Chin up

It's so hard not to get discouraged sometimes.

Saturday morning I had a gain, not that it surprised me. It was that time, I had a huge Mexican meal sitting on my stomach from Friday night, and for some reason I didn't get in near enough water last week. All resulting in a gain of 1.4 pounds. Yuck.

I certainly want this week to be different. I want a week I can be proud of. I'm going to give it the ol' college try...

Today's points:

Breakfast: Fiber One bar: 2 points
banana: 2 points

Lunch: cheeseburger taco: 7 points
sliced tomato: 0 points
apple: 1 point

Afternoon snack: yogurt: 1 point

Dinner: grilled chicken sandwich: 8 points
French fries: 4 points
two evil cookies: 5 points

TOTAL: 29 points. Horrible.
Tomorrow. Seriously.

Water: IIII (before noon)
IIII (4-7 p.m.)

Strengthen Your Bum While Brushing Your Teeth

Sound too good to be true??? Here's the story...

We ran again yesterday evening, I hope it's the start of making it part of the weekly routine again, and that's great. But I know I need to be doing some other activity/exercise during the day too, but I'm honestly not a big fan. So, I'm trying to sneak some other activity in. And I'm doing it when I brush my teeth.

I have one of those great SoniCare toothbrushes that times me while I brush my teeth. It makes a little beep every 30 seconds to remind me to move to a different quadrant for a total of two minutes of brushing my teeth. So, I've been doing squats too during those two minutes. I can squeeze about 50 in during the total 120 seconds. And if I brush my teeth three times a day, I'm sneaking in an extra six minutes of activity that I wouldn't have otherwise.

If you decide to give it a shot, be sure to follow good squat form: Don't let your knees go out in front of your toes; don't let your bottom fall below your knees; tighten your abs. You know the drill... I do the "I'm gonna sit down, wait, nevermind" kinda thing.

Today's points:

Breakfast: Bagel-ful: 3 points
yogurt: 1 point

Lunch: English muffin pizzas: 4 points
apple: 1 point

Afternoon snack: string cheese: 1 point
snack cakes: 1 point

Dinner: salad: 6 points
avocado roll: 3 points

TOTAL: 20 points

Scale in the Attic

I'm proud to report, no loss or gain when I weighed Saturday morning. I shouldn't be pleased without a loss of any kind, but after filling my mouth with Easter candy and hamburgers last week, it could have been sooooo much worse.

I'm ready for a good week. I'm ready to feel in control again. I'm ready to see a good loss.

In our meeting Saturday, we talked about hiding the scale in the attic. We talked about a few more things other than just that, but that is really the thing that stuck with me. I've already admitted it, I'm addicted to the scale. Sometimes it's even a daily ritual. But what am I letting my mind tell itself each time I weigh???

If I have a loss which shows on my scale at home, am I giving myself permission to slide from my plan and program a bit??? If I see a gain, am I letting myself just throw my hands up and say "screw it" to the rest of the week??? I'm not sure. So this week -- I'm certainly at least going to give it a try -- I'm not going to weigh here at the house.

Instead of relying on a daily number as feedback, I want to look back at my journaling each day and know that I'm having a great week, that I'm creating a great week for myself. The number on the scale is not the only feedback to rely on. I just need to keep telling myself that...

Breakfast: yogurt: 1 point
banana: 2 points
tortilla: 2 points
(so random to crave a tortilla)

Lunch: soup: 2 points
chips: 3 points
snack cakes: 1 point

Afternoon snack: crackers: 2 points
Laughing cow wedge: 1 point

Dinner: grilled chicken: 5 points
green beans: 1 point
lemon yogurt pie: 3 points

TOTAL: 23 points

I'm Weak

I started blogging and journaling yesterday, then had a bad lunch (read: high-point lunch) and stopped in shame. Today, I almost did the same thing when I had a hot dog WITH cheese for lunch and neighbors brought over some Easter candy as a thank-you gift for cat sitting, but decided I better keep counting anyway. I'm too quick to just stop journaling and keeping track when I go a little overboard. But I'm learning and reminding myself: That's why I'm blogging in the first place. To be accountable, to be able to look back and see the patterns and recognize the reasons why when I don't have a loss in a certain week.

So, the ugly truth of points today:

Breakfast: cereal: 2 points
1/2 cup soymilk: 1 point

Lunch: hot dog: 8 points
chips and salsa: 3 points
snack cakes: 1 point

Afternoon snack: Easter candy: 4 points

Dinner: chicken-ranch quesadilla: 5 points
rice: 4 points
MORE Easter candy: 4 points

TOTAL: 32 points. Yuck.

Backtracking

I'm running again this week. At this point, we should be finished with our nine-week program, but a couple of weeks of Cole being sick and then SXSW has our schedule all outta whack. So, I'm backing up a couple of weeks and starting again this with maybe week 5. No shame in that, I'm glad to have running in my plans for the week again. I've missed it...

If it doesn't happen tonight because of the coming storms, we'll be running Wednesday evening for sure.

Breakfast: 1 cup MultiGrain Cheerios: 1 point
1/2 vanilla soy milk: 1 point
banana: 2 points

Lunch: soup: 2 points
crackers: 2 points
cheese: 1 point
snack cakes: 1 point

Afternoon snack: Rice Krispie treat: 2 points

Dinner: BBQ cup: 7 points
steamed green beans: 1 point (for the butter)

TOTAL: 20 points on the nose.

Baby Eggplant

I bought four of the cutest little baby eggplants today, but I'm just not exactly sure what to do with them.

I was thinking about cutting them in half and roasting them with a little extra virgin olive oil and dried herbs, but if anyone has a better thought, please let me know.

Laura? Kathy? Claudia?

The BBQ and Tex-Mex Diet

Well, even after all the BBQ and Tex-Mex from this week, I was still able to bank a loss -- 1.6 pounds to be exact. Still 13 pounds to goal (Christmas put me way behind), but I'm getting there. And I'm okay with taking the slow and scenic route.

Hope and Sand

If my bathroom scale here is any indication, I've made progress the last two days. SXSW was tough on me in the food department. Good food, don't get me wrong, just too much of it. And I didn't drink half as much water as I should or as I usually do. If I had had my normal amount, I would have been up at least three times during those hour-long panels.

Our scale here at the house usually weighs me 2-2.2 heavier than the official WW scale, so I'm expecting (and hoping) to see a loss in the morning. Plus, I have new motivation: a beach trip the last weekend in May. Hanging out in a bathing suit on the boat with Cole is one thing, but being on a beach full of thousands of complete strangers is another for some reason.

I'm planning on going with a cousin and his kids, my folks and my grandmother, and I just want to play in the sand and collect shells and take pictures with the kids and be comfortable in my own skin.

Today's points:

Breakfast: chocolate-bran muffin: 1 point
banana: 2 points

Lunch: chicken pasta salad: 5 points
chips: 3 points

Afternoon snack: South Beach cookies: 3 points

Dinner: salad: 6 points
two cheese sticks: 4 points

TOTAL: 24 points. Still too many, but we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Produce Goals

I don't eat enough fruits and vegetables. Do any of us really??? I eat a banana almost every day, and many days I have an apple with lunch, but I don't eat near what I should.

I know that snacking on cucumbers or sugar-snap peas would probably keep me from munching on snack cakes every day, too. So that's my goal for next week (starting this Saturday after my meeting): Stock up on enough fruits and veggies to get me through the week. Does fried okra count???

Breakfast: chocolate-bran muffin: 1 point
breakfast cookies: 3 points

Lunch: chicken nuggets: 6 points
fruit cup: 1 point
snack cakes: 1 point

Afternoon snack: 100-calorie English muffin: 1 point
snack cakes: 1 point

Dinner: chicken-ranch quesadilla: 10 points

TOTAL: 24 points. Not perfect, but okay... And boy did I NOT get enough fruits and/or veggies in today.

I Don't Even Know What Day It Is

But Cole tells me it's Wednesday.

SXSW was great. Educational. Funny. Informative. Controversial at one point. Those of us from Hammock who attended did a bang-up job covering it. Check it out if you want to.

And now that the trips for lattes, BBQ and Tex-Mex are over, I'm ready to get back down to WW business. Stepping on the scale this morning told me exactly what I had done and exactly what I need to do: buckle down and count points.

Back on track, my day in points:

Breakfast: chocolate-bran muffin: 1 point
banana: 2 points

Lunch: cheese quesadilla: 6 points
apple: 1 point

Afternoon snack: granola: 2 points

Dinner: English muffins pizzas: 4 points
Caesar salad: 4 points

TOTAL: 20 points.

SXSW 2008

I'll be fairly quiet on this front for the next several days. But if you're so inclined, you can follow me and the rest of the Hammock gang as we geek our way through SXSW by visiting hammock.com. We'll be blogging, tweeting and photographing every minute of every day. Or at least giving it a good shot. And there is sure to be a trip to the Salt Lick in there too.

If you happen to be there too, say hi. I'll be the redhead toting around the Darth Vader computer bag (thanks, honey!).

March's First Monday

Can you believe it's March?!?!

I feel like I'm having a great start to the week and month. My home scale budged in a downward direction this morning for the first time in what seems like months, and I'm pleased that I've had two fairly good days of staying on program.

I won't get to weigh this weekend at my regular Saturday morning meeting, but I hope to try to squeeze in a quick official weigh in on Friday. SXSW has my weekend full of fun, and I know if I see a good number on the official scale come Friday, it will give me the fire to eat well even with all the dining out we'll be doing throughout the weekend.

Today's breakdown...

Breakfast: scrabbled egg pita: 4 points

Lunch: quesadilla: 6 points
chips and salsa: 2 points

Afternoon snack: snack cakes: 1 point

Dinner: chicken taco salad: 10 points

TOTAL: 23 points. I'll take it...

100 Pounds and SXSW

If your weekly Weight Watchers meeting is anything like mine, your leader ends the meeting by celebrating. We celebrate every five pounds, bigger milestones like 25 and 50 pounds, goal, etc. Well, yesterday we had a celebration I had never seen before. A nice lady in my regular Saturday morning meeting hit the 100-pound mark. She's lost 100 pounds and she's not finished yet. One hundred pounds. And she did it in 11 months. Just seeing her stand up and tell a bit of her story was a huge boost to me. And it's proof that we all take this journey at our own pace. We all do it for different reasons, and we all have to jump different hurdles along the way.

I'm still battling against -- and beating myself up for -- the six Christmas pounds I'm still carrying around. What is the deal with that?!?! But this lady gave me hope. If she can knock off 100 pounds and keep going, I can certainly keep working to get myself healthier. And these last pounds are sure to disappear along the way.

Oh, and...

The Interactive portion of SXSW starts Friday. Rex and Laura and Patrick come to town for the festivities, and it always means lots of fun, nerdiness, learning and good Austin food. If you happen to be at the Convention Center for SXSW and see me walking around with Cole's Darth Vader computer bag (he's loaning it to me for the occasion), tap me on the shoulder and say hi...

Sunday points:

Breakfast: cereal: 2 points
banana: 2 points
1/2 cup soy milk: 1 point

Lunch: French bread pizza: 6 points
apple: 1 point
snack cakes: 1 point

Afternoon snack: rice cake: 1 point
Laughing Cow wedge: 1 point

Dinner: soup: 2 points
chips and salsa: 3 points

TOTAL: 20 points. Here's hoping for a great week!!!