I am thankful that I managed to stay on track!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

I am proud of myself, I managed to stay on track and under my daily points, but was full after dinner. I had a lot of veggies, and stayed away from the desserts other than the soda cake that I made and brought with me. There were a lot of different and really tempting desserts, but I did not touch. Go me!

I snacked on chips and salsa while at my grandmother's house over the weekend, and had a turkey sandwich on oatmeal bread with squash and cranberry sauce on it for a leftover lunch. Didn't touch a dessert all weekend other than my cake and a couple of my grandmother's chocolate marshmallow cookies (because it is NOT a holiday without those!).

I weighed myself this morning even though I have really been trying not to weigh myself until my meetings, but I was happy to see that the scale said I had dropped another 3.8 pounds. Hopefully it will stay that way for my meeting tomorrow!

Today I had a cheat day as I haven't allowed myself one for a bit. I had pizza for lunch. When I was done eating it and calculating the points I realized that it really wasn't worth it to eat a big portion like I used to. One slice is 8 points. To me that is a lot, so if I have a cheat day, it's going to be that one day and that's it! I have yet to use my weekly points and my activity points however, so I do still have those to use if I wish. I had a dinner of grilled sirloin steak and broccoli to make up for lunch. :)

I am thinking of starting up slowly with a yoga routine at home to inch my way into some exercise. Yoga seems relatively harmless, and I could use a little toning if I am going to be losing weight. I am not sure if yoga will help me to lose weight since it doesn't seem like something that really gets your heart rate going, but I think it will be something good to work into my routine. Hopefully I can get to Zumba this week as well.

Wish me luck on my weigh-in tomorrow, I am hoping for my third weigh-in in a row with a loss!

Yikes

Woooo boy today was not a good day food-wise. I was just not that hungry except for lunch. I had a little over half a box of Velveeta and that was it. Then I had a corn dog for supper, followed by a Smirnoff Ice and chips with salsa at the club I went to after. I barely touched the chips though. I came in with 11 points left for the day and after looking at the small amount on my food log can't believe how little food I actually had for a decent amount of points. Eating healthier is definitely better and more satisfying. Although last night was my splurge night, I had pepperoni pizza and man was it good. Lol

I did manage to restrain myself tonight and drink water other than the one drink out at the club. Usually I will have a few mudslides or Dirty Girlscouts (Chocolate milk with creme de menthe, tastes like a Thin Mint).

Tomorrow I am at home and working for a good portion of the day so fortunately I won't be going anywhere, don't want to spend the money on delivery and all the Velveeta and unhealthy stuff is now out of the house, so I should have a better day tomorrow!!

It's all about the points values baby

I noticed something when I went to the grocery store today. I completely skipped all the aisles that I normally go to, such as the snack aisle and the ice cream aisle. I had my phone with me and was using my scanner app on everything that I was thinking of getting. When I found out what the points were, I debated on whether that tiny little granola bar, or those 2 cookies were really worth the points they would tack on, and for the most part put a lot of stuff right back on the shelf. I am wondering if I am being too conscious about it though.

I think I am most worried that if I cut out all the yummy foods like ice cream or cookies, that should I happen to have a sweet treat at some point, I am going to go on a binge. I really wanted to get some cookies from the bakery, but I stopped myself because I knew that 2 cookies would probably not be enough and I would end up eating more than I want to. I am glad that I have the sense to know when I will not have the self control to portion, but it worries me that I may not be able to keep that control if I completely deprive myself of anything that I think tastes good. I ended up walking out of the store with turkey burgers, olive oil, fat and sugar free cool whip, water, seltzer, and a 2 liter of diet pepsi.

I was starving when I left the store, and almost hit up the Burger King on the way home but went right on by because I know the points weren't worth it. I am enjoying the restraint that I seem to have, but hope that it lasts and that I don't give up once the weight loss starts slowing down. I did not weigh myself today, I am trying really hard not to do it every day so that when it fluctuates I don't get discouraged and go on a binge. Right now I am sitting down to some low fat cottage cheese instead of BK. Granted it doesn't taste nearly as good as a burger would but sacrifices have to be made if I want to lose the weight!

Could have done a little better today!

I completely skipped food until 5pm. Of course, I was sleeping for most of the day since I didn't have my son today, but still. Not good. I ended up having a big dinner. I am still under my points and had a power food for supper so I guess it's not that bad.

I am getting hungry again, but bought Special K with strawberries just for night time snacks during work.

Tomorrow I am going to Zumba class for an hour, that should get me some good activity points! I am saving my extra points for dinner on Saturday, going to Buffalo Wild Wings for the first time, but I am still going to try and eat the best that I can. It appears that they have a grilled chicken sandwich that you can build with your own toppings so I should be able to eat something a little healthy.

I am trying not to weigh myself every day, but I am getting excited that this is actually working. I am down a total of 5.1 pounds in 5 days so far. I know that after the first week it will slow down and I will only lose one or two pounds per week after that but I am still pretty happy. I even managed to look at myself in the mirror tonight and think "I am not that terrible looking". That is the first time in a long time I have been able to think that. So not only is this going to give me a physical makeover, but a mental makeover as well. I have always been the chunky girl and have always had self-esteem issues. I would love to get some of that back!

Cheers to a new sense of self!

Congrats to the 44th President for another four years!

So happy for Obama!

And now my political rant is over. Lol

Feeling great again today. Lost another pound today. That is 3.7 pounds in four days. Awesome! I know the rapid weight loss will stop soon, but for now I am going to enjoy it because it is a great motivator.

Today I had a six inch turkey sub on flatbread with veggies, mustard, and light cheddar cheese for lunch, along with a bag of Baked Lays and low fat milk from Subway. For dinner, a delicious bowl of penne pasta with veggie sauce and steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. I have also had an ice cream sandwich and a bag of popcorn. I still have five points left. I may eat a bit of cottage cheese before I go to bed since that is low points and will fill me up without giving me heartburn.

I am feeling really good and very excited to see what this program has in store for me.

Feeling great!

Wow...what a shock it was to go into my first meeting for WW today and find that I had lost 2.7 pounds since they had weighed me on Friday. Whether it is a true weight loss or just the time of the day or whatever, I am not sure, but I can only hope that it was weight coming off. I have been doing really well over the last three days that I have been counting points.

Today I had couscous for lunch, surprisingly if I use virgin olive oil instead of margarine or butter, the points are quite low. Then I had carrots for a snack.

For dinner I made a turkey taco salad that was so good, and only 11 points.

I got hungry a few minutes ago and made a bowl of oatmeal with skim milk which was 4 points. I still have 3 points for the day, but I don't think I am going to use them

I met some really nice women at the meeting this morning and learned a lot about different foods that are considered "power foods". Some of them, such as white potatoes, were a shock.

I went grocery shopping after the meeting and the scanner app that they have came in handy. I was scanning anything that I was intending to pick up and if it was too many points per serving, thought about whether it was really worth it, and ended up putting some stuff back. I did manage to get a bunch of steamed veggies, multigrain tortilla chips, salsa, whole grain spaghetti, and a few other healthy power foods.

I really hope that I can keep this up and keep sticking with it. I think that if I can see that it's working then I will be more inclined to stick with it and not get discouraged as easily.

Only 11.3 pounds to go before I hit my first milestone goal of 5% of my body weight lost!

Not what I expected

I have to say, this is a lot easier than I expected...I managed to eat the following today and still stay within my points...

Handful of Honey Roasted Peanuts
Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme
Taco Bell Taco
1 Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich
Chips and salsa
2 Smirnoff Ice
1 serving of Haagen-Dazs Peppermint Bark ice cream

I had to use a few of my allotted extra points for the week for the ice cream tonight, but I have wicked heartburn (my insurance company stopped my med prescription until further notice) and I have no  milk in sight. But I only used 4 of my weekly 49 extra points, so I don't feel so bad.

I was very shocked at the fact that I stayed within my points, and I am not starving at the end of the day. That gives me a shred of hope. The juicing diet had me so hungry I was ready to claw my eyes out. But today I got to eat a meal that I liked, and still was able to stay within my daily allowance.

However, there is another side to this. In looking at what I did eat today, I skipped breakfast which is never good (but I always do because I am not hungry in the morning), and I probably didn't get as much protein and veggies as I should have! Tomorrow for lunch I am having a 99% lean turkey burger with a wheat roll and veggies, with steamed broccoli and cauliflower on the side. I may even make some egg beaters for breakfast with a little new york sharp cheddar. Who knows!

I am excited for my first Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow morning. I hope to meet some new people who can help to motivate me!

Fell off the proverbial wagon...again

I never realize how long it has been since my last update with these until I go to make a new post. Overtime started at work and any personal time I had to myself went out the window! I have also started a new gig photographing for the club that I frequent, that has been keeping me nice and busy as well. I am loving it in some ways because when I work a lot, it keeps my mind off of things. It also however, keeps me away from being active and eating right.

I joined Weight Watchers yesterday in an attempt to get some motivation and learn how to eat in a healthy manner while controlling portions. I am hoping that going to one or two meetings a week will help me out and give me the motivation and tools that I need to get through this.

My point allotment per day right now is 45 points with a 49 point weekly bonus. Today was my first tracking day. I have 16 points left for the day and don't feel the need to eat anything else. I am happy that I didn't go over the points, especially since I went out to eat for lunch today. I got a grilled chicken sandwich with steamed veggies on the side. It was really really good, but still cost 20 points just for the sandwich alone. Good thing all the sides that I ate were 0 points each with the exception of the 2 small slices of bread that I had before the meal.

I am really going to have to try hard to start cooking more so that I can eat healthier. I can buy prepackaged grilled chicken, but it wouldn't last for long and it is expensive, so I am going to have to start buying and cooking my own chicken. Boo. I hate cooking. I have been looking through the recipes that they offer in the booklets each week, and so far all of them have been very heavily garlic based. I will have to find a way around that and will also have to find some good recipes without meat since I usually don't eat much meat.

So day one, didn't do any exercise, but ate well. Slow and steady right?