Flush Away the Pounds?

Not sure how this happened, but when I weighed today, after just two days back on track, I've lost almost all of the 5.2 I had gained during the five days off the program.  This morning I was up just 0.8 from last Thursday (my official weigh-in day).  I wonder if the gallons of water I drank had anything to do with it?

Normally I save my weigh-in results for after my 12:15 Weight Watchers meeting, but my son has a Thanksgiving Feast today at lunch, and I might miss my official weigh-in.

Don't worry, I'm not tempted by this "feast" today.  It's total chaos but fun for the kids, and it's not easy to get a plate of food.  Then it's more of a potluck kind of situation, and I am not even planning to eat there.  I'll eat at home afterward.  I'm just not in the mood to try to calculate calories and points on all that.

Speaking of food, my friend and neighbor Denise made quinoa last night for her family's dinner and brought some of it to me.

It tasted SO GOOD!  I'll have to get her recipe and post it.  I wish I had taken a photo of it, but the three-year-old and I gobbled it up so fast there was no time.  It tasted a little like Mexican rice.  Just so yummy, and now I've got a new food to add to my limited rotation.

Anyone else a fan of quinoa?

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!

Four Days of Debauchery

Bad, bad, so very bad.

I was trying to be mindful, but I slipped up.  I've had four days of extremely unhealthy eating and overeating.  Not good.

I'm finished eating for the day today, and tomorrow will be back on track.

It was so extreme that I feel quite certain I will NOT get my 25-pound goal on Thursday, but will instead have a gain.  I plan to undo as much damage as I can in the coming days by drinking lots of water, choosing healthy foods in small portions, and exercising.

I will turn it around!

Weekly Weigh-In and Hot 100 Update

Weekly Weigh-In:

This week I lost 1.8 pounds, for a total of 24.2 pounds lost so far.  Look out, 25 pounds!  Comin' to getcha!

Hot 100 Update:

1.  Lose 15-plus pounds by the end of the year / end of the challenge.  I'm getting close on this one.  I just need to lose 5.8 more pounds to reach this goal.

2.  Get more sleep.  It's been a rough week, emotionally.  I'll probably wind up mentioning at some point what's going on, but I'm just not ready to get into it right now.  So while I might be going to bed, I'm not going to sleep at a decent hour.  These things happen.  

3.  Start taking vitamins.  I surprise myself with how well I'm sticking to this one.  My old-lady style pill dispenser reminds me daily to fill myself with vitamins.

4.  Make a plan for eating and exercising over the holidays and stick to it.   I didn't do great at Halloween, but I'm just considering that to be a test run.  My mom is hosting Thanksgiving at her house this year, so my plan is to try to have a part in deciding on the menu.  Then I can plan where to indulge and where to back off.

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!