Today is my second 12 hour day in a row so this is just a short update post. Today is WI day. I am  down 1.5 lbs from last week but still 1.6 over my lowest weight so far. I feel like I am slowly getting on track; at least the scale went in the right direction this week. I will be working until 10pm tonight again with an hour drive home so I’m going to have to eat out again. I will not choose the Taco place like I did last night. I will not choose root beer like I did last night. I will also not choose tater tots like I did last night. I will choose to stay on plan.

I have not had the greatest start to the new year.. although it was my intent to have  a fresh start, I haven’t exactly made any progress. In fact, if you have read my blog, you know I resigned myself to just maintaining last semester because of my crazy schedule and the stress. I did make smart choices and maintained - even through Christmas. Now that my schedule is a little lighter, I am recommitting to losing, but I haven’t lost a single pound yet in 2008. 

I started back to Irish Dance after a month off and I can definitely tell my slacking off in December was not a good idea. I felt lethargic and had a hard time keeping up. I never want to go back to what I weighed and how I felt before, but sometimes my shoulder devil tries to tell me that losing 20 lbs is good enough. The h#$@ it is! I do feel great about my successes, but I’m not going to just say that being 25 lbs overweight is good enough because it’s less than I was before!  I feel like a rant .. but mainly at myself because I know I can do it. I have done it before.

Stupid things are stressing me out, like trying to finish up my M.Ed project so I can graduate in May, and preparing for a play I’m interpreting next week (I’ve never interpreted a play before) and staying on top of the 6 classes I am teaching and 3 classes I interpret this semester. I do love my life, but sometimes I just feel tired thinking about what I have to do, when I haven’t even started it yet Trying to lose weight in the middle of it all is just an added wrench and I struggle to figure out how to balance it all. I have no idea how you all do it when you’re this busy PLUS have children. Although I really want a family, I have no idea how I’d manage a child in addition to all this.

Happy MLK day everyone!

Check out Roni’s new contest! I can win a Nutrition Smart Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for details!

+1.6 lbs

After recommitting at the new year, all I have to show for it is a gain. Between pizza over the weekend and fried food at Applebee’s I’m not sure why I can’t get myself to stick to the plan. I know I have flex points, but these choices were after flex points were gone! It just makes me mad at myself. I’ve done it before; there’s no reason I can’t do it again.  My challenge for the next 4 months is going to be time alone at home. My husband is trying to finish up his last few classes to graduate so he is gone every night until late at classes. Being home alone means I don’t really cook a meal and end up just grazing and losing track of what I’m eating. Today has been pretty good. I’m 2 points over my daily target (26/24) but I’m going to dance practice later to make up for it. I think I need to start planning out some meals and cooking real dinners at night.. even if it’s just for me.

We had some friends over last night and ordered pizza. Suffice it to say there is none left because between last night and this morning I had no less than 6 pieces! :p I looked up the points afterward and was semi-relieved that it was about 5 pt/slice pizza (Medium, hand-tossed, cheese-only), but I still…

On a positive note, I did earn some AP’s yesterday with Irish Dance!! I moved to a class on Saturday mornings which is 2 hours instead of 1 hr 1/2. I’m stoked because a few of us moved to a more advanced group with a harder teacher. So we’re going to be working on harder stuff and this teacher really works us!

I’m headed to a family dinner tonight. We decided on soups and salad so I’m going to bring my tortilla soup recipe. It’s delish and only about 4 pts (w/o tortilla strips or cheese). I’ll post the recipe later.

I like weighing in on Wednesdays because I feel like it gives my body a chance to “normalize” after weekend eating. Last weekend my husband and I went on a weekend trip to a ski resort. We had a great time, but I also ate hotel and restaurant food for 2 days. Then on Sunday night I hosted a party at my house for a co-worker where there was plenty more food. The morning scale reading on Monday was scary, to say the least.

Toady is my “official” day to WI. I am not a member of WW or anything so I just weigh and track my progress (using Roni’s handy excel spreadsheet ! ) on my own at home. I get on the scale close to every day, but my Wednesday weight is the one I record.

Today’s weigh in was 174.8. It is -0.8 from last week, and still +1.7 over my lowest weight. I am looking forward to getting out of the 170’s so I can accomplish another goal. I haven’t met one since last October and I am anxious to start seeing consistent progress again.

Have a great Wednesday!

Today was the first day back at school (I work at a community college.) I like my work schedule better this semester (only working one evening until 7:30 instead of 2 evenings until after 8pm). I also like being back at work because I get back on a schedule which helps me stick to my plan. My strategy is to have a 3 point breakfast, pack 7-10 points worth of lunch and snacks then have a ~10 point dinner. I did well today with the exception of the leftover brownie from last night that I picked at until it was gone. I knew I should have thrown it away!

Today was also my first real day back on plan in a few weeks. I haven’t consistently tracked points or focused on the 8 healthy guidelines  since before Christmas. I can tell on the scale (177 yesterday ) and in how my clothes fit. My husband gave me some size 13 pants for Christmas. I tried them on the day after Christmas and they fit all right. I put them on today to wear them to work, but decided against them as they were just a little too tight. I enjoyed the holidays, but 4 lb gain over my lowest weight may not have been worth it. Today is a new day and the start to shedding the rest of the excess weight (approx 25 lbs to go!)

Who doesn’t?

It’s crunchy and salty, PLUS it’s a whole grain. I like mine with extra salt.

So, if there’s a chance of getting popcorn for F-R-E-E count me in! If you don’t know what I’m talking about - check out Roni’s blog - www.weightwatchen.com

It’s a contest for free popcorn from Orville Redenbacher’s Natural popcorn line, and a subscription to Netflix. COOL! :)

Ooh, pick me! Pick me!

P.S. Today was WI day - same exact weight as last week (Still +2.5 over my lowest).

I hope everyone had a fantastic 2007 and great New Year. 2007 was a good year for me.  I lost 21 pounds, got a full-time teaching contract, took a trip to Hawaii with my husband of 8 years, began Irish Dancing, and basically just enjoyed life! This is what I endeavor to accomplish in 2008:

1. Graduate with my Master’s Degree in Educational Technology.  I am enrolled in my final semester and all I have to do is complete my Creative Project ( in lieu of the thesis option.) I am currently working out the details with one of my employers to complete an internship in the training department that should satisfy my requirements. My plan is to graduate in May.

2. Save money for big ticket items. The plan is to save 10% (or more) of my income in a savings account. The money is to be used for occasional large expenses we have planned including: finishing the basement, new mattress, family vacation to California, new flash and lens for my camera and computer upgrades.  I have already set up my paycheck to automatically direct deposit 10% to the savings account and have $700. It feels great to pay CASH and never go into debt for these items. We will never again have consumer debt with the exception of reasonable loans for cars, school, and the house.

3.  Three month emergency savings fund. 10% of hubby’s income will be put in a no-touch savings account. He is in the process of negotiating a new job so when he signs up for the direct deposit, we will have 10% automatically put in a Money Market account. This money will not be touched except for emergencies. The initial goal is to have enough saved on to live for 3 months (including all debts, bills & expenditures.) Eventually we’ll like to expand this to enough for one year including a food storage sufficient to live on for one year.

4. Keep getting  healthy  and fit. I am going to continue following the WW plan of counting points. After a great holiday season of maintaining my 21 pound loss 2008 will be the year for reaching goal weight. I will do this by

• journaling all my food
• increased fruit, vegetable and water consumption
• cooking at home more and eating out less
• my favorite types of exercise; walking the dog, Irish Dancing and DDR
• blogging and updating my weight progress Weight Watchen