Monthly Archive

I lost another inch overall!

My ultimate goal is a 27″ waist, 27″ hips, 31″ belly button, 20″ Thighs, 14″ calves (yes I want them to grow).

Thank you to all who commented about my loss this week! I’m always amazed when people not only comment but share my happiness and show interest/concern. I feel so loved. Thank you. For those who posted with concern about my recent loss and what my scale is saying in terms of fat/muscle %.

• I am eating lots of protein daily so that should not be an issue. (although I could be wrong)
• I am not doing nearly enough strength training because I am lazy. I have a free gym membership but don’t use it (yes, I know, sacrilege), and I need to start doing more pilates and Bikram Yoga. I hate weights, always have and never did them before but dancing actually helped build a lot of muscle so I need to start doing that at home at least.
• The stairs have actually made my legs much more muscular than they have been in a few years so that has to be helping at least a little.
• Even though I know I need to balance the loss with strength training right now I need to get the weight off me in order to feel better and then I can focus on more and more exercise. I know I can do it since I have before and if I have been able to stick to WW for this long and lose then I know I can commit to more exercise too.
• I have no idea how accurate the scale is in terms of the fat% and muscle% but I will definitely start paying more attention to that when I start working out more. Just getting 3x a week in now in addition to stairs is tough but I have managed to do it 2 weeks in a row so far so I am not giving up.

Candace wanted to see a weeks worth of over all points (you had to ask ;p).
I actually listed that in this post when I was entertaining the Wendie.

And Randi - who I should hire as a trainer if she lived closer, is concerned about my fat/muscle ratio and asked about my protein (I promise to keep closer eye on this. Gotta love my Canadian blogger buddies for their concern!). I usually post my food every day but just for you here is a summary. Let me know if you see anything of concern.
Here is last week. Aug. 20-26

Aug. 13-19

I am totally behind on posting any menus or goals this week but it has been a stressful week which is posing some challenges for me. Too much stress meas that I stop eating. This definitely happened yesterday and I’m afraid it may happen again today. Its as though my body just shuts down when I get too stressed and I don’t get hungry and forget to eat. This happened yesterday and I struggled to even eat 900 calories (not sure how many points that was yet). I am going to do my best today although we have a stupid work “social” at the end of the work day which I am absolutely dreading and it is causing part of my stress. I hate mandatory functions. I love my job and the company I work for but I don’t care to socialize with the people I work with. I’ve been dealing with anxiety over this all week and it is seriously affecting me. The other stresser is the stupid wedding that I am in this weekend. I love my friend and am happy for her but I totally regret accepting to be in her wedding. It has caused me nothing but stress and ridiculous MONEY and I can’t wait till the damn thing is over! So that is my week so far. I’ve been trying to keep up on all the blogs and commenting when I can. Hope everyone is having a great week!

I lost another inch overall!

My ultimate goal is a 27″ waist, 27″ hips, 31″ belly button, 20″ Thighs, 14″ calves (yes I want them to grow).

Thank you to all who commented about my loss this week! I’m always amazed when people not only comment but share my happiness and show interest/concern. I feel so loved. Thank you. For those who posted with concern about my recent loss and what my scale is saying in terms of fat/muscle %.

• I am eating lots of protein daily so that should not be an issue. (although I could be wrong)
• I am not doing nearly enough strength training because I am lazy. I have a free gym membership but don’t use it (yes, I know, sacrilege), and I need to start doing more pilates and Bikram Yoga. I hate weights, always have and never did them before but dancing actually helped build a lot of muscle so I need to start doing that at home at least.
• The stairs have actually made my legs much more muscular than they have been in a few years so that has to be helping at least a little.
• Even though I know I need to balance the loss with strength training right now I need to get the weight off me in order to feel better and then I can focus on more and more exercise. I know I can do it since I have before and if I have been able to stick to WW for this long and lose then I know I can commit to more exercise too.
• I have no idea how accurate the scale is in terms of the fat% and muscle% but I will definitely start paying more attention to that when I start working out more. Just getting 3x a week in now in addition to stairs is tough but I have managed to do it 2 weeks in a row so far so I am not giving up.

Candace wanted to see a weeks worth of over all points (you had to ask ;p).
I actually listed that in this post when I was entertaining the Wendie.

And Randi - who I should hire as a trainer if she lived closer, is concerned about my fat/muscle ratio and asked about my protein (I promise to keep closer eye on this. Gotta love my Canadian blogger buddies for their concern!). I usually post my food every day but just for you here is a summary. Let me know if you see anything of concern.
Here is last week. Aug. 20-26

Aug. 13-19

I am totally behind on posting any menus or goals this week but it has been a stressful week which is posing some challenges for me. Too much stress meas that I stop eating. This definitely happened yesterday and I’m afraid it may happen again today. Its as though my body just shuts down when I get too stressed and I don’t get hungry and forget to eat. This happened yesterday and I struggled to even eat 900 calories (not sure how many points that was yet). I am going to do my best today although we have a stupid work “social” at the end of the work day which I am absolutely dreading and it is causing part of my stress. I hate mandatory functions. I love my job and the company I work for but I don’t care to socialize with the people I work with. I’ve been dealing with anxiety over this all week and it is seriously affecting me. The other stresser is the stupid wedding that I am in this weekend. I love my friend and am happy for her but I totally regret accepting to be in her wedding. It has caused me nothing but stress and ridiculous MONEY and I can’t wait till the damn thing is over! So that is my week so far. I’ve been trying to keep up on all the blogs and commenting when I can. Hope everyone is having a great week!

I cannot believe it but I am. As I’ve mentioned a few times already, my 8s are getting too big and some are just looking downright sloppy. This morning the news said that it was going to be hot, even in the Bay Area so to me that means casual ie: jeans because I haven’t had a chance to get my legs waxed yet. I didn’t really feel like wearing another pair of saggy butt jeans so I decided to dig in the closet for some old jeans that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I found 2 pairs. 1 in a six without any stretch to them and one in a 7 with stretch but they are Dickie’s Girl which means I need to lose even more before I can wear them again, because Dickie’s is cruel and runs super small for men and women. But I got them up and almost buttoned which I have not been able to do in years. Shit, the last time I tried they got stuck on my thighs before my butt and I don’t have big legs at all or a butt for that matter. So I put on the non stretch and they went up and buttoned and FIT! OMG! Granted they are snug when I sit but I can sit and I don’t pour out over them and I am wearing them with a top that used to be super tight and is not nicely loose, the way it was meant to fit.
Of course I still remember when these same jeans used to be super loose on me and look saggy but I’m not there yet and will be happy with the fact that I can wear them again and not look obscene or be in pain. Because yes I did wear them a few times with a big ol sweater when I should not have had them on and yes they cut into me when I sat and I was in pain but also in denial about gaining weight and having to wear an 8.

I still can’t believe it. I’ve lost 12 pounds so far (almost 13) and it’s staying off and I’m really doing this. I always knew I could but I had become so depressed about the weight that I had started to give up on myself. I had started to hate yet accept the “fat me.” Although I never got rid of my old clothes because there was still a part of me, WAY deep inside that knew I could do it and be me again! And here I am, almost there!

I also need to come up with another way/term to view my weight. Technically I know that I wasn’t fat because a size 8 is still a regular size and looks great on some people. Although somehow, somewhere along the lines an size 8 was great for others but not me. To me an 8 meant getting fat. Even though I’d see other women who looked great and wore an 8 and I’d think they were thinner than me until I realized their clothes were bigger. Talk about twisted self image.

Warning major randomness below…

Let’s see here;
I was a chubby little girl who got super skinny during adolescence yet still saw the chubby little girl so I had eating disorders. Then I did gain weight for a couple years and looked back on my clothes and realized that a size 5 juniors was skinny. Then I lost all my gain and was a 4/6 missies or 7 in juniors. After a few years of that size I finally began to see myself the way I really looked and became comfortable and confident and that lasted through adulthood. Then 3 years ago I started gaining (surgery and lack of mobility = major blow to the metabolism and muscle mass). Denial set in and I still saw the skinny girl until the pants no longer fit, but even then the skinny girl was still in the mirror until nothing fit, then the fat girl reappeared from the beyond. She got too comfy. She ate the wrong foods, not a lot of food just the wrong ones or she’d stop eating like back in the old days, only that didn’t work anymore. Slowed metabolism coupled with starvation is a double whammy and works against you. One thing fat girl and skinny girl have in common though is stubbornness. Finally after 3 years of nothing and losing and gaining the same 7 pounds (yes I had gained more than that but I played with 7 lbs for a while) I got a clue and joined WW! And here I am teaching the fat girl a lesson.
Too bad there was never a fat Barbie I could use a name for the fat girl :P.

Enough from me for now. Time try and finish my salad and log all my food to see where I am. Hope everyone is having a great OP week!

I cannot believe it but I am. As I’ve mentioned a few times already, my 8s are getting too big and some are just looking downright sloppy. This morning the news said that it was going to be hot, even in the Bay Area so to me that means casual ie: jeans because I haven’t had a chance to get my legs waxed yet. I didn’t really feel like wearing another pair of saggy butt jeans so I decided to dig in the closet for some old jeans that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I found 2 pairs. 1 in a six without any stretch to them and one in a 7 with stretch but they are Dickie’s Girl which means I need to lose even more before I can wear them again, because Dickie’s is cruel and runs super small for men and women. But I got them up and almost buttoned which I have not been able to do in years. Shit, the last time I tried they got stuck on my thighs before my butt and I don’t have big legs at all or a butt for that matter. So I put on the non stretch and they went up and buttoned and FIT! OMG! Granted they are snug when I sit but I can sit and I don’t pour out over them and I am wearing them with a top that used to be super tight and is not nicely loose, the way it was meant to fit.
Of course I still remember when these same jeans used to be super loose on me and look saggy but I’m not there yet and will be happy with the fact that I can wear them again and not look obscene or be in pain. Because yes I did wear them a few times with a big ol sweater when I should not have had them on and yes they cut into me when I sat and I was in pain but also in denial about gaining weight and having to wear an 8.

I still can’t believe it. I’ve lost 12 pounds so far (almost 13) and it’s staying off and I’m really doing this. I always knew I could but I had become so depressed about the weight that I had started to give up on myself. I had started to hate yet accept the “fat me.” Although I never got rid of my old clothes because there was still a part of me, WAY deep inside that knew I could do it and be me again! And here I am, almost there!

I also need to come up with another way/term to view my weight. Technically I know that I wasn’t fat because a size 8 is still a regular size and looks great on some people. Although somehow, somewhere along the lines an size 8 was great for others but not me. To me an 8 meant getting fat. Even though I’d see other women who looked great and wore an 8 and I’d think they were thinner than me until I realized their clothes were bigger. Talk about twisted self image.

Warning major randomness below…

Let’s see here;
I was a chubby little girl who got super skinny during adolescence yet still saw the chubby little girl so I had eating disorders. Then I did gain weight for a couple years and looked back on my clothes and realized that a size 5 juniors was skinny. Then I lost all my gain and was a 4/6 missies or 7 in juniors. After a few years of that size I finally began to see myself the way I really looked and became comfortable and confident and that lasted through adulthood. Then 3 years ago I started gaining (surgery and lack of mobility = major blow to the metabolism and muscle mass). Denial set in and I still saw the skinny girl until the pants no longer fit, but even then the skinny girl was still in the mirror until nothing fit, then the fat girl reappeared from the beyond. She got too comfy. She ate the wrong foods, not a lot of food just the wrong ones or she’d stop eating like back in the old days, only that didn’t work anymore. Slowed metabolism coupled with starvation is a double whammy and works against you. One thing fat girl and skinny girl have in common though is stubbornness. Finally after 3 years of nothing and losing and gaining the same 7 pounds (yes I had gained more than that but I played with 7 lbs for a while) I got a clue and joined WW! And here I am teaching the fat girl a lesson.
Too bad there was never a fat Barbie I could use a name for the fat girl :P.

Enough from me for now. Time try and finish my salad and log all my food to see where I am. Hope everyone is having a great OP week!

I lost 2.8!!!!!!!!! I have now lost a total of 12.6 lbs since April 16th and that includes 4 vacations of approx a week long each. Today’s WI was 136.8!

I am now 1.4 lbs away from reaching my 10% and 9.8lbs from MY goal and only 6.8 away from my WW goal.

Eating more food/points is definitely working for me and just so that I don’t feel like I am going WAY over each week I have decided to up my points from 19 to 24 since I’ve been eating an average of 24 a day and totally losing.

Here is part of my grid from the month of Aug. when I started eating way over my allotted points. You can see the whole thing here.
These are my WW WI numbers.

According to my FMWIs at home they have been totally accurate on official WI day +/ -.2 which I’m guessing is my clothes. Here is my daily WI log (italicized means WI day).

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!! This really proves to me that I can eat pretty much anything I want as long as it is in moderation and not everyday.

I lost 2.8!!!!!!!!! I have now lost a total of 12.6 lbs since April 16th and that includes 4 vacations of approx a week long each. Today’s WI was 136.8!

Eating more food/points is definitely working for me and just so that I don’t feel like I am going WAY over each week I have decided to up my points from 19 to 24 since I’ve been eating an average of 24 a day and totally losing.

Here is part of my grid from the month of Aug. when I started eating way over my allotted points. You can see the whole thing here.
These are my WW WI numbers.

According to my FMWIs at home they have been totally accurate on official WI day +/ -.2 which I’m guessing is my clothes. Here is my daily WI log (italicized means WI day).

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!! This really proves to me that I can eat pretty much anything I want as long as it is in moderation and not everyday.

• My chiropractor noticed that I lost weight
• My engagement ring and wedding bands are loose again like when I first got them (they had started to fit perfect but never tight). This is great but now they are constantly spinning around so i definitely need to get sizing beads now
• A co-worker and fellow WW member complimented me on my loss yesterday
• My 8s are getting bigger and bigger
• I’m starting to feel better about myself and am really happy that I joined WW and found this great blogging community!
• I don’t like wearing my “fat clothes” anymore and can’t wait to get rid of them!
• A cute guy flirted with me on Sunday while I was at a trade show with my sister. Yes I’m married but it always feels great when guys still notice me and it’s been a while since I made a guy nervous the way I did with this one (he totally forgot what I paid for like 3 times and was even staring at it at one point but still didn’t grab it and gave me something else twice. It was funny and flattering.) . It was kinda funny and it felt great!

Time for WI wish me luck!

• My chiropractor noticed that I lost weight
• My engagement ring and wedding bands are loose again like when I first got them (they had started to fit perfect but never tight). This is great but now they are constantly spinning around so i definitely need to get sizing beads now
• A co-worker and fellow WW member complimented me on my loss yesterday
• My 8s are getting bigger and bigger
• I’m starting to feel better about myself and am really happy that I joined WW and found this great blogging community!
• I don’t like wearing my “fat clothes” anymore and can’t wait to get rid of them!
• A cute guy flirted with me on Sunday while I was at a trade show with my sister. Yes I’m married but it always feels great when guys still notice me and it’s been a while since I made a guy nervous the way I did with this one (he totally forgot what I paid for like 3 times and was even staring at it at one point but still didn’t grab it and gave me something else twice. It was funny and flattering.) . It was kinda funny and it felt great!

Time for WI wish me luck!

I know a lot of you do this already but have you ever weighed before and after to see just how much water you can have in you? Well I did the last 2 days just for the hell of it and sure enough I I “lost” anywhere from .6 to 1.4.

I weigh myself every morning first thing usually after I use the bathroom. Well this weekend I decided to weigh before and after just to see how much I could “lose” just by using the bathroom before WI and sure enough it was a decent amount and yet another reason not to be so discouraged if you WI at a meeting and the number is higher than it was at home.

Saturday I got up, WI and it said 138.4 then I used the bathroom and weighed again and it was 137.8. Clearly I did not lose .6 of fat in 2 minutes but it was obvious to me that it was water.

Today I decided to try it again and sure enough I weighed in at 138.4 then I used the bathroom and got back on and it said 137 exactly. Again, not1.4 of fat but very clear to me that by body can hold a lot of water.

So next time you get up and WI and are happy about the number but then WI at your meeting later in the day/evening, remember that it can in fact be water, especially if you have been good about drinking all your water for the day. So be sure to always use the bathroom before your official WI. I personally WI at noon on Tuesdays so every Tuesday morning I drink my coffee at home, a glass or so of water for my vitamins and then that is it until WI just to be sure that I get it all out before and that there isn’t any extra water being totted around at WI. A little crazy or obsessive, maybe, but I want that official number to resemble my FMWI as much as possible.

Goals for this week;

• Exercise 3 times in addition to the daily stairs (abs, pilates, ellpitical - something): CHECK! I got 2 in today on separate occasions.
• Continue to log all points and calories every day even when I have to guess: CHECK!
• Have a fruit or veggie with every meal: CHECK! I had 4 F&V today.
• Drink 70oz of fluid every day: CHECK! I’ve been drinking double that daily this week.
• Post something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image: Not so good today but I tried the other days of the week.
• Do or say something nice to my husband everyday because I have a tendency to pick on him and forget to highlight the positive things (more than I love yous because we say that a lot): CHECK!
  

OP 87.5% of the time with the HGs

*For me limiting added sugar and alcohol will meal no excess. 1 glass of wine is okay, more than 1 in a day is excess. Added sugar will mean candy or sweets in excess not my usual sugar in coffee or Kashi bar.

Goals for this week;

• Exercise 3 times in addition to the daily stairs (abs, pilates, ellpitical - something): CHECK! I got 2 in today on separate occasions.
• Continue to log all points and calories every day even when I have to guess: CHECK!
• Have a fruit or veggie with every meal: CHECK! I had 4 F&V today.
• Drink 70oz of fluid every day: CHECK! I’ve been drinking double that daily this week.
• Post something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image: Not so good today but I tried the other days of the week.
• Do or say something nice to my husband everyday because I have a tendency to pick on him and forget to highlight the positive things (more than I love yous because we say that a lot): CHECK!

OP 87.5% of the time with the HGs

*For me limiting added sugar and alcohol will meal no excess. 1 glass of wine is okay, more than 1 in a day is excess. Added sugar will mean candy or sweets in excess not my usual sugar in coffee or Kashi bar.

Not much went on yesterday . I worked from home because I’m having some ” female issues” that are causing discomfort and it was just easier to stay home and lay on the couch all day. I ate well considering I wasn’t really on my usual M-F routine. The husband was traveling again so I decided that we’d have a late MickyD’s dinner because I didn’t want to eat alone and I knew that he hadn’t eaten dinner either. We each had the Southwest Chicken salad but then decided to be bad and order fries too :). I new I had the points/calories for it and that it would make him happy because he tries so hard but misses foods like that. It may not be the best thing but the fact that he can now order a salad and small fry and be totally satisfied is great because before he’d order a large fry and some burger.
This was the second time I’ve had the salad and it was definitely better this time around. The husband hadn’t tried the salad yet but was very pleased and surprised at how tasty it was.

I’ve need doing well on my goals so far except for the exercise one, which means that I need to exercise today and tomorrow in order to meet my goal. I hope I do it!
Goals for this week;

• Exercise 3 times in addition to the daily stairs (abs, pilates, ellpitical - something): 1 down 2 to go 1.5 mile unplanned walk to and from lunch.
• Continue to log all points and calories every day even when I have to guess: CHECK!
• Have a fruit or veggie with every meal: CHECK! I had 5 F&V today.
• Drink 70oz of fluid every day: CHECK! I’ve been drinking double that daily this week.
• Post something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image: CHECK! (I’ve been doing really well staying OP and I’m proud of myself!)
• Do or say something nice to my husband everyday because I have a tendency to pick on him and forget to highlight the positive things (more than I love yous because we say that a lot): CHECK!
  

*For me limiting added sugar and alcohol will meal no excess. 1 glass of wine is okay, more than 1 in a day is excess. Added sugar will mean candy or sweets in excess not my usual sugar in coffee or Kashi bar.

Not much went on yesterday . I worked from home because I’m having some ” female issues” that are causing discomfort and it was just easier to stay home and lay on the couch all day. I ate well considering I wasn’t really on my usual M-F routine. The husband was traveling again so I decided that we’d have a late MickyD’s dinner because I didn’t want to eat alone and I knew that he hadn’t eaten dinner either. We each had the Southwest Chicken salad but then decided to be bad and order fries too :). I new I had the points/calories for it and that it would make him happy because he tries so hard but misses foods like that. It may not be the best thing but the fact that he can now order a salad and small fry and be totally satisfied is great because before he’d order a large fry and some burger.
This was the second time I’ve had the salad and it was definitely better this time around. The husband hadn’t tried the salad yet but was very pleased and surprised at how tasty it was.

I’ve need doing well on my goals so far except for the exercise one, which means that I need to exercise today and tomorrow in order to meet my goal. I hope I do it!

Goals for this week;

• Exercise 3 times in addition to the daily stairs (abs, pilates, ellpitical - something): 1 down 2 to go 1.5 mile unplanned walk to and from lunch.
• Continue to log all points and calories every day even when I have to guess: CHECK!
• Have a fruit or veggie with every meal: CHECK! I had 5 F&V today.
• Drink 70oz of fluid every day: CHECK! I’ve been drinking double that daily this week.
• Post something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image: CHECK! (I’ve been doing really well staying OP and I’m proud of myself!)
• Do or say something nice to my husband everyday because I have a tendency to pick on him and forget to highlight the positive things (more than I love yous because we say that a lot): CHECK!

*For me limiting added sugar and alcohol will meal no excess. 1 glass of wine is okay, more than 1 in a day is excess. Added sugar will mean candy or sweets in excess not my usual sugar in coffee or Kashi bar.

In looking at the Wendi site that Strawgirl posted (because there are many sites with similar info) Here is my breakdown IF I decided to give Wendie a try.

Hopefully I won’t confuse anyone but I love to try and analyse things and why they do or do not work for me.

20 is the lowest point range listed on the site so I can either go with that or alter it by 1 each day since technically I only get 19 points a day.

This is what the site says:
Find your normal Weight Watcher POINTS TARGET and then view below it the modified Wendie Plan POINTS RANGE: You should schedule your SHD as FAR away from your weigh in day as possible, due to the fact that you may notice a slight gain the day after your SHD (which WILL go away)

POINTS TARGET - 20 (Weigh Less than 150 lbs)
• Day 1 - 20 points
• Day 2 - 25 points
• Day 3 - 21 points
• Day 4 - 35 points Super High Day (SHD)
• Day 5 - 20 points
• Day 6 - 24 points
• Day 7 - 22 points

If my WI day is Tuesday and I start my Week on Mondays then I think MY week would look like this;

• Day 1 - 20 points (start of week)
• Day 2 - 25 points (WI day)
• Day 3 - 35 points Super High Day (SHD)
• Day 4 - 20 points
• Day 5 - 21 points
• Day 6 - 24 points
• Day 7 - 22 points
Total points = 167

The week I lost 3.2 went like this
Day 1 - 22
Day 2 - 22
Day 3 - 20.5
Day 4 - 24.5
Day 5 - 36
Day 6 - 41
Day 7 - 29
Total points = 195

My calories on the other hand looked like this: Not that this part will make sense but it does show that 2 out of 7 days I actually exceed my recommended caloric intake.
Day 1 - 1303 Start of week
Day 2 - 1302 WI day
Day 3 - 1280
Day 4 - 1398
Day 5 - 1574
Day 6 - 1854 SHD
Day 7 - 1392

In doing some math my points matched the 24 point rang more than the 20 point rage, although I had 2 SHDs and then some low days.
POINTS TARGET - 24 (Weigh 175 - 199 lbs)
• Day 1 - 24 points
• Day 2 - 29 points
• Day 3 - 25 points
• Day 4 - 39 points Super High Day (SHD)
• Day 5 - 24 points
• Day 6 - 28 points
• Day 7 - 26 points
Total points = 195

Now the only way I can calculate and actually get 24 points (when I was still in the 140s) would be if I adjusted my activity level from sitting all day to walking most of the day. But the thing is that I an an executive assistant, and I DO sit at my desk most of the day. My only real walking is the stairs, to and from the bathroom and then a couple trips to the kitchen or my bosses office or lunch. But nothing that would be considered walking all day. So is it possible that my stair sessions actually boost my metabolism enough that I NEED 24 points in a day?

According to this article (Slow Metabolism Makes You Fatter) maybe my stairs is working for me more that I think.

So with all that, I’m still not sure what I am going to do but I think that so far what ever I am doing really is working for me. My point to all this? Experiment, try things out and find what works for you! WW is a great tool and I am so glad that I joined, but sticking to it strictly may not work for everyone so find out what works for YOU so that you lose and feel successful.

One thing that I forgot to address yesterday was the 4500mg of psyllium that take every day.
Randi had asked about this so I wanted to mention it here in case anyone else was curious. 3.5 years ago I had 2 major surgeries in the abdominal area that totally screwed up my digestion aka regularity and caused constipation (moving your colon out of the way screws things up even if they do put it back where it was) . Ever since I’ve had to take a combo of psyllium, aloe and chlorophyll so that I can stay regular. Some people take Metimucil (sp?) or similar but I prefer to have it all 100% natural and my combo is from a cleanse (Ivy Bridge’s) that helps the colon, digestive tract and liver. Since I do it daily I leave out a couple things. I take everything in capsule form and get the vitamins at GNC but they can be found at any Vitamin or Herbal store.Goals for this week;

• Exercise 3 times in addition to the daily stairs (abs, pilates, ellpitical - something): 1 down 2 to go 1.5 mile unplanned walk to and from lunch.
• Continue to log all points and calories every day even when I have to guess: CHECK!
• Have a fruit or veggie with every meal: CHECK! I had 5 F&V today.
• Drink 70oz of fluid every day: CHECK! I’ve been drinking double that daily this week.
• Post something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image: CHECK! (my list from yesterday)
• Do or say something nice to my husband everyday because I have a tendency to pick on him and forget to highlight the positive things (more than I love yous because we say that a lot): CHECK!
  

*For me limiting added sugar and alcohol will meal no excess. 1 glass of wine is okay, more than 1 in a day is excess. Added sugar will mean candy or sweets in excess not my usual sugar in coffee or Kashi bar.

In looking at the Wendi site that Strawgirl posted (because there are many sites with similar info) Here is my breakdown IF I decided to give Wendie a try.

Hopefully I won’t confuse anyone but I love to try and analyse things and why they do or do not work for me.

20 is the lowest point range listed on the site so I can either go with that or alter it by 1 each day since technically I only get 19 points a day.

This is what the site says:
Find your normal Weight Watcher POINTS TARGET and then view below it the modified Wendie Plan POINTS RANGE: You should schedule your SHD as FAR away from your weigh in day as possible, due to the fact that you may notice a slight gain the day after your SHD (which WILL go away)

POINTS TARGET - 20 (Weigh Less than 150 lbs)
• Day 1 - 20 points
• Day 2 - 25 points
• Day 3 - 21 points
• Day 4 - 35 points Super High Day (SHD)
• Day 5 - 20 points
• Day 6 - 24 points
• Day 7 - 22 points

If my WI day is Tuesday and I start my Week on Mondays then I think MY week would look like this;

• Day 1 - 20 points (start of week)
• Day 2 - 25 points (WI day)
• Day 3 - 35 points Super High Day (SHD)
• Day 4 - 20 points
• Day 5 - 21 points
• Day 6 - 24 points
• Day 7 - 22 points
Total points = 167

The week I lost 3.2 went like this
Day 1 - 22
Day 2 - 22
Day 3 - 20.5
Day 4 - 24.5
Day 5 - 36
Day 6 - 41
Day 7 - 29
Total points = 195

My calories on the other hand looked like this: Not that this part will make sense but it does show that 2 out of 7 days I actually exceed my recommended caloric intake.
Day 1 - 1303 Start of week
Day 2 - 1302 WI day
Day 3 - 1280
Day 4 - 1398
Day 5 - 1574
Day 6 - 1854 SHD
Day 7 - 1392

In doing some math my points matched the 24 point rang more than the 20 point rage, although I had 2 SHDs and then some low days.
POINTS TARGET - 24 (Weigh 175 - 199 lbs)
• Day 1 - 24 points
• Day 2 - 29 points
• Day 3 - 25 points
• Day 4 - 39 points Super High Day (SHD)
• Day 5 - 24 points
• Day 6 - 28 points
• Day 7 - 26 points
Total points = 195

Now the only way I can calculate and actually get 24 points (when I was still in the 140s) would be if I adjusted my activity level from sitting all day to walking most of the day. But the thing is that I an an executive assistant, and I DO sit at my desk most of the day. My only real walking is the stairs, to and from the bathroom and then a couple trips to the kitchen or my bosses office or lunch. But nothing that would be considered walking all day. So is it possible that my stair sessions actually boost my metabolism enough that I NEED 24 points in a day?

According to this article (Slow Metabolism Makes You Fatter) maybe my stairs is working for me more that I think.

So with all that, I’m still not sure what I am going to do but I think that so far what ever I am doing really is working for me. My point to all this? Experiment, try things out and find what works for you! WW is a great tool and I am so glad that I joined, but sticking to it strictly may not work for everyone so find out what works for YOU so that you lose and feel successful.

One thing that I forgot to address yesterday was the 4500mg of psyllium that take every day.
Randi had asked about this so I wanted to mention it here in case anyone else was curious. 3.5 years ago I had 2 major surgeries in the abdominal area that totally screwed up my digestion aka regularity and caused constipation (moving your colon out of the way screws things up even if they do put it back where it was) . Ever since I’ve had to take a combo of psyllium, aloe and chlorophyll so that I can stay regular. Some people take Metimucil (sp?) or similar but I prefer to have it all 100% natural and my combo is from a cleanse (Ivy Bridge’s) that helps the colon, digestive tract and liver. Since I do it daily I leave out a couple things. I take everything in capsule form and get the vitamins at GNC but they can be found at any Vitamin or Herbal store.

Goals for this week;

• Exercise 3 times in addition to the daily stairs (abs, pilates, ellpitical - something): 1 down 2 to go 1.5 mile unplanned walk to and from lunch.
• Continue to log all points and calories every day even when I have to guess: CHECK!
• Have a fruit or veggie with every meal: CHECK! I had 5 F&V today.
• Drink 70oz of fluid every day: CHECK! I’ve been drinking double that daily this week.
• Post something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image: CHECK! (my list from yesterday)
• Do or say something nice to my husband everyday because I have a tendency to pick on him and forget to highlight the positive things (more than I love yous because we say that a lot): CHECK!

*For me limiting added sugar and alcohol will meal no excess. 1 glass of wine is okay, more than 1 in a day is excess. Added sugar will mean candy or sweets in excess not my usual sugar in coffee or Kashi bar.

To answer a few questions that have come up from different people…

I am roughly 4 pounds away from my 10% and 9 away from the WW goal (7 if you go by this mornigs WI at home) that I set but still 12 pounds away from my personal goal (not a huge difference but I want that extra 2 lbs as my buffer).

As of today I do fit back into some of my size 6s but not all fit well enough to wear and still look good. I can wear some which makes me happy because it means that I suddenly have lots more clothes and nice things to wear other than my 4 pairs of jeans and 2 pairs of dress pants. Yes that is what I have restricted myself to for the past 3 years and I hate wearing pants. So now I get to wear more and more skirts which makes me very happy!

For years I allowed myself to fluctuate between a 4 and a 6. 4s meant I was really thin. A tight 4 but loose 6 meant a comfortable weight, a perfect 6 meant I was gaining and I never let it get past that and from what I remember a perfect 6 was around 133 for me.
For now it seems that I am a loose 8 and a comfortable to snug 6 which means that I am on my way back to my old self! Good thing I don’t really like trendy or everything in my closet would be out of style by now. LOL

This morning was the first time in a long time that I saw 137 on the scale. Funny thing is that this time it made me smile, the last time it almost made me cry because it meant I was getting fat. Now it means I’m getting thin. Interesting how life works that way sometimes. Even though I’m not really following WW 100% right now (more of my own personal version of the Wendie), WW has taught me a lot.
1. I gained weight not because I ate too much, I just ate the wrong things too often.
2. I really do need to eat more and make healthier choices in order to loose weight0
3. Starving yourself only works when you are a like 16 (at least it did for me back then).
4. I was never really fat, just bigger than what was comfortable for me. When I started WW I was still in the healthy range for my age and height, just the high range.
5. I was never big on eating fruits and veggies before and I’m still not, but at least I am now aware that I NEED to eat them and so I am.
6. Excuses won’t get me anywhere, but commitment and determination and focus will
7. Support is key. Support from family, spouses, friends, meetings and even on line. Knowing that I am not alone and getting encouragement when I need it. I’m more of a loner IRL because I’m really shy but even shy loner people need support from the outside and I am still learning that. Just because I gained weight on my own doesn’t mean I have to lose it all alone.
8. I can do anything if I set my mind to it, even lose weight. I refuse to fall into the “oh you’re getting older and your metabolism has slowed down” mentality. I’ve known women in their 70s who look amazing because they took care of them selves and refused to be a stereotype.
9. I can still have wine and pizza and ethnic food and lose weight, I just have to do it in MODERATION and not over indulge. Once a week is okay, 4 is not. 1 piece a week is okay but 4 or 5 is not. Hell, I can even have ice cream and candy (100 cal and Breyers double churn light), and half a cup really is enough.
10. The only way I will succeed is if I make it work for me not me work for it. It must fit into my life and with a few tweeks, it has
11. I need to learn to like food for how healthy it is making me, not hate it for what it “did to me.”
12. Just because I am losing slower than some other people doesn’t mean that I am doing anything wrong. Everyone’s body is different and I need to find out how the plan works for ME. And in the end I AM losing.
13. I’m kicking ass and loving it. Being heavy made me feel bad and low and insecure, losing weight is making me feel confident and strong and beautiful again. I had forgotten what it was like to be comfortable in my own skin but that feeling is coming back and I love it!

So that’s it. Oh and I am wearing a size 6 skirt today :).

Not a horrible but definitely a high day. High in points and calories. Since the husband was coming back from his long overnight trip I figured we’d just go out to dinner instead of us cooking and he chose Thai. So far I think Thai may be the most fattening/high points of all the ethnic foods that we eat. We split the appetizer and dessert and even the entree’ and have left overs but it was all very rich, but yummy and worth it. 1 high day a week seems to be working for me so it may as well have been yesterday. Now that I look at it all I see more and more why we had both hung on to our weight for so long. At home we pretty much always eat healthy and nothing in excess but we used to eat or order out A LOT and always ethnic food. 2 or 3 days of Thai alone will get ya and that is what we would do, order something that we could eat for the next 3 days. WW is definitely making me more and more aware that I didn’t have horrible eating habits just some bad choices on occasion. 1 night out is okay, 3 nights out is not.

Before the husband got home I decided to do a little shopping. Nothing major or fancy just Mervyn’s to see if they had anything good on sale. Well they did but unfortunately nothing really fit. They had a bunch of Dickie’s Girl on sale and my current pair are getting really bit. Now I realize that Dickie’s runs small, even the guys clothes do so I figured if my 11s are big then I will try a 9. Well they didn’t fit. They were tighter than my 11s. WTF? I wasn’t so much bummed as irritated with the whole thing. I have 8s that are falling off me, some 6s that fit well but a 9 is causing my stomach to squish out all over the place. I tried 3 pairs then said F*#K it! I know I’ve lost weight. So in the end I got some new undies and socks. Maybe this weekend I will hit Old Navy and/or White House Black Market because I desperately need some new clothes.

And now for my goals and all my grids…

Goals for this week;

• Exercise 3 times in addition to the daily stairs (abs, pilates, ellpitical - something): Not yet
• Continue to log all points and calories every day even when I have to guess: CHECK!
• Have a fruit or veggie with every meal: CHECK! I had 4 F&V today.
• Drink 70oz of fluid every day: CHECK!
• Post something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image: CHECK!
• Do or say something nice to my husband everyday because I have a tendency to pick on him and forget to highlight the positive things (more than I love yous because we say that a lot): CHECK!

Could have been better, could have been worse but my meal was great and we really do like Thai food :).

This commentary was just too funny not to share. This site is always good for a laugh!

Fugly Betty

In my last post I mentioned needing more fiber and Randi agreed. I know that I need to EAT more fiber but am wondering if the fact that I take 4500mg of psyllium husks daily makes up for not really eating fiber in my food?

Getting bored with your snacks? Check out A Visual Guide to 15 Healthy Snacks from the Diet Blog.

Have you ever been to FitSugar? Check out their calculator to see what they have to say about your recommended water in take, Target Heart rate, Calorie evaluation and more. (Randi reminded me about this site too. It’s really cool and has some great stuff on there).

Can anyone explain to me why TOM itself causes weight gain? I can understand during PMS, but at the actual time? Seriously why? So a little TMI but I’m basically done with TOM now and sure enough I hop on the scale this morning like I do every morning and guess what? I’m back to pre-TOM weight. Now because I know/knew the cause of that pesky pound I did not whip out the whoopass on the scale but it still bugged a little. In looking at my FMWI log my weight started to go up as TOM made an entrance and sure enough it’s going back down now that TOM is exiting. Good thing I’m still casually doing my “weight experiment” so that I can notice these things. So bizarre how our bodies work. Fascinating but mind boggling at the same time.

On a completely random note (as if this post isn’t random enough). Did you see my menu from yesterday? Did you notice my dessert? Now I realize that a 4pt dessert doesn’t work for everyone all the time but once in a while if you are in the mood for something non “diet” feeling then try it. For only 200 calories and 7 fat you get ice cream and a candy/cereal topping that includes REAL peanut butter chips and even some Reese’s candies AND it has 5 grams of protein to boot (I’m all about extra protein). You could serve this to guests and they would have no idea that it is “diet” food. I would have taken a picture but I didn’t make it pretty, maybe next time.

Hope everyone has a great OP day!

Goals for this week;

• Exercise 3 times in addition to the daily stairs (abs, pilates, ellpitical - something): Not yet
• Continue to log all points and calories every day even when I have to guess: CHECK!
• Have a fruit or veggie with every meal: CHECK! I had 7 F&V today and most before dinner
• Drink 70oz of fluid every day: CHECK!
• Post something positive about myself every day to help boost my self image: CHECK!
• Do or say something nice to my husband everyday because I have a tendency to pick on him and forget to highlight the positive things (more than I love yous because we say that a lot): He’s traveling and I hate it when he does and I have a tendency to get a little mean. I did my best not to start any arguments but I wasn&