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!

Giving In Just a Little

The Spurs game Friday night was so much fun!  And the Spurs won!

Photo: http://www.sportnooz.com/tag/okafor

It's always fun watching my boyfriend at work.

Tony Parker -- Okay, so maybe he doesn't know he's my boyfriend yet, but I'm sure I'll be a refreshing change of pace after Eva Longoria!

We watched the basketball action from the suite, where all kinds of food was served.

Fajitas!

I had some chicken with hot sauce -- no tortillas, cheese, sour cream, etc. -- and just a few cashews (I counted them like a nerd and had 8.)

Snacks everywhere!

Lots of drinks were available, including all kinds of beer and wine.  I prefer hard liquor, so I was safe and drinking water or Sprite Zero, until someone opened the liquor cabinet.  I couldn't resist and had a little Jack & Diet Coke.

The dessert cart came around, and I just went out for a peek and a photo.

The Delightfully Evil Dessert Cart

Then someone came in with a shot of DiSaronno in a little chocolate shot cup.  Okay, so I had one, minus the chocolate cup.  I got mine in a regular glass.  I don't normally drink much, but it looks like my big splurges for the night were alcohol related.  We had a great time, and I tracked everything, so it's all good.

Saturday night was a fundraising gala in Kerrville.  That was fun too, but I had already decided not to drink.  I had a big salad, a little pork tenderloin, and lots of veggies on the side.  No bread, just because I knew if I started on that, I would get that carb rush and go nuts.  And then dessert was served.  Turtle brownies.  This could be trouble.

Are you kidding me?!

I took one tiny bite, then my husband had a bite.  Then I took another little bite.  It was the best dessert I've had in a long time.  So I passed the dessert to my husband and made him place it far away from me.  My tactic worked!

The Turtle Brownie in Exile

Then, of course, there was dancing and socializing, and I got out of there feeling pretty good about it and having had a wonderful time.

I had planned to work out on Sunday, but started feeling really bad and didn't feel up to it.  I think it's just a bad cold, but it's put me in slow-motion.

Aside from feeling under the weather Sunday and today, I had a really fun weekend and feel good about the food choices I made.  Exercise is on tap this week, and I'm determined to have another loss at Weight Watchers this week.  

Hot 100 Update, Thanksgiving Edition

My update for the Hot 100 Challenge:

1.  Lose 15-plus pounds by the end of the year / end of the challenge.  I'm getting there!  I am just 3.8 pounds from reaching this goal!

2.  Get more sleep.  Hit or miss.

3.  Start taking vitamins.  I'm still doing well with this one, even though I might forget now and then.

4.  Make a plan for eating and exercising over the holidays and stick to it.  I totally showed Thanksgiving who's boss!  I managed to eat a little of my favorites, had a wonderful time with family (still at my parents' house right now), and didn't overdo it.  It was cold here the whole time, and I didn't get in much exercise, but I'm still pleased with how I did.

That's it for now, because I'm now going to visit the family and watch more football.

Hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

Weekly Weigh-In (Belated Version)

Weigh-In:
Been so busy lately and somehow didn't post my weekly weigh-in from last Thursday.  It was disappointing but not surprising.  Big goose egg!  No loss, no gain.  I won't be ridiculous and try to trick myself by saying I have no idea what happened, because I do.  Very little exercise, and more sugar and carbs than I needed.  Stayed within my Points, but clearly I needed to regroup for this week.  Exercising is not going well.  I am finding it difficult to make time for it.  Notice I did not say that I don't have the time.  We all have the same number of hours in a day, but I'm not making it a priority for some reason.  Some weeks are like that, and I'm not going to get down about it.  I just need to move my butt.

So here's some more odds and ends from last week:

Medical:
Went for my yearly "well woman" checkup last week.  Now that I'm 40, I get to go for a mammogram.  Wheee!  Actually, I'm not scared!  I've had a few already, and it's not a big deal.  The doctor also put me on medication for my PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), and I'm having lots of tummy aches from it.  Supposed to get better though, which will be great.

Got my flu shot Wednesday!  I was way braver than my kids (they got the nasal mist), but nobody offered me a lollipop.  Guess they sensed my Weight Watcherness and respected my boundaries.

Had to get a new box of my vitamins.  They've changed the formula a little, and now it contains 7 tablets per day instead of 6.  So this means I am now taking 13 pills per day.  In a week, I'll up one of my medications, and it will be 14 pills per day.  I accidentally missed a time or two on various meds, so I made a decision.  I had to do it, even though I didn't want to.  I went full-on old-lady mode and bought this:

Daily Pill Case - Specifically Designed for Senior Citizens

Events and Food:
Tuesday was a luncheon to hear an author discuss the time he spent with legendary CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.  Together they wrote a book called Conversations with Cronkite.

Walter Cronkite

It was a very interesting presentation.  The food, however, was one of those slip-ups that led to my ZERO WEEK at WW, though.  They served salad, which was already dressed with a little Ranch.  Not swimming in it, no big deal.  But the main dish was white rice (I had about half of it), nice veggies (naked), and -- lest you think it was a healthy lunch -- chicken cordon bleu.  Yes, that's right - Chicken stuffed with cheese and ham, then breaded and drenched in cream sauce.  What's that?  Yeah, you guessed it.  I ate about half of it.  Oh, well...

I was telling my friend and neighbor Denise about a recipe I read for quinoa.  It's hard to find in our little town, but she saw some while she was at the grocery store and picked it up for me!  She's so sweet!  I haven't yet tried it, because it seems like we've had something going on almost every night and I haven't cooked.   I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, yeah, and did I mention how famous I am?  My picture was in the local magazine from when I was at the Breast Cancer Gala.  Hit the big-time, let me tell ya'!

Have a wonderful week!

Halloween Happenings

Friday was the "Pumpkin Parade" at my daughter's elementary school.  The kids bring decorated pumpkins to school, display them on stage, then form a parade to view the pumpkins and show off their costumes.
Some of my favorite pumpkins:

Because we'd been in such a hurry to get to the Pumpkin Parade, my 3-year-old son missed his breakfast at home.  We had some errands to do, so we stopped to get him a kolache.  What did I get?  Black coffee and nothing else!  (Had a protein bar in my purse, so I was all set.)

Later we took the kids to Fiesta Texas (Six Flags) for Fright Fest.  It was lots of fun, and the weather was perfect!

Giant Ferris Wheel

Despite my efforts to avoid buying candy for trick-or-treaters, I freaked out at the last minute and remembered the last couple of years when they came in droves and cleared out all the candy.  My next-door neighbor even had to come over to get some more because she ran out so early.  I knew I wouldn't have enough non-candy items to give out if we had the usual army of tots.

No, this is not the extent of the non-candy items I purchased for trick-or-treaters.

I went and bought several bags of candy just before dark.  Yes, some of it was chocolate, but I was confident I could resist the lure of binge eating it by the fistful.  Mostly, however, I was excited to solve a Halloween mystery:  It DOES exist!  A candy that doesn't call my name, that is.  Kids love 'em, but these are completely safe in my presence - Sour Patch Kids.

Sour Patch Kids Candy

I'm not saying I didn't sample a little candy.  I did.  I wish I hadn't, but I did.  What I didn't do was go nuts.  I wrote down EVERYTHING I ate too.

At one point the bell rang, and I could see through the window on my door that there was a tall figure standing alone on my porch.  Here's what greeted me when I opened the door.

My (normally) perky blonde neighbor

Took me a minute to recognize her!

I haven't gotten in nearly enough exercise this week, unless you count walking the kids down the street and up the hill.  Um, probably not.  So tonight I had not one, but TWO friends asking if I wanted to go walk.  So the three of us (me, Denise and Mandy) went for a walk.  Denise has a great little trail all mapped out.  It's 3.5 miles, and it's got some nice little hills along the way.  It was still really warm, even with the sun going down.  It certainly wasn't the November evening I see in the movies.

I'm wondering how everyone did with temptations this weekend.  For those of us who were less than perfect, just turn it around now.  Go work out, plan out your day's meals, whatever works for you.  We are about to be bombarded with two full months of opportunities to mess up our healthy plans.  How will you deal with it?

Queen B

The birthday party I attended was at Queen B's English Tea Room.  It's in this old house which is filled with shelves and shelves bursting with antique teapots and cups and little knickknacks, all of it for sale.  The tables are right in the midst of all these items, and it's very cozy.  In the mood to be a little silly? Queen B's has loads of hats and boas and lacy gloves to add to your "posh afternoon."

The Tea - About ten of us ladies shared the day's celebration for our friend.  We each had our own little pot of tea, which we poured through strainers into our floral cups.  I chose vanilla, but the choices were endless.  There was Summer (fruity), Winter (spicy), Gunpowder (a strong green tea), and Chocolate (yep, chocolate), just to name a few.

The food - Wonderful and abundant food, with choices from soup and salad and sandwiches to more traditional English fare.  Then I had one little treat and put it in my food journal.  Still stayed within my calorie range for the day!  However, I must admit that despite my wee indulgence, I showed incredible restraint while sitting in front of this:

The gifts - We were instructed not to bring gifts.  I always feel a little funny about this, for some reason, but I obeyed the request.  At one point, the birthday girl said that she wanted to let us know that we had already given her gifts.  She then presented each of us with a slip of paper containing her account of ways our friendship had blessed her.  Each was specific to the recipient.  I thought this was such a sweet gesture and was a real celebration of friendship.  

The bonus - In the central area of Queen B's is a little shop with British items for sale.  I'm sure it's actually a lovely product, but I had to snap a picture of this item that caught my attention purely for its interesting name.

Cheerio, loves!

Spooky Shindig

I took my three-year-old son to a Halloween-themed birthday party full of preschoolers yesterday.  So cute!

Instead of a big cake, there was an army of skeleton cupcakes  (forgive the photo quality - I took them with my mobile phone):

Beware!

Luckily for my weight loss efforts, these little guys couldn't be quickly and discreetly gobbled down in a corner somewhere, so I passed on the cupcakes.  Instead, I watched the kids play sweet little games like "Pin the Spider on the Web," "Musical Ghosts," "Bobbing for Apples," "Painting Pumpkins," and a mummy game where they wrapped each other in toilet paper.

Smiling Skeletons

This was also served, so I could munch without fear.

Haunted Bunny Food

 Then after partying down with the preschoolers, I headed to the gym, where the elliptical was my evening activity.

Making Progress!

This was a good test run for the upcoming holiday parties, I think!  What strategies do you have for dealing with the holiday festivities?

Weekly Weigh-In and Hot 100 Update

Weigh-In:

Well, my weight loss has slowed considerably, with 0.8 lost again for this week.  It's okay, but I'm going to have to lose just over a pound a week to meet my goal of 15 additional pounds lost by the end of the challenge.

I'm now down a total of 16.6 total.  It's still too soon to tell by looking at me that I've lost any weight, but I'll get there!

Hot 100:

Speaking of the Hot 100 Challenge, here's my update for this week:

1.  Lose 15-plus pounds by the end of the year / end of the challenge.  Despite a mild start, I'm still heading in the right direction with 13.4 pounds to lose by the end of the year.

2.  Get more sleep.  Still failing miserably.  I need to get a grip on my time management in order to make this happen, so I'm not scrambling around at night trying to finish everything up.

3.  Start taking vitamins.  I'm rocking this one!  By the way, I enjoyed everyone's comments about the Horny Goat Weed from my last update.  Still not sure what it really is intended for.

4.  Make a plan for eating and exercising over the holidays and stick to it.  This one is still several weeks off, but I'm already mentally rehearsing for it.

Book Club:

Last night was my monthly book club meeting.  It is one of my favorite activities ever.  In case anyone is interested, we'll be discussing The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton at our next meeting.

We always start with drinks and appetizers, followed by salad and main course, plus dessert.  I passed on the sangria, which looked and smelled delicious, and I ate one Triscuit but none of the cheeses or meats on the appetizer tray.  

Then we had a nice green salad (dressing on the side).  My friend Wendy hosted last night, and bless her heart, she made a very healthy soup for the main meal.  Big chunks of veggies and chicken in a clear broth with nice spices.  Yum!  By the way, Wendy is my "tiny friend" I referred to in my post about the Chocolate Lounge.  Don't hate her for being thin - she really is one of the sweetest people I know.  She also served her world-famous artichoke bread, and I had one small piece of that.  

Then came dessert.  It was a lovely thick pound cake with berries and whipped cream.

Book Club Dessert

I had my dessert, but without the cake.  Still yummy!

My Version of the Dessert

Have a wonderful weekend!

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!