I know this. That’s what’s so awesome about life because you are always given a new opportunity to start over, start fresh, start a new - hence the title of my blog.

I have taken my fair share of new opportunities. I wish that I didn’t have the NEED to take them though. I have been been yo-yo’ing with the same 5 lbs for almost 2 months now. It’s starting to get a bit ridiculous. It’s just seems to have happened that every time I reach a mini-goal there happens to be some birthday, some break, some holiday and while I try to stay on plan during those events, I never seem to come out on top of those “battles.” And I know that this is a part of life, mistakes happen and we learn. It’s just blah - I can’t help but think that I’ve lost the same 5 lbs three times now, that could have been 15 lbs instead of starting at ground zero!

I mean, I’m not at all giving up…I don’t feel defeated…I’m just a little frustrated. Interestingly enough, when I did weight watchers the first time around, I was .4lb away from reaching 60lbs! Only a measly .4lb away and I never got there. I just started gaining weight, slowly but surely until I had put about 22lb back on. And it happened at THIS EXACT TIME OF YEAR. It was like the end of January and it all just slipped away.

I have analyzed all the different reasons this could have happened (new medicines, being scared of success, etc.) and I’ll never truly know the answer. I do know that I don’t want that to happen again. I just want to get the ball rolling once and for all. I don’t want to lose and gain the same weight over and over again.

So today is a new day, these past 5 minutes have been a new 5 minutes. I can do this, I know I can.

Now I’ve got to go adjust my “goals and time line” because unfortunately there is no humanly way I’ll have lost 10 lbs by April 20th. Doesn’t mean I won’t try my hardest but I want to lose the weight in a slow and healthy way so that I know I can keep it off.

Oh well, it’s all good. I have total faith in myself, just had to vent a little bit! Thanks for listening/reading! Sorry I’ve been so MIA. I’m back for good now and don’t have to travel again for like a month SO that’s one solid month to totally get back on track and develop a plan of action for the next time I do have to travel!

Hope everyone is having some better success than me. Hopefully I’ll be joining y’all soon!

I totally forgot to tell y’all that I had to go out of town for 4 days. I’m STILL out of town and really without any internet access (not sure how I came to the conclusion that I really didn’t need my laptop, lol) but either way. I just wanted to tell y’all that I’m doing great. I have exciting exercising news to share! But I will post more, a longer post tomorrow once I am back in Austin.

I hope everyone has had an awesome OP week. I can’t wait to catch up on everyone’s blogs (again), lol. Man, I really need to stop going out of town, haha.

This link was in the newest WW email I received this morning. This Habit Profile reminds me of the one in the week 3 booklet, in fact, it might be the same. Even so, it’s tons easier to complete online. Not only that but it IS very insightful. I think it’s a good idea to take it because sometimes I think we lose site of things. We get into a routine or mode of thinking and don’t even take a time out to see if everything we are doing is the BEST and most healthy habit.

I know it’s always eye opening for me. It’s also really interesting to fill it out every couple of months and then you can physically see how you are changing your habits for the better! Already my answers this time around are different than how I answered during week 3. It takes less than 5 minutes so go for it!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Monday!

I’m on my out the door but I just wanted to stop in really quick and wish everyone a wonderful and blessed Easter!

AND to say that I am thankful to have this community and each and every one of you all in my life! Thank you for all the support, motivation, and love!

Love you guys! Happy Easter!

…but first I just want to say THANK YOU for the very sweet and MUCH appreciated comments on my Spring Break pictures. Y’all sure know how to make a girl blush So thank you, they totally made my day and plastered a smile on my face!

Now on to my NSV (non-scale victory)! This morning as I was on my way out the door, headed to work, my roomie stopped me and said, “you know I can really tell you are losing weight, especially in your legs!” I smiled and thanked her, told her I really appreciated it. I walked to my car with my head a little higher and then totally made a bee-line for the bathroom once I got to work to see if I could tell what she was talking about, lol. Now I don’t know if I necessarily see it but she’s not the type of person to just say things like that, so I know it was genuine. Regardless of if I see it or not, it made my day!

And it’s so funny because in the past, several years ago, when I first started losing weight and peopled commented, I kind of took it personally. It was a “well obviously you thought I NEEDED to lose weight in the first place, gosh.” (I’m shaking my head at how naive I was, lol). I also didn’t like to share that I was on WW. I don’t know why. I guess it was like if I didn’t openly, publicly acknowledge that I was trying to lose weight then no one else would see that I needed too, haha. Oh the things we tell ourselves!

Either way, I appreciated her comment AND I appreciate the comments of my fellow bloggers. Thank you so much for putting a smile on my face and an extra bounce in my step! (not to mention a great source of motivation )

Happy Good (OP) Friday!!

At the request of a couple of my fellow-bloggers, I have decided to post a few Spring Break pictures. I went to my bay house in Galveston with my two best girl friends. We’ve been doing this for 5 years now! It’s ALL about relaxation, laughter, catching up on sleep, making memories, just being girls - nothing too crazy. I mean we sleep late (although I can’t sleep past 9:30am but hey, I suppose that IS late compared to when I get up for work), sun bath all day, go to the beach and play in the waves, take naps in the hammock, play super nintendo when it’s overcast or raining outside, do glamour shot pictures at night, lol - TOTAL girlie stuff!! So here are a couple of the more ”innocent” pictures from this years “spring break!”

Sun-bathing Beauties

The tide was REALLY out this particular day so we had our own beach in the middle of the bay!

We have a seagull that has been with us for 10 years now - the same one. His name is Gig’Em. Even though I am a Longhorn, my grandparents (it was their bay house) were Aggies and it only seemed fitting. We feed him peanuts every day.

A coupe different sunsets. One where the tide was still out and another where the tide was back to normal.

Finally, girl time at night, taking glamour shots. We had a “high fashion” night and an 80’s themed night

What do you eat for breakfast you ask? Well, what an excellent question, haha. Breakfast is important to me because it sets the tone/mood/whatever you want to call it, for the whole day. If I have a crappy, small, unhealthy breakfast, then I am paying for it later on. So I always try to get something healthy and balanced in!

 My FAVORITE thing for breakfast (at the moment anyways) is Quaker Oat Weight Control Banana Bread oatmeal with a pinch of Splenda Brown Sugar - SUPER yummy and filling! It’s a meal that “sticks to your ribs” if you will. Keeps me full all the way until lunch. Oh and I make mine with milk instead of water, it takes care of one of the GHG recommendations(Good Health Guideline). Then depending on my time I’ll have a side of strawberries, blackberries, a kiwi, or some other fruit.

I’ve gone through stages of Kashi Go Lean Blueberry Waffles with Sugar Free syrup and berries on the side. Ohh I was on a BIG Frosted Shredded Wheat fix for a while (always with fruit on the side). Sometimes if I wake up with enough time I will make some sort of egg based meal (scrambled, “fried” or sunny side up - the difference kinda confuses me, lol).

Ohh I’ve made Roni’s 100% Whole Grain pancakes (DELICIOUS!) with a small amount of sugar free syrup and a side of turkey sausage.

I suppose my breakfast options aren’t the most exciting or diverse but they work for me! I enjoy reading others though, gotta love the new ideas!

Yay! I’m back! I had a WONDERFUL time on my “spring break” or rather “spring break weekends” because that’s what it boiled down to. Either way, I really enjoyed myself! Not sure I always made the wisest of decisions the whole time but I could have done a LOT worse, I know this much.

I have a lot to say,  a lot to share and a LOT of blogs to read, catch up, and comment on! Sooo without further ado I am going to start some reading and I will come back and post some more either later tonight or tomorrow morning after my WW meeting! (the Rockets play the Celtics tonight for hopefully their 23rd straight win so that is going to take up some of my time, hehe - I’m an H-town girl. what can I say!)

I missed you guys! (maybe you missed me too? lol) Can’t wait to get back in blog-swing of things!

Thank you SO much for the wonderful support! I feel so lucky and blessed to have found a place that is basically like a second family, who I know I can always come to and I will be greeted with open arms and awesome advice. I took each and every one of y’alls words to heart and I have applied them to the rest of this week. I’m already (almost) back down to where I was before the big fall off, haha. Today is normally my weigh in day but since I am on a “spring break” I haven’t been able to attend a meeting. I don’t think missing one meeting is all that horrible, especially when I am still trying my best and not giving up!

But I just wanted to check in and THANK EVERYONE who commented and to all those that didn’t but read my post and I’m sure knew exactly how I felt. It just meant the world to me to have all of that support. So thank you from the bottom of my heart! My head is held back up high in the air again!!

I’ll try to be back to post more often…even though I’m on “spring break” I miss blogging! lol…and at the very least I am trying to read everyone else’s blogs and comment where I can. But don’t think I’ve “fallen off” for good or I’ve given up…I’m just on a mini-vacation and not spending too much time at my lap top. I will be back with full blogging force next week!!

I hope everyone is having a successful week so far, picked themselves back up if they happened to have fallen down, refocused and set their sights on the goal ahead!

Miss you guys and thank you again!!!

because I’ve had such a disastrous past 5 days! This is the first time I’ve really just “let go” since I started. And I didn’t really let go because I was still counting the points but I was just overeating (well not even overeating but just eating the WRONG things to begin with but at “normal” portion sizes).

I mean it started after my weigh in, Wednesday and Thursday night were NOT good because I got lonely and TOM got the best of me. Friday I was back on track, planned ahead for the rodeo and all. I get to the rodeo (I went with my family and a friend) and EVERYONE wants the worst stuff they’ve got. And there was nothing healthy to begin with unless I got a 1/2 lb burger and didn’t eat the bun. But it was like “split the hamburger and fries with me and split the chicken fingers with me…ohh and let’s get chili and cheese for the fries on the side.” Uhhhh I tried my best to only eat a little bit - a “healthy” portion size of the two since I really didn’t have any other options but it still made me feel gross inside.

So I get back on track Saturday morning, I drove to Galveston with my two best friends. We had enough groceries for lunches and breakfasts but said we’d go out for dinner - this healthy little place down the island - but yeah, we got too tired for that so I ended up just snacking on the “healthy” things I’d brought and some of the NOT-so-healthy stuff my friends had brought. *le sigh* This repeated itself during the day Sunday until I got home to my parents last night where I had begged my mom to have a HEALTHY dinner fixed. Thank goodness she delivered! I got back on track and felt great!

Then this morning, I got up at 5am to drive back to Austin for ONE day of work - grrrrr - it’s supposed to be spring break but they (my bosses) are kind of bending the rules and evidently offering to “treat us to lunch” for coming in on our spring break - I’m sure THAT’S gonna be REAL healthy. What’s the polite way of saying “No thank you, I brought my own (healthy) lunch”?

But yeah so the drive up, I had TWO cups of coffee - the “skinny” latte kind - but I also had a croissant from Starbucks and then because by the time I got to work at 9am I was hungry again, I had a cinnamon raisin bagel I mean I KNOW it could be worse but I just don’t like it.  Today was supposed to be my 6 lb goal date and I was only .4 lbs away!! What the heck happened?

I mean I know I’m just going to pick myself up and continue on and make the best decisions I can. I know I can’t concentrate on the past anymore because it IS in the past (and in my stomach too - lol - actually, that’s not too funny) But it does suck to step on the scale and see this number that basically erases the past 2 weeks of hard work.

What is it with this past week and weekend? From reading others’ blogs it looks like EVERYONE struggled - and if you didn’t, more power to you!!!

Hopefully we can ALL get BACK ON PLAN - TOGETHER!!

*and on a TOTALLY random side note - why do significant others have to be SO DAMN DIFFICULT and IGNORANT and JERKY sometimes? I just want to SCREAM and I am NOT a screaming type person. Grrrrr!*