3/30/11 303

Gained 2lbs...but as planned, and as promised, I am still blogging. I am not going to let a little hiccup get in my way.

Well I knew that the time would come when I would "plateau" I tend to do it a little quicker than other people do, I don't know why. There are certain weeks in my cycle that if I am not absolutely perfect in my dieting I will gain weight, this is that week. The good news is that there are also certain weeks in my cycle that I can eat almost anything I want and lose weight. And during those weeks if I really pay attention and stick to the plan I lose a whole bunch. So I won't give up, promise.

Even though I've been losing all along I was feeling like I should be counting or tracking somehow. I kinda had it in my head that the first time I gained weight I would start counting calories. So what I did was join the Weight Watchers online program. I can put my "plan" that I'm going to email to my therapist into their little database (massive database actually) and see that I am within good guidelines. I was kind of impressed to find out that WW doesn't use calories to calculate points anymore, they use carbs/protein/fat/fiber. They've revamped how they calculate points and how many points we get since the last time I did WW. I get 44 points, plus the "bonus" points which works out to about 6 per day! That's a lot of effen points! Although I put my whole plan for tomorrow in there without calculating how many points are in my daily cup of coffee, and it came to 44. Hmmmm, should I dump the Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich or the cup of coffee? Choices, choices.

So my blood work wasn't horrible. The cholesterol and glucose were "kind of" high, but nothing I need to take medication for, thank god. We'll check those again in a few months and see if there are any improvements. My thyroid hormone is up, which apparently means that my thyroid is slow. My Mother should feel vindicated, she's been blaming my weight on my thyroid my whole life. I had to have more tests done, but I think the doc's going to put me on some thyroid medication. The doc says that thyroid meds will help me lose weight, whoo hoo bring it on.

3/23/11 301

Down 2lbs!! Yay!

One thing I am especially proud of is that I have only had one fast food item (a fish sandwich from Wendy's no fries), ZERO regular soda and ZERO white chocolate mochas in two weeks!!
Thank goodness for Shaken Iced Passion Tea with Splenda!!!

This week I have to start being a little stricter. So far I've been saying, "Well if its on the 'plan' I can eat it." Meaning, if I allowed myself to plan for it that makes it OK. But now I have to start being more selective about what goes on my "plan".

Thanks to my girls Genea, Ashley Brady and Rosie Posie I have been walking three times a week. Its been soooooooooooooo nice out, its awesome.

I went to get my blood work done so I can know what my starting point is as far as cholesterol and blood sugar goes. I'll probably have that info to put in next week's blog. The doctor called and "wants to talk to me about it". You can guarantee that'll be in next week's blog as well.

The days where I want to snack are getting less and less. I feel like if I'm going to splurge it better be for a very good reason, haven't had that reason yet. Even on my birthday I didn't go completely crazy.......oh man I just realized I did have a white mocha on my birthday. HaHa oh well.

3/15/11 - 303

Lost 5lbs, hooray! Almost forgot to post too!

I think part of my last post sounded really negative and I didn't mean it that way. I just really need people to be honest with me rather than nice to me. I really do appreciate all the love and support y'all give me.

I also forgot to mention in my last post that I have a goal............

I'm going to Colorado for Christmas this year, and I'd really like for there to be a visible difference in my physique when I see my family next. I'm not going to say it has to be this many pounds or this many inches, I just want there to be a significant change in my appearance. Oh, I also want to be able to climb up the little trail between my sister's house and their garden. I did it last time I was there, but I think my sister's friend Sarah was really afraid for my life (as was I frankly).

I have to say that emailing my therapist on a daily basis is really helpful. I have to look at my schedule for the day and say, this is when I'm going to eat and this is what I'm going to eat. It completely eliminates the need to drive-thru somewhere, unless that's on the plan. Like last week I knew I was only going to have a few minutes between working at Starbucks and teaching a CPR class. I'm going to have to drive-thru somewhere, but because I knew that ahead of time and I set my intention to get a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a hamburger I stuck to it. I also know that if I'm working at Starbucks from 10am - 2pm (right through lunchtime), I'm going to have to bring a Lean Cuisine or a sandwich so that I can eat it on my break (they are really strict about making sure we always get a 10 min break even during a short little shift). I really lucked out with this lady, she is awesome.

Our next visit is next week and we are going to discuss EFT which is a technique where you isolate a pain or a stressor and you tap on acupressure points on your body and its supposed to help eliminate the emotional memory that is causing a problem. I vaguely remember a guy doing this on TV about five years ago, but I didn't take it very seriously. Now that I've seen some scientific studies and documentation I think I might be able to practice it a little better. If it works for me I am seriously considering studying it and incorporating it as part of my massage practice.

As far as my week went, I had some ups and downs emotionally and I managed to stick to the plan pretty much on a daily basis. The very first day I was having some serious with-drawls, I guess from sugar because soda is the only thing I've really eliminated. I'm still eating carbs, I'm still eating meat, I'm still eating sodium. Although I'm eating much less of all of it and much better quality of all of it. Even during my searing headache I stuck to the plan I had set for myself that day. Had a couple of really good days after that. My birthday was a little bit of a challenge, its really hard for me to be away from my family on my birthday. I'm 38, broke and childless. But even through that little emotional roller-coaster I stuck to the plan. Well I did add shrimp to my dinner and had a white mocha on the way home from dinner, but I didn't eat two Double Quarter Pounders and two large fries and no soda at all which is amazing because soda had really become my "crack". Being home with Steve all day is actually more of a challenge than I thought it would be. He doesn't necessarily want to eat what I eat or when I eat, but I managed to get through it.

I have also recruited two of my good friends to go walking with me. We've been walking in the mall because its been kinda rainy. That's been so much fun. We get to talk about our challenges and life's issues. I get to see my friends that I normally don't get to see very often. Its another thing that makes me look at my schedule and say, "When can I walk?" Instead of using my schedule as a reason for not walking.

I look forward to getting on the scale. I'm so proud of the work I've done I just know it's going to end in a good result. Dealing with a not-so-good result will be something I have to work with my therapist about because that has always been a hurdle for me.

I'm back....308lbs

Back to blogging. I have one rule for my family, friends, followers....I don't want to hear "It's OK that you got off track, we all have our setbacks." It's OK for you to think that, and I appreciate that everyone is trying to be positive, but it's not OK for me to get off track. When I was blogging last year my last four or five posts were all exactly the same...lame excuses as to why I was not following my plan. If any of you start to see that pattern DON'T BE NICE!! Tell me to snap out of it, quit whining, etc. Please remind me that I am trying to do this because I desperately want to have a baby and it ain't gonna happen if I'm "off track" for months at a time. Be honest rather than polite....please?

OK, so I'm seeing this great therapist and she noticed that I spoke most positively about my weight loss when I was either working together with a co-worker (Shelley, you and me on Weight Watchers was the best), or blogging about it like I did last year. So here I go with the blog. I'm going to email my therapist to keep me accountable, but would also love it if any of you would be interested in helping out.

One of the things she suggested is that I plan my meals one day at a time rather than thinking about the whole week. She also reminded me that it is OK to eat the Lean Cuisines, Smart Ones, etc. I don't have to go all hard core. She also pointed out that I am killing myself trying to make every little thing. Its OK to go to Wendy's or Subway and get a healthy sandwich or salad. I'm also going to try to make Whole Foods my go-to place when I'm out and about, as opposed to McD's which is my current go-to place.

So my goals for this week are:

• Blog about the plan
• Recruit a friend to be a supporter (someone I can talk about my ups and downs with, someone I can walk/workout with, someone who will be honest and question me when I start to fall off track)
• Email my therapist with my current day's meal plan and whether or not I stuck to the previous days' meal plan
• Weigh in weekly and email my therapist with that as well