previous 100 mins of cardio time and I've already made my goal of 160 mins this week! Sweet! But I'm still planning on going today after work. Even if it's just a little treadmill time. I'm still going. I made my goal so Kelly, it's your turn now!

Now for the awfulness that is my willpower. I broke. I broke twice. & I feel awful.

1. I ate 1 of my Monster cookies last night. But it was just one thank goodness.

2. I had a brief love affair with the scale this morning.

Both made me feel like a big sleazy cheat. I learned my lesson. I made 5 dozen Monster cookies last night (Peanut Butter, oatmeal, walnuts, Smarties, and chocolate chips all in one cookie!) I had one cookie. Half a cookie from the first batch and 1/2 a cookie from the third batch. To my defense I really was trying to figure out how long to cook them for. I ended up over cooking the first 3 batches but the last 2 are just right. My first time making them so I will know for next time. But afterwards I felt so guilty! I know it was only one cookie but I promised myself no Christmas treats during the week. Will not happen again. I promise myself and I promise all of you!

The scale....I just couldn't stay away. It's been 13 days since I last stepped foot on that little devil. I was down 1 lb from last time. Yay right? Not really. The thing is, I was feeling SO great before I jumped on the scale, I felt really good this week like I was really making progress at the gym, food wise, controlling my weekends. I felt skinny. You know that feeling when you can just tell your smaller. Tummy feels flatter, arms feel fit and your legs are starting to look toned? I had all of that. I assumed that I had probably lost a few pounds since I was feeling so great. Nope, just one. That stupid number on the scale took all those good feelings away and today I feel defeated and only half as great as I felt yesterday.

So.

I'm saying goodbye for now. I think this morning really proved that my addiction to the scale really isn't good for me anymore and we need time apart. I want to feel good because I've spent 200 mins at the gym this week, or because I bought a pair of pants in a smaller size or because I said no to that extra chocolate or no the seconds at dessert time. I want to feel good for those reasons and not because a number on the scale says I should. So I'm taking a tip from Katieo and wrapping up the scale. I figure it's the only way we can stay apart. Come the New Year, I may be ready to try again but for now, I want to be the one in control for once.

Thoughts? Advice?

It has arrived....

2007-12-12T09:38:00.000-05:00

The Christmas buffet at work. Starting today and being constantly refilled every single day (twice a day!) until December 21st. Luckily I'm taking the 20th and 21st for vacation so there is at least two days that the Christmas buffet won't tempt me. Today I happened to walk by on my way to the water cooler (forgot about it being set up this morning) and there was fresh homemade spinach dip and bread and 4 different crackers and 3 cheese balls, shrimp ring and sauce, a mound of different cheeses, 2 open boxes of assorted chocolates, chips and salsa, bread with other homemade dip, fruit tray with dip, bags and bags of chips, a crock pot with meat balls staying warm. The smell alone is enough to make you crack. I had one cracker, although surprisingly it wasn't form the Christmas buffet, a co-worker brought in a box of All Bran crackers from the States. Anyone tried these? The Garlic and Herb are SOO good. 9 crackers for 1 point. I had 2 crackers and I tried a little teeny bit of the Spinach dip on one cracker but I didn't even really like it all that much. Although I did enlist the support of a coworker so we hit the buffet together. Strength in numbers right? That's all I had, one smidgen of spinach dip. And that's it for me today. I've started taking the alternate route to the mail room and bathroom so no excuses for me to walk by it again today. I can seriously smell it from my office. Luckily I brought a nice healthy lunch so I won't cave due to hunger.

In other news, I hit the gym hard again last night. 30 mins on the StairMaster and 20 mins on the elliptical. Time dragged on a bit yesterday, I couldn't concentrate on the article I was reading in Women's Health but I kept trucking along and eventually it was over. The StairMaster almost killed me yesterday. Today I'm thinking 10 mins treadmill, 30 mins StairMaster and 10 mins treadmill. That will bring me up to 150 mins of cardio this week. My goals is 160 minimum so I'm sure I'll knock it out this week as I'm planning on hitting the gym again tomorrow after work. I might mix it up though a little and throw in some time on the bike.

I was successful last night in making my frogs (chocolate macaroons for the many of you who didn't know what I was talking about. Don't' you guys call them frogs? EVERYONE here calls them frogs. Maybe it's an East Coast thing) After I had placed them all on the cookie sheet, I scraped the bowl clean, there was about enough for a half of a frog, I was honestly JUST about to put the spoon in my mouth when I changed my mind and threw it in the sink with the bowls and the pot and the other spoons and dumped about a half of a bottle of dish soap on them as quick as I possibly could before I changed my mind and licked everything clean. Worked for me. Didn't even lick my finger once!

That's it for me today. Just like Angie and Kelly, I'm totally in the zone this week!

(insert clever title here)

2007-12-11T12:52:00.000-05:00

So I did it. I made it through Monday without consuming ANY Christmas baking! I pretty much told myself Sunday night that as a rule, Christmas baking is not to leave the freezer unless I am making up a plate to give away. No Christmas baking allowed between Monday and Friday. I found that if I made that rule and told someone about it (Scott, you guys) then if I broke it, I would feel like I was breaking some big house rule (I also had to convince myself that something bad would happen if I did, like I would break a toe or something, kind of like bad Karma.) So it worked. I didn't touch it. Even after Scott last night tried to lure me in. After supper he asked, "What's for dessert? Christmas baking?" I knew he was trying to get me to splurge so that he would feel better about pigging out but I just said "Go ahead, none for me, I told myself no Christmas baking between Monday and Friday and I'm sticking to it". Then he said I was right and that he didn't want any either. Sweet. I did it. I was super nervous about having all that Christmas baking in the freezer, just sitting there taunting me but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I can soo do this. I keep thinking that if I were to walk into a store and see a Mars Bar there, it would never even occur to me to buy it during the week (maybe as a weekend splurge but NEVER during the week) so why would I break that rule for Christmas baking? I'm not. So there it is.

PS I'm also making frogs tonight to add to my Christmas baking since I have to bring in a pile of it on Dec 19 for a work potluck thing. Each department takes it turn bringing in mounds of food for a potluck for the whole building. It starts tomorrow so there is a table around the corner from my office that will be filled with Chocolates, candy, meatballs, sandwiches, finger foods, veggies and dip and crackers and cookies and fruit, and all sorts of other most-likely-bad-for-me foods so I've already mapped out a route to the bathroom and mail room so I can avoid the table whenever possible and I've enlisted the help of a co-worker who is also watching the calorie intake so we'll be encouraging each other.

Another success, 35 mins on the StairMaster last night and 15 on the elliptical and 5 mins of stretching. go me AND I'm gong back for more tonight! It's 3:30 and I'm actually pumped to go to the gym instead of dreading it. What has gotten into me this week? I don't know but I like it.

Wish me luck with the frogs otnight ladies, although I'm feeling pretty confident. I can do this!

Still no scale!

2007-12-10T12:23:00.000-05:00

I had to slap my own wrist a few times this weekend when I went to grab the scale and hop on but I've managed to get through the weekend without it. No weigh in. For the first time in about 100 weeks. Sounds insane doesn't? I should be happy about not weighing in but I miss it. It's a little like going through withdrawal symptoms...but......there is a little piece of me that feels a little freer. Not in the sense that I can eat whatever I want and splurge splurge splurge but there's just this little part of me that feels more in control. I'm noticing things that I would have noticed when I was weighing in every single week or even more often. Like this morning I woke up and threw on a pair of pants and noticed they were a little bigger then they were last time I wore them. Or I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror and thought "Wow, I look pretty good." Before I just relied on the number on the scale to tell me what to think or to tell me how my clothes were feeling. I know, sounds crazy right but seriously that is the kind of hold that the magic little number on the scale has on me. It determines everything, right down to what I'm going to wear that day! So I'd say that my absence from the scale has been a good one and I'm slowly learning to live without it. Although I must admit I really can't wait for this Friday so I can weight in...

So this weekend was a great one and I had one Major NSV. As most of you know, I have been going WAY overboard on the weekends, and although this weekend wasn't perfect, I do feel that I did pretty good. Friday night I went out to dinner with my best friend. We shared a chicken wrap and a few nachos at ESM. I picked at the nachos but tried to save up some points for a "treat" later in the night. After 3 hours of shopping, we headed home with 2 Gingerbread train making kits and we were up until 1:00am making them....AND.....no treats! This is the first time in a long time that I haven't had a chocolate bar or a bag of Baked Doritos on Friday night. I was pretty proud. Saturday was Christmas baking day with Scott's family. I got up early and had All Bran for breakfast, lunch was 2 pieces of toast and supper was homemade baked beans and a biscuit. I had about 5 sweets the entire day with wasn't that bad. 3 during the baking (taste test!!) and 2 later when I got home. (more taste testing....I can't give out sweets unless I know they taste great right??) Later in the night I did have 3 pieces of pizza and a few more nachos since Scott convinced me to go out for an appetizer before the movie. I know, bad move. Didn't need it. BUT I didn't get ANY treats for the movie. I don't think I've ever gone to a movie treatless. Seriously. That one was big for me. I debated on getting some M&Ms when we go tthere but really I only wanted them because I was at the move theatre, I certainly wasn't hungry and I really didn't need them, I just wanted to munch.

Sunday was pretty good. I talked Scott out of Wendy's for supper and we had Spaghetti instead with a side of veggies. I did have too many baked goods but I've locked them all up in the freezer now so I won't be touching them again. The novelty has worn off now and I've tried all the different sweets so no excuses now!

Exercise plan for tonight -
30 mins Stairmaster
15 mins elliptical

Wish me luck ladies! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Friday and no weigh in

2007-12-07T08:40:00.001-05:00

It honestly took all I had this morning not to haul the scale out and jump on. It's like an old boyfriend that you just can't let go. Or an addiction that's just too hard to quit. I've decided to takes Glam's advice and I'll most likely weigh in next Friday mainly because I want to stay accountable and make sure I'm staying on the right track. I think Jen summed it up pretty well yesterday..."I think the scale sometimes has an adverse effect and it actually puts you down more than encourages you". That is EXACTLY why I feel that I need a break form the scale, it was ruling how I felt every week. That just can't be healthy. I was actually surprised at all the positive feedback and it's exactly the type of encouragement I needed. Thanks!!

So last night I hit up the gym for 60 mins, 40 mins on the StairMaster, 15 on the Elliptical and 5 mins of hardcore stretching since my legs were feeling pretty weak after that Stairmaster. Now I understand why Katie calls it Satan. Yikes that thing is a great workout. I like the fact that you can't slow down unless you make a conscious effort to take your magazine off the rack and lower the level. I find with the elliptical, while you are reading away or watching the news, sometimes your speed will drop without you even noticing. With the StairMaster, if you slow down, you'll fall off and it will most likely run you over. I'm also finding that working out for longer than 40 mins is pretty easy. Before I was really only working out for 35-40 mins per session but since I set my Minimum Minutes of 160mins/week, I have been upping my time. Mainly because I was only able to get to the gym 3 times this week so I had to go for longer each time. I thought it would be awful but seriously, once you get in the zone, it actually gets easier the longer you go. Does that even make sense to anyone??

Any so my weekend plans aren't too hectic. Tonight is date night with my best friend. We are hitting up some dinner (still in discussion about where we ar heading to but I'll plan it out my menu choice before we go and look up the point value) then a few hours of Christmas shopping and back to my house for some gingerbread house/train making. Looking forward to it. Tomorrow is Christmas bake day with the Scott's family so that may pose a challenge but I'm going to be good! I'm planning on packing up a lot of it as soon as I get home to get it ready to be given away, the rest goes right in the freezer! Some to Scott's work and some to my work, some to our neighbor who was kind enough to plow us out after the big storm for free! Sunday is a planless day...I haven't had one of those in months....oh wait. We have our course to go to so I guess not totally planless but we'll be home most of the afternoon anyway.

What do you ladies have planned for the weekend?

PS Epicure party last night was soooo good. I can't believe how yummy those dips are! AND they were all made with fat free sour cream and mayo. I used raw vegetables for dipping for the majority of them. I ended up buying the Chives, Cheese and Bacon, the Lemon Dilly and the Guacamole (SOOO goood!) I can't wait to use them!!

The Breakup

2007-12-06T07:22:00.000-05:00

First of all, last night after work, I went to the gym, actually looking forward to my workout. Went to the changing room , got all dressed in my workout gear and just as I was about to lace up my sneakers....I realized they weren't there! I had worn them home from the gym on Tuesday and had put them in my closet rather than my gym bag. SO FRUSTRATING! I actually dragged my butt to the gym and am more than ready to take on the StairMaster again and I'm stuck without sneakers! Ugh. BUT on a brighter note, I'm not letting this minor set back get in the way of my commitment of getting in at least 160 mins of exercise this week. So far I've got 55 mins under my belt (Tuesday 35 mins on the StairMaster and 20 mins on the Elliptical) tonight I'm hoping to squeeze in another 55 mins before my epicure party which would bring me up to 110 mins. I'm also planning on hitting the gym on Friday for at least 50 mins to round out my 160 mins but I may go for more if I have time.

Friday night I have a date with my best friend. We are going out to dinner (East Side Mario's I believe, does anyone have suggestions?) and then hitting the mall for some Christmas shopping and after that we are making gingerbread houses (although I saw a gingerbread train kit....) How Martha are we? Looking forward to it.

Now onto my big decision. I've decided that the scale and I need some time apart. I've been reading so many blogs about measuring success without using the scale. At first I thought this was utterly absurd. I mean, I know my pants are looser than they were 2 weeks ago and it's a great way to measure success but I still NEED that number just to verify my feeling good....wait. Is that even healthy?? Have I become that attached to the scale? Then I realize that since I started WW almost 2 years ago, I have not missed one Friday WI. Not even one. The scale dictates my whole attitude (if you remember THIS post from September, you'll know what I mean) By now, I pretty much know what the scale is going to say, I can tell by the way my clothes fit, by the way I feel so why do I put so much into the scale? Why do I let the scale tell me how to feel? I guess I use it as another tool to stay accountable but if I am following the WW program consistently and eating well then there's no reason for me to have to worry about a gain right?

Another reason I'm thinking of letting go of the strings for a while is that I find myself splurging on Fridays and Saturdays:

1. because it's the weekened
2. because I've saved up all my bonus points
3. because I know I don't have to weigh in again until next Friday

Seriously, just thinking about not weighing in scares the hell out of me. But I think that anxiety is the exact reason why I have to let go of the scale for a few weeks. I have an unhealthy attachment to that number and the scale and now is as good a time as ever start measuring my success in other areas, gym time, smaller clothes, basically NSVs. The funny thing is, just thinking about not weighing in doesn't really make me feel like I can slack at all, it's actually the opposite, making me want to work harder to compensate for not having that "loss on the scale" relief feeling. More gym time. Better decisions on the weekend. What do you girls think? I need feedback!

Has anyone seen my OP weekends?? I can't find them anywhere!

2007-12-04T13:01:00.001-05:00

Thanks ladies for all the encouragement and especially to Noelle for giving me the kick in the butt I really needed. (Side bar, check out Noelle's amazing before and after pic here.) I always come on my blog and complain about my weekends and how out of control they were. It's become a habit. A bad habit. Every weekend. ZERO accountability. Noelle asked me what I am going to do about it? What AM I going to do about it? I know a few other ladies (Randi and Angie to name a few) are going through the same cycle, letting the weekends get of out hand. It's so easy isn't ladies? To forget the gym and the journal and just eat. And eat. And eat. And we're not talking veggies here. Oh no. I'm talking pizza, chocolate, nachos, too much wine. It's all in there. How do we break the cycle? It's become a habit for me. I look back at my journals and the last 2 days are blank. I know what I NEED to do but why aren't I doing it? Why aren't I journalling on the weekend? Why am I having that extra Christmas sweet when during the week it wouldn't even be an option? I don't even remember the last weekend when I actually jounrnalled. I seriously can't remember. I need an OP weekend. I'm way past due. I just need to get back into the habit of using my 35 bonus points and that's it. If I don't have the points for that Mr. Big bar, then I WON'T eat it. It's simple. Isn't it?? sigh......

I didn't make it to the gym last night because we got hit with a major winter storm. Blizzard actually and we woke up this morning with over a foot of snow. It took us forever to get home last night as the roads were awful BUT I'm not letting that get in the way of my Exercise Challenge (See Sarah or Kelly's blog) of at least 160 mins of exercise this week. Tonight I'm hitting the gym hard and I am planning on 30 mins of the StairMaster (It burns and I love it!)and then 20 on the elliptical or treadmill. Next week I am planning on starting a strength training program for 2 days a week. That will leave me with 2 days of cardio so I will up my time to probably 60 mins/session.

This Thursday I am heading to an Epicure party so if you ladies have any suggestions, I'd love to hear if you use any of the products and what you can't live without. I have tried a few of them but haven't really bought much so I'm looking forward to picking up a few new ones! This also means taste testing but I will try to limit it as much as possible and will only try the ones that I would seriously buy.

Well that's it for me today ladies! Hope everyone is having an amazing week so far!

OH wait...I need some suggestions to give hubby for Christmas, I really want to get an exercise DVD for nights like last night when the roads were too bad to make it to the gym. Any ideas? I'm basically a exercise DVD virgin so bring on the suggestions!

2007-12-03T07:28:00.000-05:00

Oh what a week! What a weekend. How the scale must hate me now. We're not even on speaking terms. Avoiding each other at all costs (this could be one sided) I know we'll reconcile eventually but for now, I think it's best if we just stay out of each other's way.

Most of last week was spend on the road for work, although I did find time to catch up on your blogs in the evening, even if I didn't post, I'm still reading! This past weekend was a barrage of bad choices. Ugh. When will I learn? Friday Scott and I took a vacation day and headed out of town to get some Christmas shopping done. Oh how I hate the vacation AND out of town mentality. It took over at about 2:00pm when Scott and I split a pretzel from Pretzelmaker. I think my weekend can best be summed up in a GBU borrowed (stolen) from Marie.

Friday
The Good: We spent about 6-7 hours on our feet strolling through the mall, stores and shops. Hello activity!
The Bad: We ordered nachos and fajitas for supper from Lone Star.
The Ugly: 2 hours later we stopped at the Irving Big Stop for Cheesecake

Saturday
The Good: I started off the day with a great breakfast and walked around yet another craft fair for about 1.5 hours.
The Bad: There is always a fudge vendor at those stupid craft fairs.
The Ugly: Pizza was on the menu for supper and there may have been chocolate as well.

Sunday:
The Good: I ate on plan all day until.....supper
The Bad: We had company over and I made baked beans and brown bread. Except I forgot to put molasses in the brown bread (who forgets the molasses??) so it was really just white bread that tasted a little sweet.
The Ugly: Our company bought the most delicious apple pie I have ever tasted
The Really Ugly: They left it at our house instead of taking it home with them..... I had a second helping.

I feel like I just went to confessional.
Ok, that wasn't that bad was it? ok, it was. I know it. You know it. We all know it. What can I do about it now? Nothing. Except...I can follow Randi's advice and set myself a gym goal for this week to melt away those extra calories consumed over the weekend. I have put some thought into it and I think that 160 mins this week is a pretty fair number. What do you ladies think? That would bring me to 4 sessions of 40 mins. Maybe I should step it up a little though? Maybe 170 mins? Then 2 sessions, I could add 5- 10 mins of abs. Hmmm. Feedback please!

How did everyone's weekend go? How are the Holidays affecting your food plan? Or are they at all?

Trouble in Spreadsheet Land!

2007-11-28T17:53:00.000-05:00

Once again, I'm having a little trouble posting the spreadsheet for the Christmas Challenge. I've tried 2 days in a row with no luck. Sorry for the inconvenience ladies but I assure you that you're all doing wonderful and we are all rocking the challenge! The important thing is that we are all staying accountable and really, that's what the challenge is all about. If you've managed to turn down one cupcake or seconds at dinner or if you've jumped on the scale even when you've convinced yourself you just can't face it, or if you've hit up the gym for an extra session through the week, the challenge is working for you! Staying accountable is really the hardest part, especially during the Holidays. How easy is it to sneak in those extra chocolates without anyone noticing? Too easy. But if we all stay honest with ourselves and each other, we're accountable and FAR less likely to fall off the wagon. So Thanks ladies for helping me to stay accountable. It means the world! You've prevented me from overindulging on SO many occasion, you don't even know!

Thanks to Randi too who gave me the brilliant idea (she's got a ton of em over there!) of making a side goal for the Holidays that doesn't involve the scale. I think I'm going to center my goal around the gym since I've been finding that a little tough lately. For the past few weeks, I have been finding it hard to drag my butt there 3 times a week. But there really is no reason why I shouldn't be going 4 times a week. I have the time, I have the membership, I just need the motivation. I'm constantly fighting the gym, right up until I'm actually on the elliptical or the treadmill. Even when I am walking through the door, I'm am just looking for an excuse to not workout. Do any of you ladies dread the gym? Where do you get your motivation from?
I KNOW what the benefits of the gym are:

1. Way more energy
2. Burn extra calories
3. Results show on the scale
4. Feel better about myself and more confident
5. Sleep better (at least I do)
6. Stress reliever and time to wind down after work
7. Makes me feel fit and healthy

So why is it that everyday at 3:45, just before I get off work do I instantly search for a reason not to go to the gym??

So here it is ladies. I'm making a commitment. My goal is to get to the gym at least 4 times a week every week from now until Christmas. 4 times. Every week. NO excuses. Hold me accountable ladies!

Anyone else have any goals they'd like to throw in for these last 4 weeks before Christmas?

Thanks to Roni who gave me a shout out in her blog yesterday. Kinda made me feel like a little mini blog celebrity. I'm always so surprised when people comment on my blog that they've been following along for months or that they've found motivation in some random rant of mine. I guess this blog helps ME out so much with my journey and with staying accountable that I often forget that other people may find motivation here. It always amazes me! So Thanks to those of you who have been de-lurking lately and welcome to those who are just joining in!

Since I was out of town today for work, I haven't been keeping up to date and can't wait to see what's going on with you ladies!

Weekend Recap and is it even possible....

2007-11-26T12:37:00.000-05:00

to lose weight over the Holidays?? Lately I'm starting to wonder. I have been losing little bits here and there but it seems for the past little while, I have been up a half a pound, then down a half a pound, then up a half a pound then down. There doesn't seem to be any big moves on the scale. And to be quite honest with everyone, I'm not even a little frustrated. Shouldn't I be upset? Shouldn't I be frustrated enough to crack down more on the weekends? Shouldn't I say no to that extra peanut butter ball for fear that it might show up on the scale? Shouldn't I desperately want to get this last 5 lbs off? Shouldn't I be say no to that 2nd or 3rd glass of wine because it's really just unnecessary calories? Shouldn't I???

Truth is.... I'm happy. I'm happy when I look in the mirror, I'm happy when I put on my size 9 pants, I'm happy when I am able to buy a size small shirt, I'm happy when I get dressed up for an occasion and I feel sexy, I'm happy when I see someone checking me out at the grocery store or at the gym, I'm happy when people compliment me on my huge weight loss, I'm happy when I see pictures of me. Point is....I'm HAPPY. Just happy. I look in the mirror every morning and I love the way I look. I feel good. I don't feel self conscious, I feel confident. There has been such a huge change in my attitude, my entire life for that matter.

So what does this mean? I know a few other of you ladies may be going through the same thing as I am, but where do we go from here. I know I would like to lose another 5 lbs but I'm in no rush, if it takes me 5 more months, I'm ok with that. I think the important thing is that I wake up every morning and I feel great. I am great. YOU ladies are great for all of the support you give me. Who else could I go to with my issue?? No one, that's who. I can't say Thanks enough.

So after that spiel.....

My weekend was great. I did much better this weekend than I did any other weekend but I also think I went over in my bonus points by about 6 or 7, if I'm going to be honest with myself. BUT this is certainly better than going over by 40 or so right? (Which I have EASILY done many a weekend.) The dinner theatre was AMAZING and the salmon was soo yummy! AND I even had an NSV. The dessert came which was white cake with white icing and blueberry coulis. I had 2 bites, decided it wasn't great and pushed it away! YAY me! Usually I would eat it anyway because it's Friday night and Friday nights are made for indulging in sweets. Not this Friday! Saturday was really good too. I had a few sweets after dinner but nothing major and Sunday was great until supper time. I made homemade baked beans in my crockpot and brown bread so supper was high point (not to mention the Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls for dessert) but overall it wasn't bad at all. I think I made some great choices this weekend.

On a bright note, our Christmas tree is up and ready for Santa! Christmas is only 4 weeks away! Can you ladies even believe it?

I will post the results for the Christmas challenge tomorrow morning...stay tuned!

PS Thanks to those you you who are de-lurking. You have no idea how nice it is to know that you've been following along on my journey! Thanks!

Friday WI and Weekend Plan

2007-11-23T07:13:00.000-05:00

Even after scarfing down a Jr. Hamburger deluxe and baked potato with sour cream last night at Wendy's (all within my daily points allowance, although it did take up over half of my daily points!) I still showed a loss of 0.5 this morning. So basically I just wiped out my gain of 0.5 lbs from last week. I was pretty psyched though and feel great this morning. I feel skinny. I'm wearing jeans to work today that were too snug to wear a month ago. Seriously ladies, I know you have heard this before but.....this is MY weekend. This is THE weekend! I'm staying within my 35 flex points, no wine, no happy meals from McDonald's, no pizza. I'm doing it. I'm determined. I can do this. I've never had a problem with staying within my flex points on the weekends but for the past few months, I've just gotten into a habit of basically eating whatever I want on the weekend. Surprisingly I have still lost weight but I've also been busting my butt at the gym as well. Imagine how much MORE weight I would lose if I limited my weekend splurges? I have a pretty low key weekend planned so there is NO reason why I shouldn't be able to stay within my points.

Friday Night:
Going to Dinner Theatre for a work Christmas gathering. I am actually quite excited about it. Anyone who's ever been to the Dinner Theatre knows how much fun it is! The food is pretty decent and they have a salmon dish that looks pretty good and is served with veggies so it's pretty low in points and I can save a few up for dessert. It comes with a "creamy dill" sauce so I will get that on the side and use the fork dip method I think. I'm hoping to save 10 points from my daily points and then use no more than 10 flex points on the meal.

Saturday:
You ladies are going to think I'm a craft fair fanatic. This is the 3rd weekend in a row but SIL and I are hitting up 2, Yes 2 Christmas craft fairs tomorrow. She is picking me up in the am and we are having a little girls day out with my niece. Tomorrow night we are going to meet up with the boys and take my niece to the Christmas parade to see Santa. Who am I kidding? I am far more excited about the parade than she is! Saturday night after the parade we are going home to decorate our Christmas tree! Foodwise, I'm going to have my usual breakfast of All Bran, V8 juice, and fruit. I'll bring a few snacks with me for on the road (All Bran Snack Bites!) and then I should be home in the afternoon for nice healthy supper. Hot Chocolate for the Christmas parade is mandatory so I will block out some flex points for that.

Sunday:
We don't have too many plans except we are having MIL & FIL and my best friend over for dinner. I am going to attempt to make homemade beans in my crockpot and brown bread in my new breadmaker. For dessert, I bought stuff to whip up a fruit salad and also a few Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls (3 points each) I'll eat a light lunch to compensate for the heave supper but I'll also measure everything out too!

What do you guys have planned for the weekend? How did everyone's WI go??
Have a GREAT weekend ladies!!!

Christmas Triggers and Triumphs!

2007-11-21T08:11:00.000-05:00

I feel like I'm ready to take on the Holidays. They are here, they're not leaving until January 2nd so I may as well face them head on and do the absolute best that I can. Last night I started thinking about exactly what my big triggers are during the Holidays. What made me gain 5 lbs last year? Why have I had a big gain every year? What tempts me to fall off my plan? Here is a list of my triggers and a plan on how to get past them without adding any extra poundage to my behind!

The Attitude: Ladies, you all know what I'm talking about here. The "It's the Holidays!! Time to indulge!" attitude. The same attitude that gets me into trouble at every single Holiday function. It's only Christmas once a year right? It's only Easter once a year right?? Well guess what?? It's only November 20th once a year too and I'm not indulging today. I'm staying perfectly OP so what's the big deal?

The Plan: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are NOT get out of jail free days. Any calories consumed on these days are just like any other calories eaten on any other day. Eat too much and I WILL feel awful, bloated, and just plain gross. They WILL make the scale go up. My plan is to treat these days like any other OP day. COUNT POINTS. Even though I'll be eating higher point foods and will surely go over my daily target, it's important to stay accountable. Seeing 4 chocolates written down on my journal may prevent me from going for Chocolates 5 through 10.

The Boxes of Chocolate: Honestly these things are like heaven to me. There's nothing better to me than a full box of just opened chocolates. There's so many wonderful chocolates to sample! Who can stop at just one?? It's honestly like a little box of heaven to me. The Christmas before I started WW (2005) I bought 2 boxes of chocolates for presents for Scott's family and ended up eating the WHOLE 2 boxes a few days before Christmas! I even had to unwrap one of them. Ok... both of them. That was painful to admit.

The Plan: Read the labels! Usually boxes of chocolates come with a description for each chocolate. Tells you exactly what they look like and what's inside. I've eaten enough boxes of chocolate to know which ones are my favorites so I'm going to look for that ONE and indulge in ONE chocolate. Just ONE. Granted this might add up to 3 or 4 chocolates over the course of a few days during the Holidays but it's better than eating half the box right??? Also if there are 2 chocolates that I really want to try, I'll ask hubby to split each one with me so I can get a taste of each.

The Hectic Schedule: means no time for activity or the gym. Lots of laying around on the couch chatting with family and watching movies. Lazy, Lazy, Lazy.

The Plan: This one took me a little while to figure out but now it's so obvious! We live about 25 mins from our gym so it's not so easy for us to just run in, workout and run home. It has to be planned out. During the Holidays, every hour is pretty much accounted for with Scott and I. Especially since my Mom is home for Christmas and I try to spend as much time with her as I can. But....MIL has a gym in her basement including a treadmill, a bike and a stepper so while everyone else is laying around on the couch watching TV, I can run downstairs for a little treadmill time and no one will miss me. It will give me more energy and make me feel much better about that Christmas day dessert. Also, COUNT POINTS.

The Dinner: This one has never really been a HUGE problem for me. But I do tend to go a little heavy on the gravy and a little too light on the veggies. And really, those veggies are coated in so much butter that they can hardly be called nutritious.

The Plan: Ask MIL if I can steal my veggies from the pot before the butter and salt gets added to them. That way I can avoid the (totally unnecessary) fat and calories but still fill up my plate with veggies. Also if I put these on my plate first, there will be way less room for stuffing and rolls etc. Also, COUNT POINTS.

The Dessert & Baked Goods: This one is always the absolute toughest for me. It's brutal. I LOVE chocolate plain and simple. Everything chocolate. Anything chocolate. It's all gold to me ladies. This is probably the one I struggle with the most.

The Plan: I need to limit myself before I even walk into MIL's house or SIL's house. I think 2 is more than enough. I will scout out all of the treats available and pick my top 2. Holidays are the time to indulge right? As long as we keep it in moderation. Also, COUNT POINTS.

The Candy & Chocolate Stocking Stuffers: These thing always lay around my house until a weak moment arrives and I end up scarfing down loads and loads of crappy candy that I don't even like very much! Who needs it? Not me!

The Plan: I have asked hubby, MIL and my own Mom to leave the candy and junk out of my stocking this year. No chocolates, no Smartie tubes, no Chocolate marshmallow Santas. I know if makes it a little more difficult for the people who are filling my stockings (yes, I have more than one!) but I don't want that garbage and most of it doesn't even taste that great anyway. Also, COUNT POINTS!

So that's it for me ladies! what are you triggers and how do you plan to master them over the Holidays??

Weekend recap

2007-11-20T07:16:00.000-05:00

My weekend went pretty well. I didn't do amazing but I wasn't as bad as I was on the long weekend last weekend so somewhere in between. But no happy medium here. I still made a few bad decisions that I really wish I hadn't. Like ordering spinach dip as an appetizer at Swiss Chalet? Or asking for an extra spoon when Scott ordered a Sundae for dessert (although he inhaled it so I really only had a couple bites), or maybe that happy meal I had for lunch in Saturday. It all adds up. Quickly. Once I had a few glasses of wine on Saturday night at the wedding we went to, there's was no stopping me! I polished off about a bottle and a half of red wine. Luckily there was no food to be seen, only a dance floor so I shook my booty all night long. We had a great time. All of our friends were there and there were a few people I haven't seen since high school so the compliments were flowing which is always nice! Thankfully I stayed away from my "I'm going to eat a whole pizza and wash it down with a bag of chips" mode that usually follows a few glasses of wine.

Sunday was a little rough. Ok, Sunday morning was very rough. I toast and an egg before hitting up our course that we are taking together. Somehow Scott and I talked each other into pizza for lunch (which really wasn't hard for me) I had 3 pieces of pizza and I was still full at supper time so I only had a Weight Watcher Bagel for supper around 7:00pm. Not a great nutritional day. By any means.

So I hopped on the scale today and I am up 0.5 lbs. I know exactly why so I'm not upset but I want to get my butt to the gym and sweat it off. We'll see how the week progresses. I'm definitely OP and I'm planning on getting to the gym tonight, Wed and Thurs for some intense ellipticalling. Nothing burns calories away like that baby. Oh an I've been meaning to ask you ladies, do you use your Activity points? I've never used them before and I'm really not planning on starting but I was just wondering what y'all do. I know some of you use them. How many APs would you get for let's say 45 mins on the elliptical? Burning around 400-450 calories. Just curious. Like I said, I don't plan on using them but I'm just curious.

That's it for me today. Nothing really exciting to report. Happy Tuesday!

WI Results, NSV and Weekend Plan

2007-11-16T08:46:00.001-05:00

I know I haven't been blogging much lately but work has actually been really busy this week (Imagine that? Work getting in the way of my blogging!) BUT my lack of blogging certainly does NOT mean that I fell off the wagon (as it totally has in the past). In fact I have been kicking butt this week trying to make up for last weekend's overindulgence. I actually sat down one morning this week and went through everything that I ate last weekend and Scott and I added it all up and it basically translated to me using about 70-75 bonus points last weekend. Can you even imagine??? Crazy. I guess you don't really see it all add up when you aren't writing everything down. That was my first mistake. The second mistake was the entire bottle of wine that I drank on Friday night plus the martini and 2 shots of Bailey's and the list just goes on and on from there ladies. Chips, chocolate, nachos, homemade bread. I'm guilty of it ALL!

But........

I rocked this week! I got to the gym Tues, Wed and Thurs and really pushed myself. Last night I had a great NSV. I hit the elliptical for 51 mins!! I could have even gone more but I was a little pressed for time and someone had the machine booked out after me. I burned over 500 calories!! Go me! It felt so great. (The last ten minutes I swear I just kept seeing Kelly's post from last week "Last Chance Workout" in my mind! So Thanks Kelly for the motivation) Of course I was sweating up a storm but the best part was that Scott was on the other end of the gym and he kept cheering me on (not out loud obviously) but he would catch my eye and mouth "You're doing great!!" Just gave me that extra boost I needed. My plan for the upcoming week is to get to the gym 4 times. Mon-Thurs and hit the cardio machines hard. I'm also thinking about taking a strength training class this week as I want to get into weight lifting as well and start toning this hot little bod of mine! Speaking of hot little bods...WI was today. I had weighed myself on Tuesday to see what kind of damage I had done over the long weekend and I was up 2 lbs. I wasn't even mad or frustrated. I think I even needed to see that gain to get my butt in gear. Sometimes I guess you just need to KNOW that you just can't eat your face off all weekend and NOT count points and expect to not gain weight. It just doesn't happen like that. There have been times when I have been able to get away with a big splurge weekend and see a maintain by Friday or even a small loss but this week wasn't one of them. I'm up 0.5lbs this morning but I wholeheartedly accept it and now I am bound and determined to rock this weekend and have a killer week at the gym. I know I can do it. How did everyone else make out at WI today? Don't forget to e-mail Randi or I your results for the Christmas Challenge. Also if you can e-mail us the results for each week so far so we can update the spreadsheet and make sure everyone is on track. Thanks Ladies!

This weekend I am going to be making some changes:
1. I'm carrying my journal with me everywhere and anything that goes in my mouth, goes down on the journal
2. Planning out all of my flex points in advance, right down to the last one
3. Sunday is going to be a completely OP day despite any possible hangover that I might induce on Saturday night.

My plan for this weekend (oh and I DO have a plan this weekend)

Friday night:
Dinner with my Scott, my brother and SIL and 21 month daughter, and my best friend Ryan. (girl Ryan) We are going to Swiss Chalet and I've already got my menu choice picked out and ready to order
Yet another Christmas Craft Fair but the one last weekend was small potatoes compared to this one. This is the one that the whole city waits for! I'm so excited!!

Saturday:
I have the house to myself all morning since Scott is going to go help a friend with siding his house so I haven't really decided what to do yet. Probably just putter around the house, do some cleaning and get ready for the wedding we have at 2:00. Good friends of ours are getting married so the whole gang is getting together and I can't wait! I'm going to get a bottle of wine to bring with me (Wedding is in a Hotel so a bunch of our friends got rooms) Wedding meals are usually pretty healthy, chicken and veggies sort of thing but I've already decided that I'm going to limit myself to one dessert. Some weddings have a dessert with dinner and then have wedding cake so I'm going to skip out on one. Won't decide which one until I get there. Whichever one looks more appetizing!

Sunday:
Completely OP day. We have a course to go to at 11:00 and then we are coming home and spending the afternoon putting up Christmas lights outside our house.

I can so do this. I can stay within my 35 bonus points. I need to get out of the habit of eating so much junk on the weekends! It's definitely hindering my weight loss efforts!

Hope everyone has a great weekend planned! What are you ladies up to anyway??
Don't forget to grab a "healthy version" of an old favorite Christmas baking recipe for a Recipe Exchange!!

PS Check out Candace's post from yesterday. She has some really great tips about how to lose over the Holidays!!

Sorry Ladies

2007-11-13T18:23:00.000-05:00

I apologize in advance but Blogger is being EXTREMELY difficult right now and it's not letting me post my spreadsheet. So instead of completely blowing my lid and throwing my computer out the window, I'm just going to list everyones results this week. I will make sure that we have all the updated info for next week.

Kelly -1lb
Adorav -1.6lbs
Tara +1.4lbs
Superjayman (definitely a loss)
Moody - maintain
Hazel - maintain
Christy -2.4lbs
Sheri -1.2lbs
Raquel -0.4lbs
Sonya +0.6lbs
Cory +0.5lbs
Candace +0.8lbs
Angie +0.8lbs
Carolyn -2lbs
Randi - maintain
Tammy +0.4lbs
Noelle -1.6lbs

I think Randi and I are going to have to do a complete overhaul on the spreadsheet this week so ladies here's your chance to fix all our errors! (Sorry!!) If you can e-mail myself or Randi your results for each week since the challenge began, we can make sure that everyone's stats are correct since we've passed the half way mark!!! I would also like to do a post on everyones progress so far!!! See how far we've all come and how much we have to go to get to our goals. You ladies are doing AMAZING!!! I can't believe how great the challenge has been. A HUGE thanks to everyone for joining and keeping it up.

I'd post more but I need to get away from the computer before I have a nervous breakdown so until tomorrow!!

Took a holiday

2007-11-13T08:25:00.000-05:00

My weekend went pretty week. I took a little Holiday from blogging (I know, I was supposed to post the results of the Christmas Challenge yesterday, I promise it will be up there tonight!)I had a pretty great long weekend. I feel pretty good about my choices for the most part although I did stray from my plan a little bit, I tried to make fairly good choices.

Friday night we ended up meeting up with some friends and having a few drinks. I did go a little overboard and ended up polishing off a whole bottle of wine (Yellow Tail Merlot foe the Winos out there) and 1 Martini. I also had a piece of pizza and a few chips but we ended up going out dancing so hopefully I danced off those extra calories and then some. Had a great time though and isn't that what really matter??! (Ok.... I'm totally trying to justify eating the pizza, I felt guilty the next morning, I didn't need it but I had already had a few drinks by then and that pizza was looking mighty good!)

Saturday we hit up a local Christmas craft fair and I split a piece of fudge with Scott (which wasn't even good fudge! Don't you hate it when that happens?? I was looking forward to it and then it wasn't even good! It wasn't the usual "Fudge maker" that attends the local craft fairs but I took a chance and it just didn't pan out. Saturday night I did have a run in with some homemade nachos but that's what flex points are for right? They were soooo good though! Yum yum! Scott and I hit up Blockbuster on Saturday and have a movie night at home which was super nice.

Sunday I stayed pretty OP. We had my brother and his wife and my niece over for supper and Scott made chili and I made a loaf of homemade bread (I only had one piece with my supper! Yay me! I also had a few Mutigrain Tostitos to dip in my Chili, Boo me!) We had the Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Parfaits for dessert and they were absolutely amazing!!!!! WOW! The recipe is in this month's WW Magazine and it is SOOOO good! Scott and I hit up a movie on Sunday night. We wanted to go see American Gangster but we missed it so we went to 30 Days of Night with Josh Hartnett. I stared at my lap for half of the movie. Damn Vampires give me nightmares everytime, but does this stop me from going....no! My own darn fault.

Monday was a perfectly OP day even though it was a Holiday and being home all day gave me the urge to eat everything in sight. But I didn't! I stuck to it and got back on track. Although it would have been super easy since Scott was at work all day and I ended up getting up early to make muffins. This morning I kind of feel like I'll see a bit of a gain this week but I'm going to kick butt at the gym tonight, tomorrow night and Thursday night and hopefully it'll be a good week. I'm going to jump on the scale tomorrow morning to see how I'm doing. That usually motivates me to get my butt in gear!

How was everyone's weekend?
I'll be posting tonight with the Christmas Challenge results.
Time for me to go catch up on everyone's blogs!!

Don't forget to get your recipes out for the Recipe Exchange!!!

Drumroll please........

2007-11-09T07:08:00.000-05:00

-2 lbs!!!!

I had to get Scott out of bed to come and check and double check after I jumped on the scale this morning (honestly I was just really excited about the great loss and wanted someone to share it with!) What a great feeling. Do you want to know what the best part is? I deserve this loss, I did good last weekend saying no to some of my favorite trigger foods, I went to the gym and worked my butt for for 45 mins everyday Mon-Thurs, I ate great all week and got in lots of physical activity and was rarely found on the couch in front of the TV. I deserve this loss and that's what makes it so great. I know it's nice to see a loss when you're not expecting it or when you maybe went over in points but the scale is still being kind. But for me, the best losses, the ones that feel the greatest are the ones that I earn through portion control, saying no to high fat/calorie foods, through lots of time put in at the gym. Those ones feel great. I am now only 3 lbs away from my Christmas goal! So that means that I've shed 7 lbs since we started this challenge. Nice! which means I have 6 weeks to take off this last 3 lbs! Sweet! No time to slack though. Now is the time to really turn up the gym time and watch those daily points. Christmas is popping up everywhere, and with it comes chocolates, and baked goods, and gingerbread cookies. They seem to already be popping up everywhere so now more than ever is the time to really stay focused.

Last night I got off work and was tired and super cranky and tried to talk Scott out of the gym but thankfully he didn't let me and I ended up burning 400 cals on the elliptical! I felt great afterwards and then after that Scott and I spent another 2 hours grocery shopping and Christmas light shopping. Since it's our first winter in our new house, we have been searching for a good deal on Christmas lights. We decided to start off small this year since those darn things are expensive! We ended up getting white LED icicle lights for the house and I ordered a big wreath with a big red bow for the front door. Each year we'll add a little more but for this year, I think it should look great. Of course I'll have to take a picture and post it.

So my weekend plans....the long weekend is here! I really have to plan out my flex points this weekend because with an extra day off work, it's easy to go way overboard!

Friday night:
Shopping (doesn't it seem like I spent hours upon hours shopping?) I need a new pair of shoes/boots, Coffee at Java Moose (I like to treat myself to a little flavor shot on Friday nights, how lame am I?) Pretty low key night, we might grab a movie on the way home. I shouldn't have to use many flex unless I get a snack for the movie but I'll limit it to baked Doritos and maybe a 100 cal chocolate bar like Aero.

Saturday:
Christmas Craft Fair!! I've been looking forward to this one for weeks! There is this lady who makes her own fudge and she goes to every local craft show. Scott and I usually split a piece, last time we had the Turtle Fudge...OMG. So I will treat myself to that. I wonder how many points a half a piece of fudge is. Probably 3 or 4? They aren't huge pieces.
We might hit up a little skating after supper on Saturday as well and then we were hoping to go see American Gangster. I love Denzel Washington and I heard it was really good. Any of you ladies have a review for me?

Sunday:
Pretty low key, we have a course that we are doing together at 11:00 and then we are going to just do some things around the house (maybe put up the Christmas lights before the snow starts falling) and then Sunday night we are having my brother, his wife and my niece over for supper. Scott is making a huge pot of Chili and I'm making an attempt at homemade bread. I don't think my MIL could find the book so does anyone have a recipe for white homemade bread? I'm totally lost here. Points should stay pretty low as the Chili is low in points. I will limit myself to one piece of bread and for dessert I am going to make WW Chocolate Peanut Butter Parfaits. If any of you are WW Magazine subscribers, you'll find it in there this month. It looks yummy.

Monday:

Should be completely OP and by this day, I plan on having used all of my flex so it's back to my daily points. I think my best friend will be coming over for a little chick flick and scrapbooking action. Then Scott and I are going to visit freinds of ours who are doing major renos to their house so we are going to drive out to see how things are coming along.

That's it for my weekend. I find it helps so much for me to write out my weekend plans (especially plans that involve food) because I can see where I can and can't afford to use my flex points.

Anyway what do you guys have planned for this wonderful long weekend???

PS Randi mentioned on her blog about a Christmas recipe exchange for the Christmas Challengers (and of course anyone else who would like to contribute!) I think that is a great idea! Dust off your old cookbooks and start looking for your absolute favorite Christmas recipe! We'll give you more details in the next week or two, once everyone starts gearing up for Christmas and the Holiday season!

The 100 Calorie pack to rule them all!

2007-11-08T09:47:00.000-05:00

I can't even believe that I didn't know about these little goldmines! They are amazing! AND only 1 point? That is insane is it not?? I haven't tried the Strawberry but I've had the Cinnamon and Brown Sugar. They are honestly just like little cookies! Sweet and crunchy and totally fills the hunger void. These will certainly be a staple in my cupboard from now on! Plus, who couldn't use a little extra fibre right?? If you haven't tried them, DO IT NOW! :) A co-worker introduced them to me yesterday and also said they were great crumbled up in yogurt. What a great idea!

So I made out well on the Dinner-at-MIL front last night. I had a half of a piece of Lasagna which I counted to be about 5 points. A small Roll - 3pts and I filled my late up with Salad before I put anything else on it. So all in all I think I did good. I even went back and got another small piece of lasagna, put it on my plate and then sat down at the table. When I got there, I actually took a minute to think about it and I ended up getting rid of it. Go me! I did top off the night with about 1/2 cup of apple crisp but I loaded up with apples and only added a little crisp (I know the apples are still all sugary and stuff but I'm doing the best I can!) I counted that as 4 points. I hit the gym before going so I felt pretty good about my decisions AND I went shopping for a solid 2 hours after supper so all that walking around helped to work off some of that apple crisp!

Hubby just went all out and had 2 HUGE pieces of Lasagna, a roll, salad and about1.5 cups of Apple crisp. (Not that I was counting..... ok I totally was.) doesn't it make you feel even better about your choices knowing that he person next to you is making really bad ones? Maybe that's just the competitiveness in me but when I'm with someone who I know is trying to eat healthy or is on WW and they make a bad decision while I'm sitting there with my veggies and small portions. I always feel that extra encouragement. Anyone know what I mean? I bet Randi would. :)

I just found out it's my bosses birthday today so every is chipping in to get her a card/cake/small present. Ugh. I hate office birthdays. They are a nightmare to any points-counter. It's cake. Tomorrow is Weigh in. Do I even have a choice? I'm going to say No. None for me thanks. I'm going to say it. I should practice the words on my lunch hour. Because there have been WAY too many times that I've made up my mind to say No and then I get in the situation and I say.... Oh just a small piece. Just a little one. Oh...maybe a little bigger than that. Just a little bigger. Oh that's fine, I just want a taste. I can do this, I just have to remember that tomorrow is WI and feel GREAT! I'm really hoping to see a loss tomorrow. But cake is evil and is makes losses go away and stay away! I may have to report back later in the afternoon for moral support ladies. How do you get through these little functions? Any tips?

Is the weekend almost here?? Long weekend ladies! What are your plans?

PS...the WW Cheeseburger Casserole Melt thing was AWESOME! I'll have to post the recipe! So yummy. It's 5 pts a cup but really filling, I don't think you'd even want more than that!

Get to know me!

2007-11-07T08:21:00.001-05:00

Ok I've been tagged by a few lovely ladies now and it's about time I get to it.

Here's the Rules:
1-Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2-Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird
3-Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs
4- Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog

My random facts that you may or may not know about me:

1. I hate the thought of anyone touching or even coming anywhere near my belly button. I can't even stand it! Scott is constantly mocking me by sticking his finger in his belly button and it totally grosses me out!

2. I constantly have dreams about chewing too much gum or candy especially when I have something really important to tell someone. Usually it's a life or death kind of important and I can't talk because there is too much gum or candy in my mouth. It's the worst feeling ever! I have this dream at least once a month for probably the past couple years.

3. I am totally neurotic when it comes to making lists, grocery lists, things-to-do lists. Any list. If I make a spelling mistake or need to rearrange the items, I'll start the list over on a new piece of paper. I can't cross out anything or it drives me insane. Also I hate it when Scott adds things to the list. I always get him to tell me what to add and then I'll add it.

4. I can't wait to meet Scott as a father. I think it will be like meeting him for the first time again and falling in love with him all over again. I know he is going to be a great father. Now I'm wondering if too many of my things about me are actually about Scott. What can I say, I guess I am still in the Honeymoon phase (even though we've been married for over 3 years, isn't that stage only supposed to last for a year??) You ladies are right though, I do have an amazing husband. He tells me everyday how lucky he is but I really think I'm the one that lucked out.

5. I feel like I have to shave my legs every Thursday night. Even if I just shaved them Wednesday night. I like the feeling of freshly shaved legs on Friday. If I don't, it can ruin my whole Friday. (I didn't shave them last Thursday for the first time in well over a year and it bothered me constantly on Friday, I learned my lesson)

6. It really bothers me when there are dishes in the sink. I would never go to bed and leave them in there. I always feel like everything needs to be tidied up before I hit the hay. Just me being neurotic again I guess.

7. I have had a really rocky relationship with my Dad. There were times when I would go without talking to him for 2 years at a time. I don't think things will ever be great between us and he is not someone I think I could count on. I always envy my friends who are "Daddy's Girls". I can see how much their Dads adore them. But after years and years of heartache I've realized that it's better to have him in my life than not. He's made too many mistakes but at the end of the day, he's still my father and I just have to accept that. You play the hand your dealt right?

Well there you go. Now you now all about me!
My week is going GREAT! I feel like I'm totally on plan and I have gotten to the gym twice this week so far for 2 major sweatfests! It's funny that the elliptical never really makes me breath heavy but I sweat like you wouldn't believe after I've been on it for about 25 mins. Last night I did 40 mins on the elliptical and burned 400 cals! Nice! I also spent about 2 hours cleaning and cooking last night. I tried a new WW recipe. It was in an old WW recipe book that my Mom gave me. I think it's called Cheeseburger Melt or something. It's basically just lean hamburger, pasta, tomatoes, and cheese with a few other things thrown in there. We'll test er out today at lunch and if it's great, I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

That's it for me today. We are ghoing to MIL for supper tonight. I think Lasagna is on the menu. I wonder how many points Lasagna is....any ideas??? It's basically your run of the mill lasagna only with no cottage cheese. I'm going to watch portion size and hopefully there will be a salad as well and NO garlic bread (HUGE weakness of mine!) But I'm planning on another date with the elliptical before dinner so that should keep me in line!

How is everyone making out this week?

Just Randomness

2007-11-06T12:38:00.000-05:00

So I couldn't help it and jumped on the scale this morning just to see how I was doing. I'm at the same I was on Friday (Last week's WI) Which is great because I still have 3 more days to crank out a nice little loss for this week! YAY! I did get to the gym yesterday for 40 mins of cardio which felt great even thought I had a super headache which went away and then came back as a migraine later in the evening. Anyone who's suffered from migraines knows how absolutely dreadful they are! I ended up falling asleep in the tub and then waking up to an even worse one. I was severely sick to my stomach and was sweating and cold and felt so awful, I couldn't stand any lights at all being on at all and I couldn't even talk on the phone to Scott because it hurt so much. Finally at 7:30 after I popped a few pills I curled up in my room with the lights off and woke up an hour later and it had pretty much subsided. I was still a little dizzy and felt weak but the horrible pain was pretty much gone. Scott was at work, thankfully. I love the guy like noobody's business but when I have a migraine, I don't want anyone near me. I don't want to talk to anyone and I don't want anyone touching me. Poor Scott always tries to take care of me and wants to help but it's better if I'm just alone. Luckily when he came home I was getting better and he comforted me for a good hour on the couch :)

On top of all this, I was supposed to be preparing for an interview I had today. It was one of those darn situational interviews so they punch out the really hard questions. I work for the Province of New Brunswick but I am a casual employee so even though I work full time, I'm not permanent and my contract is up on January 2 so hopefully I can squeeze into a permanent job before then or I'll at least be able to get my term extended. We'll see. I'm pretty optimistic.

I have been doing great this week OP. I'm determined to get in 4 sessions at the gym this week. Tonight I am planning on another 40 mins of cardio. Tomorrow Scott and I are trying out a Body Ball class that sounds really interesting and I've heard that it's quite hard and very good for the abs so I'll keep you updated on that one.

I'm really looking forward to the weekend as it's a long weekend! YAY! I'm also planning on making a few WW recipes this weekend as I may have some time alone in the kitchen this weekend. I've found that time in the kitchen is SO relaxing and it's a lot of fun for me. Plus it keeps me on my feet and away from the TV too. This weekend Scott and I are going to a Christmas Craft fair on Saturday (You can imagine how excited he is eh??) I offered to go with a friend instead but he objected and said he wanted to spend time with me and that he doesn't mind going. I don't know if he's going just because he knows how much I want to go or if years of me dragging him to these Crafty/girly events has actually grown on him and now he actually enjoys them!! Who knows. AND I dug out all my Christmas CDs so I thought I'd do a little Saturday morning baking complete with Christmas music in the background. Does it get any better than this??

7 weeks from today until Christmas!!! YAY!

Weekend Recap and my New Toy!

2007-11-05T09:27:00.000-05:00

So this weekend has probably my best yet but I still feel like I could have done better
I made out good on Friday. I ended up winning 50/50 at work and took home $50 so I decided to take Scott out to supper on Friday and we hit up Swiss Chalet. I ordered the Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich with a baked potato for a side. YUM! Have any of you Canadian gals tried this? So good! We also had Chicken Spring rolls for an appetizer but they were supper small and mostly had veggies in them. We skipped on dessert and opted for a flavored coffee at Java Moose instead. We almost talked ourselves into getting a brownie to split but ended up making the right decision and just took the coffees. That was basically our Friday night, we spent a few hours shopping so I was on my feet all night. I did have a small run in with Baked Doritos at the end of the night but only 4 pts worth so no big deal there!

Saturday was a bit of a different story. We had our usual breakfast and then decided to save up as many points as possible for the birthday party we were going to. It was our Goddaughter's birthday and pizza and cake was on the menu. Luckily I offered to bring Caesar salad with me so I heaped that on my plate before adding any pizza and I ended up only eating 1.5 pieces of pizza (compared to Scott's 6 pieces!!) I also used fat free Caesar dressing and no one even noticed the difference! Then came the cake.......Randi was right....I couldn't resist. BUT I didn't take a huge piece and I shared it with Scott so we did alright. The real kicker came when we got home and we decided it would be an AWESOME idea to make Nachos for supper! Not the best idea right but that's what flex points are for!! They were darn good too!

Sunday was a bit of a challenge but I was determined to pull through and stay OP. First up we had a course that we are taking together and someone decided to bring Chocolate chip cookies for a snack (instead of the veggie tray we had last week!) I totally wanted one but declined (TWICE!) when they came around to me. YAY for me! THEN after the course I was meeting my friend in town for a day of shopping and forgot to grab something at home for lunch. I was surrounded by fast food restaurants and decided to just get a small chili from Wendy's. Filling AND low in points. Another YAY for me! THEN after supper (Tomato Sup and grilled cheese sandwiches, my FAV) Scott wanted me to come with him to the store to get milk so I hoped in the car (Fully decked out in Christmas pajama bottoms, crocs, and Scott's Old Navy sweater) and once we got there Scott started in with the treats. But since I wasn't going in looking as ridiculous as I did, I said None for me!! I totally wanted a Mars bar but opted for a Banana-Vanilla milkshake at home instead! Nice! I ended up being under in points yesterday because the shake filled me up so much!

How was your weekend??

Now, on to my toy. I inherited a bread maker yesterday from my MIL. I've always wanted to try to make homemade bread but have always been WAY too scared to. My Mom isn't a huge bread maker so it's not something she ever really taught me to do (that and she lives 12 hours away from me so when we get together, making bread isn't a high priority). How hard can it be when you have a machine that does it all for you right? So if any of you ladies have any yummy recipes, bring em on!! I invited my brother and his wife over for supper on Saturday. Scott's making a pot of chili and I'm making homemade bread AND the Chocolate Peanut Butter parfaits that you'll find in this month's WW magazine!! Mmmmm

PS I've also heard that bread is easy to mess up, and if anyone's going to mess it up, it would be me. So any tips or tricks you ladies have would be great!

WI Results and Weekend plans

2007-11-02T06:20:00.000-05:00

I couldn't even believe it when I jumped on the scale this morning....I woke up absolutely dreading the idea of getting on the scale this morning but I knew I had to face the music. I have had less than a steller week and I need to own up to it. Actually my week wasn't TOO bad (with the exception of my Halloween treats) but last weekend was pretty rough. I probably used at least 70 bonus points or MORE. Damn Pizza Shack. Damn Halloween party. Who brought those homemade peanut butter balls anyway??

Anyway so I got up and jumped on the scale this morning and closed my eyes. I got hubby to look at the number for me because I couldn't bring myself to do it. Then he said it. I was down 0.5 from last week. I made him check and recheck just to make sure it wasn't some kind of fluke. What?? I'm DOWN 0.5??? I'm trying to think of an explanation but then it came to me. I gave blood yesterday and although it was my first time giving....They take about a pint of blood from you so I imagine that is what I can accredit my weight loss to. How much does a pint of blood weight I wonder? Hmm Just looked it up, apparently it's one pound. So they took one pound of blood from me yesterday. I'm sure it will slowly come back on but in the meantime, I'm going to get my butt in gear and wipe out this last 5 pounds.

Hope all you Friday Weighers had some success this morning! don't forget to send Randi your WI results for this week.

My weekend plans are actually pretty laid back this week. It seems like this is the first weekend in a long time where were weren't booked up for every minute of the entire weekend. Tonight we are going to the gym after work (have to make up for missing yesterday) then we are hitting up Wendy's for supper (Suggestions ladies???) and then we are going to the mall to start a little Christmas shopping and hopefully get some lights for the outside of our house. I can't figure out what to go with but hopefully I'll get inspired tonight.

Saturday we have our Goddaughter's 2nd Birthday party. It's at 3:00 and I heard that pizza is on the menu and I offered to bring Caesar Salad. My plan for Saturday is to eat a nice filling lunch around 1:00 and hopefully just have a little Caesar salad at the party (of cours eI'm bringing light caesar dressing to go tiwht it!). I should have lots of flex points left over so I might take Randi's advice and have a half a piece of cake or I might just nibble off Scott's plate. Birthday cake is a hard one. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not even worth the points so I'll have to wait and see. If I see it getting rave reviews than I may indugle in a half a piece, I'll let Scott be my test monkey on that one. He could probably eat half the cake and still end up losing a pound...men!

Saturday after the party, Scott and I are going skating in the evening and then out for a hot chocolate and then heading home with a movie in hand. Kind of like a little date night. I love those nights. It's supposed to be miserable here too since we are getting the tail end of Hurricane Noel (which will be a tropical storm when it hits us) so it will be nice to get cozied up on the couch with a good movie.

Sunday we are going to a flea market in the afternoon and after that we are both free game so we'll probably get some things done around the house and I'd like to try out a new recipe for supper so if you've tried anything spectacular lately, let me know!

Have a great weekend ladies! (Why do I always feel like Bob Barker when I call you ladies??)

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T06:12:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Halloween last night! How did everyone do with sticking to their plan and staying away from the candy? I definitely could have done better but all in all I wasn't that bad. Luckily, the Aero Car and Smarties were all only one point a piece and I did cut down on my supper to compensate for the treats so . Not too bad. I'm going to work it off at the gym today. This week has been so hectic and I have to admit (even though I don't want to) that I have been failing miserably at the Exercise Challenge with Kelly and Sarah. I've only gotten to the gym ONCE this week! Monday Scott didn't have his gym clothes so we skipped the gym (I know, I Should have went, afterall I did have MY clothes!)

We went on Tuesday and I tried out a new machine! The Stair master. I did it for about 12 mins and wow! That thing really works out your legs. I'm going to try it out tonight for a little longer and then hit up the elliptical again. What a great workout. AND my new Weight Watchers Magazine came in the mail yesterday so I can read that while I'm doing the elliptical, it looks like it has tons of recipes in it for the Holidays! Can't wait!

Last night was a bit of a mad dash since Scott had a meeting until 5:00 and we wanted to get home for the Trick or Treaters. All in all we got about 40 kids. They were so adorable! We would have had candy leftover if Scott and I didn't help ourselves throughout the night! I had about 5 mini chocolate bars but to my defense, I did pick the lowest point ones! We bought a variety pack that had Smarties, Aero, Coffee Crisp and KitKat. The last two were 2 points each so I gave away all of those ones first! Then I had 2 boxes of smarties, 1 Aero and 1 Coffee Crisp. So about 5 points in all which wasn't too bad and I had 6 points leftover after supper just for this reason so I'd say I broke even throughout the night. Although I still feel like I cheated and I can feel a a gain coming for tomorrow morning. Last weekend was NOT good and I can still feel the effects of it in the way my clothes are fitting. Ugh.

This weekend is it. I'm NOT going over my flex points even if it kills me. We have a pretty low key weekend planned. A little Christmas shopping on Friday night and then our Goddaughter's 2nd birthday on Saturday (NO cake for me!) Saturday night we are going skating and Sunday we are going to the local Flea Market and just spending the rest of the day catching up on things around the house and relaxing. 35 flex points is MORE than enough for this weekend! I can do this! It's been an absolute roller coaster when it comes to these flex points and for the most part, I've been going WAY over. Not this weekend. I can so do this!

What are your weekend plans??

Update later in the day.....

I just went to give Blood on my lunch hour and apparently I can't do any physical exercise for at least 8 hours!!!! How frustrating is that? I REALLY wanted to hit up the gym after work! Grrr. Guess I'll be a Friday night gymer this week. I need to get in a least 1 more and then it's hours upon hours of raking this weekend to get our lawn in shape!

P. I. M. P.

2007-10-30T17:22:00.002-05:00

Let me tell you ladies, a Very short dress and a pint of Orange Vodka aren't the greatest combo!

Halloween Plan

2007-10-30T09:57:00.000-05:00

Ok Ladies, it's Halloween Eve!

What are you plans for Halloween? How are we going to make it through the night?

I have held off this long before I have bought any Halloween candy. I didn't trust myself to have it in the house. I'm finally going to have to break down today and go grab a few things for the kiddos who will be Trick or Treating in the neighborhood. I asked our Neighbor how many kids we usually get since we were clueless being first time homeowners and he said usually between 35-45. I'm SO glad I asked him because when Scott and I were talking about it last week, we figured we'd get around 60 or more kids so we were going to buy a big bulk box of Chocolate bars! Good thing we didn't. Leftovers on Halloween = trouble trouble.

I think my plan is going to be to allow myself (save up my points of course) ONE treat for the night. I will pick out my favorite thing and put it aside (in a visible area) for the end of the night. That way while I'm passing out my candy, I will keep that treat in the back of my mind and I'll know it's waiting for me. Who knows, by then end of the night, I might not even want it. (Who I am I even trying to kid here?) That's my plan. Also towards the end of the night, I'll start doubling up on my treat giving if I think there will be any leftovers. I don't want anything left at the house! Too dangerous! I feel for you ladies who have little ones that come home with bags upon bags of yummy candy. How do you resist when they leave for school? That would be rough! Be Strong ladies! Be Strong!

I'll be posting pics of the Halloween Partay tonight so stay tuned!

Christmas Challenge Week # 5!

2007-10-29T18:58:00.001-05:00

There are a few ladies who forgot to send me in their results. Make sure you get them in!!!

Help!

2007-10-29T07:09:00.000-05:00

Ohhhhhh ladies. Where do I even begin?

I was doing so good until Friday at 4:30 when I got off work and decided to skip the gym in lieu of shopping with Hubby. I was all determined to go to the gym and get in a quick workout before date night with hubby. Then hubby decided to leave work early and meet me at my work at 4:30. He didn't have his gym clothes so we ended up at Walmart instead of the gym. (NOT that this is his fault in ANY way! I know he would have occupied himself for 40 mins if I had insisted on hitting the gym.) But I didn't. So we shopped a little and then hit Swiss Chalet for supper (I love this place!) I stuck with my menu plan and ordered the Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich with a baked potato. We also ordered Chicken Spring Rolls as an appetizer (YUM!) Then came the end of the meal. That dreaded time when the waitress comes over and asks you if you want dessert? Why didn't I say no??? WHY?

Instead I followed Scott's lead and ordered a Sundae. To my defense I tried to get it with frozen yogurt but they didn't have any. Luckily it wasn't huge and the amount of ice cream was limited but it was soo yummy! I should add that I also stuck to my movie plan and got a 100 calorie Aero bar and a bag of Baked Doritos. On a positive note, we had such a great date night!
Saturday came and I did great until the party started. I'll be posting a few pics of the party tonight since I have them all saved at home. The party was SOOO much fun! Everyone who came, dressed up and the costumes were really great!! I had such a great time and it was one of those nights where you just have the best time with all of your friends. It ended up turning into a dance party and we were all rocking it out until about 3:00am! So at least I wasn't sitting down all night. I was on my feet from about 6:00-3:00 in the morning. I don't think I sat down once. My legs and feet were so tired by the end of the night! I was also so busy mingling that I really didn't have TOO much time to eat. I did manage to indulge in 1 cupcake, two bites of taco dip and tostitos, 3 peanut butter balls (they were decorated like eyeballs, how could I resist??) and 2 sugar cookies. All in all, I don't think it was TOO awful. AND I managed to stick with my Raspberry Crystal Light and Orange Vodka (Yumm!) all night so the calories were pretty limited on the drink front.

Then came Sunday.

Scott and I had to get up and ready to get to a course we are taking by 11:00am. So we woke up at 8:00 (I don't even know why) to a house with people sprawled out everywhere, empty glasses and bottles everywhere and floors were disgusting (all the signs of a great party right?). Ugghh. I didn't even know where to start. Surprisingly, once people started to wake up, we all chipped in and it was decently tidy by the time we left the house at 10:30. Then after our course, I had a Christmas Craft Day with Scott's Mom, Aunt and Cousin. We all made Christmas wreaths (I will post a picture of my creation later tonight or tomorrow) Even though I wasn't feeling the hottest and I was super tired, it was a lot of fun. Scott's Mom had lunch all ready for us that consisted of Cabbage Rolls and Potato Salad so of course I dove right in. We got home just before supper and I spent about an hour sweeping and scrubbing the grime off the floors. By 5:00, the woodstove was going strong, the house was clean again and we were tired and hungry. BAD combination ladies. Pizza Shack was involved. Caesar Salad and Garlic Fingers. Ugh.

But I'm over it. I've been thinking about it all morning and I think I know where my problem lies. I've just gotten too comfortable. I like the way I look. If I stayed this weight for the rest of my life, I would be ok with that. But then I get this rise of panick in my stomach and I think.....what does that even mean??? What happens now? What do I do with myself now? I know I'm not ready for maintenance. I don't know why, I just don't feel like I am. I would like to lose another 5 lbs. But the motivation is hard to find because honestly, I like the way I look most days. I like the way my clothes fit, I like the fact that I'm a size 9 and sometimes even a 7. It's where I've always wanted to be. and now I'm here. What now?

I think I need to a few days to re-evaluate what I'm doing on this journey. Have any of you ladies gone through this before? I need some perspective.