By the miracle of God, I weighed in at exactly 150 this morning, which means I successfully made my goal of weighing 150 by the end of the 30 day challenge in April.  Granted, I got below 150 during the month, but I’ll take it!

I also managed to stay on program for most of the weeks (minus this past weekend’s disaster), and worked out consistently.  Overall, I definitely feel like April got me back to where I feel like I am on the right track again and heading toward that elusive number of 145.  I WILL see that number on the scale below me before my birthday.  So that gives me A little less than 2 months to lose 5 lbs.

I’m heading out to Destin tomorrow, so I won’t be posting until next week, but I hope to come back and post that I a) worked out at the hotel gym at least twice this weekend and b) I made good food choices when we eat out….which we will be eating out for every meal, so I hope that we go places that don’t consist of fried everything.  Wish me luck!

Day 29 Home Scale Reading = 150.4

Ugh…although it wasn’t as bad as it could have been…I really didn’t like seeing that 5 in my number again!  Although my goal was to be down to 150 by the end of April, and I have managed to accomplish that, being in the 140’s last week was nice…and I’d like to get back into them as soon as possible.

I am going away this weekend for a 4 day weekend to Florida for a friend’s wedding, but I will NOT let myself go off track.  I am going to bring healthy snacks and a bunch of water for myself, and there is a gym at the hotel which I full plan on using.  So hopefully I’ll be back in those 140’s very soon and STAY there this time!

I bought a heart rate monitor this weekend and used it for the first time during my Step Aerobics class yesterday…but I’m concerned that it is not working as it said I burned 1100 Calories during the class which seems EXCESSIVELY high.  So now I”m not sure what to do…it was $50 so it wasn’t that cheap…I guess I’ll try to use it on a machine and compare the calorie counts to see about where I am.  Does anyone have any advice on these?

That is what I’m feeling like after a weekend FULL of drinks, food, and not too much working out!  Man it was a blast of a weekend, it was one of my best friend’s birthday weekends, so we ended up indulging quite a bit.  There was no counting points, no control over what I was eating…it was just a good old fashioned party weekend!  I can’t lie and say I didn’t enjoy every single minute of it though.

I weighed in officially at WW on Friday, so there must be something that clicks in my brain that says “you just weighed in, so you can go off track for a day…it’s okay”.  Well that day turned into 3…and now I’m ready to get back on track!   I had no balls to get on the scale this morning, so I  have no idea what it says…I probably don’t want to!  But even though the end of April was a little crazy, I think overall I have been pretty successful in my “April challenge”.

So here’s to getting back on track today….

MUCH better than yesterday…I knew I was super bloated yesterday! I am going to go ahead and officially weigh in at WW today because although I have until next Wed. before I’m required to, today’s meeting time is better for my schedule. Another big step I’m taking today is wearing regular clothes to my weigh in. Normally I would be obsessed about wearing a very lightweight dress to weigh in, but this morning I was going to wear those new size 6 capris no matter what…so I am, and they feel GREAT!

Here are my points from yesterday:

Flex Points Remaining: 29
Activity: PT Session

So after last night’s PT session, my trainer was talking to me about my food intake, and in his opinion, I’m not taking in enough food for the activity that we are doing. He apparently doesn’t think WW is good for someone as active as I am…but I also think he doesn’t know anything about WW. I don’t generally eat my activity points, because well this month I’ve been trying to get the numbers down again…which I have. So it’s possible that I *MIGHT* need to try and eat more on the days I work out with him so that my energy level is high enough to make it through his workouts. I was really offended (yet again) by his comments though…first I wasn’t giving enough effort and had an attitude, and now he thinks I’m not eating right…I can’t win with this guy. I have one more training session paid for, and after that it’s a toss up of whether I will continue. I really want to, but I’m also not paying this jerk $40 a week to continue to put me down. I really don’t think he is trying to be mean, but he also needs to learn how to get his point across without being an ass. I’m sure he is someone who has never been overweight in his life, so he really doesn’t understand what a long journey and hard process this is! But either way, I KNOW WW works, um hello I’ve been doing it for 15 months now! So I’m going to keep up what I’m doing, maybe add some more food the days I work out with him to see if it helps, and go from there.

So screw the scale this morning, screw the bloated “fat” feeling I had today…I just bought a pair of size 6 pants.  I’m on cloud nine right now!

EWWWW…did NOT like that at all this morning. But it is TOM, and I had a pretty high sodium filled dinner, so I’m not too worried about it. I’m going to drink lots of water today and hopefully that bloating will go away. I definitely feel it today though…that feeling that you gained 50 pounds over night!!!

So on to the topic at hand…last night, I had a total craving for nachos. It just would NOT go away. So rather than totally destroy my diet by going to the mexican restaurant close to our house, I decided to make my own. Although it still ended up being 12 points, it was a HUGE portion and totally hit the spot. I probably should have only eaten half of it, but I didn’t have that trigger last night of “stop eating you are seriously full”…so of course when I did finish, I felt like barfing. But sometimes you just have to fill that craving!

My cooking skills have certainly improved over the years, I once set off the fire alarm in my apartment when I was boiling water (no joke). But even today, I’m a strict recipe follower…I’m not one of those people who looks in the pantry and puts together a meal with what she has in there. But apparently I became one of those people last night. I wanted to bulk up the meat a bit so I added some spicy chili beans and rotel to the meat and it ended up being so amazing.

I knew I was addicted to blogging when my husband said how great it looked and my first thought was “I should take a picture for my blog”….and of course he thought I was crazy when I actually went and got the camera out. So for all of you to enjoy, here was my amazing nacho platter from last night:

Again, this totally could have been cut in half for a really low point dinner, but I couldn’t stop myself once I started. If y’all want the recipe, here you go:

1 lb. 96/4 lean ground beef
1 can Rotel
1 can spicy Chili beans
1 pkg. reduced sodium taco seasoning
Tositos Light chips (I used 12 per serving)
1 can FF Refried Beans
4 oz Cabot 75% Reduced Fat Cheddar cheese
1 small can sliced Black Olives
Shredded Lettuce
FF Sour Cream

It made 4 servings, the meat mixture was approx. 1 cup per serving.

So overall I used about 7 flex points yesterday which is more than I like to use, but between the cupcake and the nacho platter yesterday, it was well worth it. I’ll just work hard for the next few days to make up for it. That’s what living this skinny life is all about right!

Here’s my breakdown of points for the day:

Flex Points Remaining: 28
Activity: Wednesday is my OFF day from the gym

I’m in new territory here. My lowest weight ever was 148.4 before my wedding…so today was seeing a whole new number! I am really enjoying this! It’s like setting a record everyday! And 145 is so close I can almost taste it!

Flex Points Remaining: 35
Activity: 15 minutes on elliptical, Ran 10 minute mile!!!!!, Abs

My trainer canceled our session last night because he was sick, but my friend and I went to the gym anyway! We both decided that we needed to run the mile again whether we wanted to or not. So we did. And we both did it right under 10 minutes. That’s a little more than a minute better than we did it last time! I was just excited to complete it! I thought I was seriously going to puke on the last 2.5 laps, but I didn’t. Now why can’t I do that when Matt is around??

Today is one of my co-workers birthdays, so I made red velvet cupcakes for the office. I’ve already calculated the points for them and will definitely be treating myself to one (I made one smaller than the others just for me so that will be a nice treat!

That’s about all for today…must have coffee…I don’t think I’m totally awake quite yet!

So I officially lost another 2 lbs last week and I couldn’t be more excited!!   It’s so great to see those 140’s again!!! I hope to see them for a long time and not see those 150’s anymore!  I’m finally back down to the weight I was before my wedding in December, even though I’m in much better shape than I was then due to the muscles and what not.

I am also starting to see a lot more definition in my arms, legs, and even my abs.  Dare I say that something is forming on my stomach that I’ve never seen before!!!! Having a flat stomach has always been a dream of mine, one that never seemed possible until now.  I WILL have one this summer….I promise you that!

I ate well yesterday (stayed right at my 20 points) but I skipped the gym.  Apparently my “lazy Sunday” spilled into Monday.  But today is the first day of the dreaded lady time, so I have a feeling that is helping the lazy feeling along!  Tonight I go back to personal training though so I know I’ll get a good workout in.  I’m dreading it a little bit since it’s the first training session since our little spat, but we’ll see how it goes!  I’m trying to remain optimistic so that I don’t go in with any kind of “negative attitude”.

I was reading Roni’s blog about what the “key” to losing weight and it really made me think back to the beginning of last year.  That was the beginning of a total transformation not only of my outside appearance, but also a transformation of my relationship with food.  I know that sounds strange…having a relationship with food, but I did…and it was NOT a healthy one.  WW really taught me that food is not the be all end all of life.  It is there to give us the nutrients we need, and to be there for the occasional treat…but that it should not rule our lives.   As crazy as it sounds, before joining WW last year, I really had no concept of how to eat healthy.  I lost 50 lbs a few years ago by working out everyday and eating less.  I wasn’t eating healthier, just eating less.  The original reason I did this was because my doctor told me I had high cholesterol and that was a huge wake up call for being a 25 year old.  However, after losing that 50 lbs, my cholesterol hadn’t gone down…in fact, it had gone up.  When I joined WW and started losing weight, I learned about what your body needs and the types of food you should be eating (ie. whole grains, non-processed foods, fruits and veggies, etc.).  I’m happy to say that I no longer have high cholesterol…WW helped me lower more than 20 points and it is now in a normal range.  So for me, the key is that you have to be ready to learn how to eat…it’s a LOT easier to eat conveniently, so you have to be committed.  But I can tell you that eventually it does get easier, although I never think it totally ends.  Here I am a year and four months after starting WW and I still have to journal to keep myself in check, I still have to reign my diet in sometimes when it gets out of hand, but I have the tools now to know that I CAN do it.

I’m not TOO worried about this morning’s scale reading.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday said 148.2, so I know I didn’t gain 3 pounds overnight.  I did eat a good amount of food yesterday because I decided to have a Lazy Sunday.  It had been a VERY long week and I had worked out every single day despite feeling drained most of the week, so I decided that Sunday would consist of me sleeping in, skipping the gym, and laying around watching my soaps and doing a few household chores.  It’s been a really long time since my husband and I had one of these days and it was WELL deserved and MUCH needed.  And I have to tell you, it was FANTASTIC!!!  I totally recommend this type of day to anyone who needs a break!  Generally a lazy sunday entails us ordering in, which it did last night, but I still managed to escape the weekend with 9 flex points left.  And since my week starts over tomorrow, I doubt I will use them all today!

So today I plan on drinking LOTS of water, and hopefully the scale will be back down for tomorrow’s “official” weigh in.  I’m also doing step tonight with my friend so that should burn a good amount of calories as well!

Thanks for your comments about my trainer breakdown last week…I’m feeling much better about it.  I saw him at the gym and he came up and gave me a hug and complimented me on how I looked that day.  So not exactly an apology but at least he was trying to be nice.  I still plan on channeling my anger towards him into my workouts!!!

I hope everyone has a GREAT Monday!!!