I haven’t had much time this week to post or even read Roni’s blog.  I feel like I’m going through withdrawl!  As I was catching up on Roni’s posts, I saw her question of the week.  It’s really interesting because I have been thinking about this a lot lately, especially as it relates to fitness.  Even though I am still about 85 pounds from my goal weight, I am probably in the best shape of my life.  That is probably because I wasn’t “nautrally” athletic and gave up on being active from a young age.  So here it goes, the five things I would tell my younger self.

1.  Don’t give up on something just because you aren’t good at it the first time you try.  I gave up on dance classes because I couldn’t do the splits (I’m sure I could have if I had worked on my flexibility, but all the other little girls already could do it, so I felt inferior and gave up.)  I also gave up on softball because I couldn’t hit or throw and was more concerned about my bow matching my uniform that getting better at either one.  I actually had a coach that cared enough to practice these skills with me (poor frustrated father of my teammate!) but I was content to continue being the one everyone moved farther infield for when I came up to bat.  I also gave up on soccer.  Practice was the same day as my flute lessons and music was more important.  I would never give up flute and to this day I’m happy I didn’t, but I could have moved my lessons to a different day.  Again, I was intimidated by the girls who had been active all their lives and could run and kick much better than my feeble attempts.  As a result of all this giving up on physical activity, I was always pudgy until high school marching band when I could still be musical and active.  Even then, I was still overweight.

2.  Do something active every day.  I was a musician and a bookworm and never learned to love being active.  When I was much younger, I would ride my bike, play outside, rollerskate, but when I hit adolesence those activities stopped and my weight issues really began.

3.  Don’t be afraid of failure.  I am and have always been a perfectionist.  When I wasn’t good at something the first time I tried (see #1) I quit.  The only failure is to not try, and I don’t mean try once and give up.  Really work at something until you succeed.  It’s so much more rewarding than to do well at something you were already good at.

4. Be confident and don’t worry so much about what other people think of you.  Respect yourself first and others will respect you. 

5. Appreciate the people in your life.  Some of my best friends are the people I met when I was younger, many of whom are still my best friends.  They all had a positive influence on my life and I never really appreciated them until later in life.

This past weekend was so nice, I wish I could press rewind and do it all over again.  Friday, I had a great workout on the elliptical and did Roni’s killer ab workout.  I added some side crunches and side planks to it too.  My abs are stronger than I thought!  It must be all that core stuff from water aerobics.  After my workout, I came home to make dinner–oven fried catfish, butternut squash fries, and oven roasted asparagus.  I just had the leftovers for lunch today.   YUM!

Saturday, I rolled out of bed and went to water aerobics.  To my surprise, we had a substitute instructor.  Our usual instructor is always running late, so I wasn’t too concerned that I was ten minutes late myself.  This time, I missed 10 minutes of the class though.  Oh well!  It was a great workout and something a little different, which is always good.  After water aerobics, I went gorcery shopping, mainly for DH’s birthday dinner with the whole family.  I went home and cleaned the house, cooked dinner (Diet Coke Sloppy Joes) and had a nice relaxing evening with DH.  We watched Ratatouille–cute movie!

Sunday, we went to church and then DH did yard work while I did some preparation for the family to come over.  I cut up veggies for pre-dinner snacking and made Roni’s Yelatin (for an alternative to birthday cake–a German Chocolate Cake my MIL was bringing.)  For dinner, we had grilled chicken breasts, topped with turkey bacon and provelone cheese.  it was very simple, but excellent.  My mom brought salad and veggies.  One of the veggie dishes was the Asian carrots in the current WW magazine.  I will have to post it when I next have time because it was excellent.

This weekend wasn’t that different from other weekends, but I think what made it so nice was that I’ve had a switch in mood lately.  I’ve just been in a really good mood and haven’t been all that stressed out about anything.  Usually, I’m in a panic over having dinner guests–even if it is just my family.  I wasn’t even annoyed at DH when I came home from grocery shopping and found him playing PS2.  Maybe I was just more forgiving because it was his birthday weekend.  Maybe it was our fabulous anniversary dinner last week.  Maybe it was because DH cleaned for me when I was sick last weekend.  Maybe it was three weeks in a row of weight loss.  I wish I knew the secret to my better mood because I’d like to keep it going, not to mention bring me out of the next inevitable funk I get in.

I know what I’ll do to keep my good mood going…I’ll schedule a massage with the gift certificate DH gave me for Valentine’s Day and maybe even get a pedicure.  The weather is finally nice enough to wear sandals (for more than 1 day at a time) and a pedicure was supposed to be my 30# reward.  I bought myself a new purse insead, though.  I guess I can make it my 35# reward.  Maybe I’ll have a fourth week of weight loss and reach 40# at WI on Wednesday.  That would definitely keep the good mood going!

OMG our anniversary dinner was outstanding.  We went to a restaurant called Seasons 52.  My WW leader mentioned it, as they are known for everything on their menu–even desserts–being under 475 calories.  Even though all the food was healthy, fresh, and amazing, the points still added up to 28, but that included wine, appetizer, entree, and dessert.  It was so worth it!  DH and I each had a glass of wine, which I had help from the waiter picking from their list of over 150!  We stared out with sharing a flatbread appetizer.  Think really, really, really thin crust pizza.  It had fresh tomatoes and basil with a very small amount of cheese.  It was just bursting with flavor.  I plan to attempt to recreate it at home with a tortilla in my toaster oven.  I ate about 1/3 of it.  DH and I also split an order of edamame with green tea sea salt.  Very yummy!  Now for the entree–carmelized scallops with asparagus and tiny pearl pasta with sundried tomatoes.  My mouth is still watering just thinking of it!  They serve their dessert “minis” in little glasses that resemble large shot glasses.   DH got the pecan pie and I couldn’t decide between tiaramisu and the almaretto cake, so the waiter gave us the tiaramisu free since it was our anniversary!  That also meant eating a dessert and a half, but that was okay.  Seasons 52 has all their NI on-line.  My whole meal was only 28 points.  I had to use mostly my WPA’s because I also went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch and only had 2 daily points left (I’ve found I can’t behave there–baked goods are my weakness!)  Since my week starts on Wednesday, I still have 9 WPA’s to manage with for the rest of the week.  With DH’s birthday on Sunday, I will really have to watch it.  Luckily, he asked his mom to make a German Chocolate Cake, which is the only baked good I HATE, so I won’t be tempted to eat birthday cake.  I think I’ll make Roni’s Yelatin for those of us on WW and choose not to eat German Chocolate Cake.  It’ll be good to have something sugar free too since my FIL is pre-diabetic.

Now for Roni’s question of the week–how did I choose my goal weight?  Well, at first, I just choose the highest weight recommended for my height, 5′4″, which is 146.  Then when I re-checked the weight charts at WW.com, they had changed it to include ages.  For my height and my age, 140 was the maximum, so I changed it.  I’m not sure what WW will accept as my goal weight, but I’m not even close to it yet, so we will see.  I also took that Self Magazine “Happy Weight Quiz” which said my happy weight would be 138, so I went with 140.  I’ve never weighted 140 or even anything close to it in my adult life.  I remember right after I had jaw surgery (they realigned my jaw by breaking both the upper and lower jay–I was an orthodontist and oral surgeon’s dream case!) Anyway, after not being able to eat for 6 months and at age 15, I weighed 138 for a split second.  When I met DH, I’m guessing I was around 160 or so, but I wasn’t uberaware of my weight then.  I was pretty happy there, to be honest.  I guess I haven’t officially set my goal weight.  Right now, I say it’s 140, but I’m not sure if that’s realistic yet.  It’d be really cool to get down to 131 because that would be exactly half of my starting weight, but if 140 seems unattainable, what makes me think I can get down to 131?  131 is still well within the range for 5′4″ which is 117 - 146, so it’s not like I’d be ridiculously thin or a skeleton, but I seriously don’t think I’d recognize myself in the mirror if I got down that low!  So after all my rambling, I guess I haven’t set an official or even unofficial WW goal or personal goal yet, but when I do it will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 130’s or 140’s.  For now, I’ll be happy to get to Onederland, which is less than 25 pounds away!

DH just sent me a beautiful boquet at work for our three year anniversary!  What a sweetheart!  The card said that this has been the best three years of his life and here’s to many, many more!  I am such a lucky girl!  Just had to share.  I’ll update with  more after WI, which I have to leave for in a few minutes.  I think it will be a good day on the scale too.

Yippee!  I lost 2.8 at WI today.  This is my biggest loss in one week since my first week.  I really think having DH tracking with me is helping me.  I am so excited!  I am only 1.4 away from 40 pounds total.

I’m having a flare up of my Crohn’s Disease and I’m trying really hard not to medicate with food.  I haven’t had a flare up in a really long time and this one is bad.  I was in bed all day on Sunday and even stayed home from work yesterday so I could stay near my own bathroom (TMI, sorry!)  The thing is that carbs make my tummy feel better and vegetables make it feel worse.  I’m trying to stay on program, but yesterday, I dipped into 12 of my WPA’s and fell short of 1 fruit/veggie serving and 1 oil.  Today is a little better, but I’m having to get all my fruits/veggies from fruits.  I’m going to try steaming the heck out of some carrots tonight to the point that they are almost baby food and see if I can get those down.  I just ate a banana and that seemed to help.  Bananas are supposedly good for ailing tummies.  They are part of the BRAT diet–bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast.  My tummy is churning constantly and I feel nauseaous all the time.  I almost forgot how good I’ve had it the last few months with no flare ups.

Now for some good news.  I moved three pair of pants from the “almost fits” section of the closet to the “fits” section.  One is a pair of jeans from my thinnner days, size 18 Old Navy.  Two are pants that used to be my mom’s, size 16 misses.  I’m also wearing a cute suede jacket today that used to be my mom’s before she lost all her weight.  It’s very fitted and is a misses XL.  I figured I’d wear it today before it got too hot to wear it.  When it was colder, it didn’t fit yet.  Maybe it won’t be too sloppy big this fall–we’ll just have to see!

I also went bra shopping today.  The girls are deflating at an alarming rate!  I just bought bras a few months ago–42D and they are too big.  I went to Dillard’s–who is known for their trained fit experts and they measured me as a 40DD.  I found two bras on sale that fit perfectly.  They are very comfortable and don’t have side stays like a lot of bigger bras do.  Those torture devices just poke the heck out of you.  I have a scar to prove it and usually cut them out of other bras I’ve bought in the past.  I was very excited to find a knowledgeable and very helpful salesperson, bras that fit, and they were on sale to boot!

Some other good news, DH made reservations for our three year anniversary, which is tomorrow.  I can’t believe I’ve been married for three years!  I suggested a restaurant called Seasons 52, known for their weekly menu, based on fresh, local ingredients and the fact that nothing on their menu–including desserts–is over 400 calories.  I’m so excited!  DH even suggested we print the menu and figure out the points for everything before we go.  I am so proud of him!

Other exciting news…I’m finally going to get my kitchen redone!  DH and I bought a new kitchen faucet, bathroom faucet, toilet paper holder, towel bar, and a new gas cooktop all in anticipation of getting new granite countertops in the kitchen and downstairs powder room.  We just have to make our final selection from the countertop companies we have gotten quotes from and schedule for them to come measure and create a template once the cooktop comes in.  We will also need to get someone to run the gas line into the kitchen, as we have an electic cooktop right now.  It will be so much better cooking with gas.  Our current cooktop is almost as old as I am and our countertops are cracked and stained beyond cleaning.  I’m so excited!

I posted last week about how excited I was that DH is starting to track points.  He lost 2.4 pounds this week!  I am so proud of him.  He isn’t good about getting in all his GHG’s, but it’s a great start that his is actually conscious about his food choices now.  We went grocery shopping together yesterday and he helped me check labels and pick things out to pack for lunches.  Having him on board is also helping me be more accountable.  He likes to know the exact points for things, so I find myself guestimating less often and looking things up more often, which is great for me.

Hopefully I’ll have a loss this week too.  It’s TOM week, though, so we’ll see.

I lost another 1.6 this week at WI.  All of a sudden, I’m really noticing the weight loss in the mirror.  My only compliant is that I can’t seem to figure out what size I am.  I hate how I look in baggy clothes, but I don’t want to wear clothes that look like they’ve been spray-painted on either.  I really can’t wait until I’m wearing all the size 16 misses clothes I have in my closet.  I’m getting closer.  I need to try some of them on again and see if they are wearable.  I can handle a little tight (that helps me eat less!) but I won’t wear them if I have to lay down to zip them up.

Well, except for my beloved Tarheels loosing.  That game made me physically ill!  Anyway, DH and I got in a big fight on Saturday about his PlayStation habit, but we made up.  Now he’s all interested in WW and I’ve even got him tracking his points!  What a whirlwind turn-around.  My head is still spinning.

The fight started because I was running around, doing errands and chores and he was playing this new Tiger Woods golf game on his PS2 for four and a half hours straight.  I have to give him credit (and I did during the little tiff) that he did vacuum the kitchen for me like I asked, but there is sooooo much we have to do around the house and he chooses to waste half the weekend (and even stayed up until midnight one night last week) playing this stupid golf game.  I understand he needs to have a little fun and escape from real life, but my point was it was time for him to become an adult and manage his fun time with his responsibilities.  Unfairly, I even threw in that I didn’t think he was ready to become a father.  I fight ugly, I know.  What I love about DH is that he never makes low blows like that.  I don’t know why I can’t be more like him in that regard.  We both apoligized and made up, though.  Then we went out to dinner at a sports bar to watch the Tarheels get creamed.  Oh well.  Maybe Hansborough will stay for another season so he can get a title along with all his MVP awards!

Yesterday, we wasted a bunch of time at the typical chain stores shopping for gas cooktops for when we re-do our kitchen countertops.  I was naievely hoping that some knowledgable salesperson would be able to guide us.  One lady at Home Depot was helpful, but most others knew less than we did.  I need to find a real appliance store and do some research on-line.  If anyone reading this has recently purchased a 30 inch gas cooktop and has any suggestions, I am completely open!  Anyway, I digress again.  DH has been asking me about healthier choices when we eat out, hinting here and there that he is interested in getting healthier.  Maybe it was those WW articles my mom and I sent him last week about couples loosing weight together and how to help your partner loose weight.  Maybe the “you need to be an adult” talk translated over into choosing healthier foods.  I don’t know what flipped the switch, but he’s finally interested in doing WW with me! 

We took the questionairre and figured out how many points he gets per day–35.  Then we added up everything he ate so far.  Even though he made semi healthy choices, he was still five points over for the day.  He was looking back over his day and figuring out where he could have made better choices.  He skipped out on having FF ice cream with me after dinner because he didn’t want to use any more of his WPA’s.  We even went on a walk after dinner to earn a few AP’s.  I love this new health-conscious side of DH.  He even measured his cereal and milk at breakfast and packed his lunch this morning.  I hope he is able to stick with it.  I shared with him that it takes a lot of discipline and it’s not easy.  I struggle every day to not say “F— it!” and eat everything in sight.  We even talked about “red-light” foods that are hard to stay away from and how to incorporate them into the plan–like the 7 point bacon cheeseburgers I made for dinner or ordering a grilled chicken sandwich with wing sauce instead of wings.  I’m just beyond excited that he’s jumping on board.

Even though I finally weigh less than him and he is going to loose weight at a much fater rate than I have, I am just happy that he is committing to getting healthier.  His father is pre-diabetic and his doctor has been telling him for years to loose weight.  Since I met him, he’s gone from a 36 inch waist to a 40 inch waist and developed Dunlop’s Disease (his belly done lopped over his belt!)  He’s sick of buying bigger and bigger clothes and being able to fit in my father’s hand-me-down’s (see my pics–my dad’s a big guy!)  He’s older than me by 3 1/2 years and with life expectancies of women being higher than men, I want to be sure he’s around for us to grow old together.  Not to mention healthly enough for him to help me chase after our future children.  If they are anything like he was as a child according to his mom, we both will have our work cut out for us!  I’m just so happy about this change in DH.  I’ve been praying for this and I just can’t believe it’s finally happening.  I’ll keep everyone posted to his success too. 

I’ve been eating out a lot lately, but I’ve been amazing myself that I’ve been able to stay on plan only use 2 WPA’s.  I even had two points leftover yesterday that I forgot to eat until I was lying in bed falling asleep.  I will usually splurge on one meal out per week and dip into WPA’s but I haven’t yet.  I think it’s because I knew I’d be eating out for my FIL’s birthday tonight, so maybe tonight will be my splurge.

Here are some examples of me behaving myself while eating out this week.  On Wednesday, my mom and I always go out for lunch (usually at Jason’s Deli because it’s just across the street) after WI.  Their salad bar is fantastic and mom adores their free low fat ice cream (I don’t mind it either!)  Wednesday, I usually also eat out for dinner with my sister and BIL (and DH if he can make it back to this side of town from work) because I have choir in the evening and going home after work to cook and make it to choir by 7:30 will never happen.  This week, my sister chose Mexican and I didn’t have much of a say.  I had the choice to dip severely into the WPA and get what I wanted and munch on some chips or have the grilled chicken salad.  I chose the grilled chicken salad and used salsa as a dressing because all they had were full fat dressings.  I also didn’t eat ANY chips and salsa even though my sister and BIL were late in arriving and I was sitting there alone with a basket of chips.  My willpower surprised me.  I sheilded my view of the chips with by burying my nose in the menu so I didn’t look at them.

Yesterday, a former co-worker and friend stopped by and some of us went to lunch.  I had a chicken wrap from a restaurant we frequent.  They let you substitute steamed veggies for fries, so it wasn’t a bad option, but not exactly low point.  I had planned to cook at home last night, but DH wanted to go shopping for his father’s birthday present (rather than letting me pick something up today at lunch.)  So we went to the mall and then out to dinner at a large sports bar known for their ginormous serving sizes.  I got a turkey  and avocado sandwich on whole wheat toast with a side salad and grilled veggies.  It was really good.  I never knew custom ordering something without cheese and mayo and all that would be good, but it was!  I only ate half of the huge sandwich and just ate the turkey and avocado out of the other half.

Now I’m getting ready to go out for my FIL’s birthday.  I’ve looked at the menu on-line, but I can’t decide if I want to splurge or keep steady on my course.  I guess it depends on what we have planned for the rest of the weekend.  I know I want to watch the Final Four, but nothing else is planned right now.  I think I’ll look at the menu again and make a splurge (but still OP) choice and a within my daily points choice.  I am soooo Type A!

On a side note, I just got my Vitalicious order in.  I tried one of the dark chocolate pomegranate brownies and I think I just found my new favorite flavor.  Now I just have to wait to get them home and in the freezer before I devour the whole box! 

I lost 1.6 this week, bringing my total to 34.2.  I’m only 0.8 away from 35 and my next gold star!  I guess my persistence and self-dicipline paid off.  I just need to keep on keepin’ on.

When I first weighed in, I still had my cartigan off.  I took it off and the stupid thing weighed 0.6 pounds.  Who knew that a cartigan could weigh that much?  I would have been happy with a 1 pound loss, but I’m obviously more happy with a 1.6 loss!

Now for the question of the week–spandex.  I am definintely a fan of having a more fitted wardrobe, without spandex and elastic waistbands.  I have a few in my closet that aren’t workout wear, but not much.  (I think you need a little spandex to move around while working out.)  Fitted pants work much better for guaging success and just look better in general.  During TOM, though, I need my fat pants or an elastic waist.