Count 'Em!

Thursday's weigh-in was really good.  I hit a milestone!

Count those 5-pound stars!  And FYI - don't try to do the math.  That 5% sticker is just stuck on randomly.  I know someone thought she figured out my starting weight at 300 pounds from this pic.  Nope!  

 This is big news for me, because 35 pounds is halfway to my "high goal" with Weight Watchers.  What's my high goal, you might ask?  It's the highest I can weigh at WW and still make lifetime status.  My "big goal" is to be even below that, but I'm taking it a step at a time.  Oh, yeah, and I'm actually down 36.2 pounds total!!


And now for my Weekend Update...

Friday Night:
Big party animal that I am, I hit the gym.  Apparently I'm the only one in town with no social life this night, if the gym attendance is any indication.  At least I had my choice of ANY machine I wanted!

Lonely gym

Saturday Afternoon:
Back to the gym.  I decided to try to break my record for stats on the elliptical machine, and I did it!  Now, I don't know how accurate these things are, but it looked pretty good to me either way.  I did an hour plus a 5-minute cool-down, and it shows 6.56 miles distance and 912.9 calories burned.  Even if it's off by half, that's not too shabby!

My record high!

Saturday Night:
Casino Night Fundraiser for a local school.

 It was lots of fun, even though I didn't win any prizes.  The food was catered by one of my fave restaurants (Rails), and I think I ate sensibly.   I chose the spring mix salad over the Caesar salad, with vinaigrette dressing (just a drizzle) instead of the Ranch dressing.  I didn't take any bread or potatoes (hard to do, but not that big of a deal).  Then I had a smallish portion of chicken breast and a tiny bit of pork tenderloin, green beans, and a tomato/onion/pepper creole side item.  No dessert (cheesecake and chocolate cake), and a small glass of white wine.

My losing raffle tickets

Sunday:
My birthday!
Went with the family to eat Mexican food.  I wanted to have an enjoyable meal without going nuts, since it was my birthday.  I had chicken fajitas (just ate the chicken and veggies) with pinto beans (not refried) and a dab of guacamole (yum-o!).  I had a couple of chips with salsa, then asked for corn tortillas to dip instead.  That's GOOOOD!  I also had 1/2 of a flour tortilla, because they make them there at the restaurant and are my favorites.  It was a great time, and my kids were good while we were there, even though my daughter was disappointed that I wouldn't let them ask the wait staff to cram a sequined sombrero on my head and sing happy birthday.  (Fear of wearing a multi-use hat, not fear of attention.  Clearly, I love attention.)

Later we drove to Comfort, a little town nearby.  One of our friends was there and mentioned she saw my favorite (red velvet) in little cupcakes at a little restaurant/shop called High's, so we went out on a quest.  I really want to go back to High's for lunch one day.  It looked really cute, and the menu looked tasty.  Click here for the link if you want to check it out.  We took some of these little beauties home.

Red Velvet Cupcake - The Best!

Birthday Chick

 Because I'm still tracking everything I eat this day, I looked up the Points Plus value for red velvet cupcakes.  Uh, yeah, 14 Points Plus!  Yikes!  But it WAS my birthday, so I couldn't deprive myself and just cut mine in half.  Ah, just right!

Half the cupcake, all the flavor!

We also went to Sweet Comfort, a little candy and ice cream shop down the road from High's.  We picked up two of the biggest chocolate-covered strawberries I've ever seen.  I had a little bite of this (just enough) and let the family have the rest.  It's fun to share sometimes!

So.  Good.

 After all that indulgence, yes, I actually went to the gym this evening.  I didn't hit my record on the elliptical again, but I did come close.  It's probably because I had to change my age from 40 to 41 when I set it up, right?

Birthday Stats

 As I was leaving, the girl at the front desk wished me a Happy Birthday.  Then she asked why on earth I was at the gym on my birthday.  As I walked out, I realized something.  I was there on my birthday because I wanted to be.  Because I wanted to give myself a gift I've been denying myself for a long time.  I want to be healthy and take time just for me.  And that's a very good thing, and it was a very happy birthday indeed!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

So yesterday was yet another day off program, despite my promise that it wouldn't be.  But today I'm back on track!

This is scary though.  Thursday - Monday off the wagon = a gain of 5.2 pounds!  Are you kidding me?!?  I deserve a gain, for sure, but I can't imagine what I ate to equal more than an extra 3500 calories a day!  That's the math, right?

All day today I've done great -- healthy food choices, smaller portions, low sodium, took my vitamins, flushing out with rivers of water.  There will be exercise today as well.  For a change.  I also wrote down everything I put in my mouth, and I've tried to think about better ways to deal with stress.

I've had a setback, no doubt.  I am disappointed that I am going to have to re-lose those pounds, but I'm confident I can do it.  My hope is to learn from this and remember this the next time I'm feeling on the edge of losing control.  I'm not going to beat myself up about it.  It's not productive.

On another note, something kind of cool happened at a kiddie party I took my three-year-old son to a week and a half ago.  While we were there, he had this big slice of cake, and I didn't get any.  He ate a little of it, and then he brought the plate to me when he was done.  At the time, I was speaking to a friend and just mindlessly took the plate.  I wasn't nibbling on it (only because I was chatting), but I could smell it (yum), and it looked amazing - chocolate cake with dark, fudgy frosting.

My friend Nicki was at the party with her little guy too.  She has hit Lifetime status before at Weight Watchers, so she knows what I'm dealing with.  Anyway, she saw what happened, and went up to my little dude.  I heard her whisper to him, "Are you finished eating your cake?"  He nodded yes.  Then she swooped in, grabbed the cake from me, and said, "Intervention!" and tossed the plate into the trash!  Isn't that cool?

Clearly, this happened several days BEFORE the big backslide, but I thought it was great.  Where was she the last five days?  Guess I should have invited her over for a slumber party to save me from myself.

I'm back on track now, and it was surprisingly easy to do once I made up my mind for real.  All I had to do was do it.  And also that was the hard part.  So here I am, back on track, and feeling much better today than I have in several days, physically and emotionally.

Oh, yeah, and I'm still gonna knock that 25 pounds on its butt.  Not on Thursday, I guess, but it's just around the corner, so watch out!

Pretty in Pink

October is National 

Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Today I attended the "Baubles & Beads Style Show and Luncheon," which assists local women who might require financial help with their breast cancer treatments, medications, or other needs in order to battle their disease effectively.  This annual event has provided funds to the Peterson Regional Medical Center Breast Cancer Assistance Fund since 2002.

Our Table

Before the crowd arrived

Pink everywhere!

Rose petals on the runway

Baubles & Beads

Naturally, I started thinking about health and wellness during this luncheon.  I thought about how lucky I am not to be dealing with a life-threatening illness, even though I've eaten loads of junky foods and gone long stretches of time being sedentary.  

Sitting at my table were Jennifer and Kacy, who are both runners.  We talked about health and the importance of physical activity.  Jennifer started running just recently.  She has a friend with breast cancer who is beating it and credits that partly to her active lifestyle.  Kacy has been running for about two years, but is really getting serious about it lately (after having major knee surgery, mind you).  She's recently lost almost 50 pounds!  They were very supportive of my efforts to get healthier, and I had a great time visiting with them today.

Jennifer and Kacy

This got me excited thinking about what I might work up to.  I'll be sensible about it, of course.  I've recently recovered from a year-long foot injury, so I won't try to run right now.  I'll need to build up to it.  But already I can see improvement in my abilities.  If I try it and have a problem, I'll just build up more.  But I think I would like to try to run.  Maybe not a marathon, or even a 10K.  But how about a mile?  I know for a fact I couldn't run a mile right now, but maybe someday.

And speaking of physically fit, next up came the local firemen, strutting down the runway to collect money for the cause.  They really knew how to work the crowd, and women were stuffing those boots with cash!

Firemen on the Runway

These little pink gift boxes were at each of our place settings.  What could be inside?  

Open it!

Surprise!

Ah, looks like my two kiddos will each get a little treat!

And speaking of little treats, even the dessert was pink.  Here's where serendipity hit... One guest at our table was not served her dessert.  She asked the waiter for it, but it never came.  So instead of sitting there thinking about how to resist eating the whole thing, I offered my untouched dessert to the other woman.  It worked out great!  

I heard it was delicious!

Today's luncheon was very emotional.  I'd encourage everyone reading this to do what you can to help eradicate breast cancer.  Donate time and money, if you can.  Wear your pink ribbon awareness gear.  Talk about it.  Sign up for events to raise awareness.  This can happen to anyone (and statistically, most of us will be affected by breast cancer during our lifetimes - either personally or through someone we care about.)

So here are my final words (stolen from a t-shirt I saw for sale today): "Feel your boobies."  Check yourselves, and remind others to do the same!

Epiphany at the Chocolate Lounge

Saturday night I celebrated a friend's 40th birthday at Coco Chocolate Lounge in San Antonio.  It was a lovely little bistro with a chocolate-themed menu.

Because there were several of us in the party, we had a predetermined menu.  We shared appetizers and desserts, had a salad and a choice of entree.

(Our Menu)

I had one piece of toast with goat cheese for an appetizer and passed on the other two options (fried calamari and some kind of salmon and cream cheese number). 

Salads were next.  They had a very light drizzle of raspberry dressing and were topped with a shaving of white chocolate.

Next was the entree.  They all looked fabulous, but I decided the shrimp might be the lightest option, and I just had a couple of small bites of the risotto.

Then came dessert.  The party planners were so smart to offer shared desserts.  It really was nice to sample them all and also not feel like a complete glutton.  I didn't get a photo of the Nutella Tart, but did get pics of the signature dessert called "The Kiss" and the fondue.  I had a little taste of each and was happy and satisfied.  Enjoyed it completely and left with no feelings of guilt or deprivation.

When I first realized the party would be at the Chocolate Lounge, I figured my whole post would be about how I either resisted chocolate temptations or how I gave into them.  And the truth is, I did a little of both.  I had a copy of the menu in advance, so I planned for what I would eat, had small portions, and arranged for a little indulgence.  But I did not lose control.

Now for the epiphany.   Here I was in this group of 20 or so women, and once again I was the biggest girl there.  As we were all chatting, I started to notice a theme in several conversations around me.  At one point, several women started talking about various races they were planning to run.  At another point, someone mentioned a vacation where they would hike and try surfing.  Several mentioned their exercise classes.  I started to realize that these women looked thin and healthy because they worked at it. Their bodies look like they do because they're responding to the very simple principles of calories-in-calories-out.  They make activity part of their daily lives, and they've found activities they enjoy.

And here's the second part of the epiphany.  I was seated between two thin and fit ladies.  One mentioned that she had been on the South Beach Diet for a few weeks.  This shocked me, because she is one of the tiniest friends I have.  I'm not sure what size she is, but I would guess maybe a 2.  I had to find out more about why she would feel the need to diet.  She said, "I noticed my clothes were getting too tight and I didn't feel good."  I had just assumed she was naturally thin, which she might be, but she also has to work to keep it that way.

What it all comes down to is this:  It does not matter if you have 5 pounds or 305 pounds to lose.  I've often looked at someone and said, "It's easy for her, because she doesn't have much weight to lose."  By the same token, someone might have had 200 pounds to lose and said the same thing about me.  And how many times have women said that about how easy it is for men to lose weight?  But here's the thing:  If you have any weight to lose, it all boils down to the same thing.  Why?  Because you don't get to lose the weight and then go back to your old habits.  You have to keep on eating smaller portions of healthy food and you have to keep on moving your ass.  If you don't, you'll wind up right back where you were before.  So eventually anyone can lose the weight, given the right efforts and time.  And then it continues.  Forever.  Unless you want to gain the weight back.  And you don't.  Neither do I.

All in all, I'd say my Saturday night was fun, delicious, and had an indefinable quality that left me feeling I'd been let in on a secret that could change my future.  Simple but true.