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!

Weekly Weigh-In

As I've mentioned, I weighed in yesterday (Tuesday) rather than on my usual Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Good news!  I had a loss.  Got a couple of little tokens at my meeting.

A new 5-pound star AND my 25-pound magnet

My total loss as of yesterday?  That would be a big ol' 26.2 pounds, thank you very much!

I wasn't going to weigh until next week, but after the bad week I had before, I thought I'd better go ahead and do it.  So glad I did!  Obviously, it was fun to hit a milestone, but I think even more than that, it was good for me to have that anchor before the holiday.  It reminds me of how far I've come, and in some ways of how far I still have to go.  But most importantly, it reminds me of what I already know: I can do this!  

Oh, and I pulled the bossy card yesterday on my Weight Watchers buddy, Mandy.  She felt she'd had an overeating weekend and wasn't going to weigh in until next week.  Mandy is one of those rare Weight Watchers who does not own a scale!  So each week she weighs in, she gets a total surprise.  I weigh every day, and think I'd freak out under the pressure, but it works for her.

So since she didn't want to go and see a gain, I badgered her and pushed her until she finally just agreed to go weigh.  And guess what?  She LOST almost 2 pounds since Thursday!  Mandy got a 5-pound star too.

Even if we had gained weight, I think it would have been good to go.  Whatever you're doing regularly in your weight loss journey, I hope you'll engage in that before the holiday, just to keep you centered.  If you decide that Thanksgiving comes around once a year, so you're going to eat with abandon for the big meal, then go right ahead.  But let me just remind you that it's Thanksgiving DAY, and there's really no reason to blow the whole week just because you go a little crazy with one meal.  Don't let that lead to an entire week of overindulgence.  Because you really don't want to have to go into the Christmas season with an extra 3, 5, 8 pounds to lose.  You know that's no exaggeration.  I could easily gain that in a week.

So enjoy your Thanksgiving feast, or stay on your usual program.  I'm not telling you what your own plan should be.  But I am encouraging you to stay in control of your own efforts in the days that follow.  Believe me, you'll have another chance to eat that stuff again in a few weeks, so just relax already!

I'm really going to focus this year on the reason for this holiday -- giving thanks.  I have so many things to be thankful for.  We all have difficulties, but when we focus on the blessings in our own lives, it's easy to see that life is good and that there are wonderful aspects of just being alive.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

My Absence Explained

I've been a little lax about posting the last couple of weeks.  Sorry about that!

I mentioned one day that I was having a hard time sleeping due to some stressful things going on.  Well, I thought I'd share that with you today.

My main concern had to do with one of my best friends, Marla.  She has three kids, and the middle child is in 8th grade.  That's Katie.  Katie was diagnosed with a kind of cancer called AML when she was 11 years old, went through treatment, and had been done with all that for about a year and a half.  Two weeks ago the family learned that it's back.

A few days after that, she was back in the hospital getting chemo.  She'll need a bone marrow transplant this time around, and she will be living in the hospital pretty much full-time for several months to come.  It's just hard on Katie and on the whole family, as well as those of us who love them.

So to make myself feel like I was doing something -- anything -- I set up a blog for support of the family.  It was a little time-consuming doing that and working on fundraising ideas in my community.  You're free to check it out if you'd like to know more at www.katieskrowd.blogspot.com.

In addition to that, my father-in-law had heart surgery during this time (he came through it fine), and I found out that someone I've tried to help in the past is probably back on drugs again (not so fine).

In the meantime, however, I have overcome that little binge setback I had and am still back on track.  I'm trying not to confuse food with a security blanket.  That will just make it worse.

My usual weigh-in day is on Thursdays.  Since Thanksgiving is Thursday we will have no meeting, so I'm going to weigh today.  Fingers crossed!  I'll update that in the morning.

Everybody ready for Thanksgiving?  Whatever you plan to do, whether it's strict dieting, moderation, or allowing for an indulgence, I hope you're able to stick with your plan!

Hot 100 Update

My update for the Hot 100 Challenge:

1.  Lose 15-plus pounds by the end of the year / end of the challenge.  Had a setback this week, but I'm back on track.  Five days of craziness, and today is four days back on track.

2.  Get more sleep.  Doing better.

3.  Start taking vitamins.  Solid!

4.  Make a plan for eating and exercising over the holidays and stick to it.  I'm a little concerned about Thanksgiving but am ready for the challenge.  I won't be on my home turf, which has its benefits and its disadvantages.  I can do it though!

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?