Archive for the “Weight Loss” Category

They say that time always flies when you’re having fun.  Well, I don’t know that I’ve been having all that much fun, but time is still flying by at Mach speed.

First, to give you an update on Stephanie.  She went home today!  YAY!  She has been able to talk for about a month now, since the trach was removed.  She has made tremendous progress physically, spiritually and emotionally.  It has been a joy to watch the light return to her eyes and see her mischievous grin.  She will continue to have hyperbaric treatments on an out-patient basis to help with the healing of her left foot.  As it stands now, Keepers: big toe and the one next to it, Loser: pinky toe will have to be removed, Unknowns: a decision will be made on the two remaining toes after she completes her round of treatments.  I am so grateful that God has brought my friend back.  I can hardly wait to see what His plans are for her now.

Next, at the end of January, I mentioned that another dear friend was going through a rough time as she was diagnosed with Endometrial Cancer.  She had a hysterectomy a few weeks ago and physically has been healing well.  As for her spiritual healing, she received some news last week that has sent her reeling into the land of “what if”.  She is now waiting for another Pathologist to run tests.  I am praying that God would move mountains for her and that she would be filled with His peace that passes understanding as she waits for the new report to be given to her this Thursday.  I will admit I’ve only known her for a little over a year, but I feel such a strong bond to her and I am so thankful that God has placed her in my life as friend and neighbor.  If I could pick a sister, I’d want her to be mine.

Finally, (for tonight at least) I wanted to give you an update on my weight loss journey.  I think the last time I posted something about it was back in December.  At that time, I was almost half way to my 30lb. goal.   After tonight’s weigh-in, (drum roll, please)  I am pleased to announce that I have lost 29.4lbs. since joining Weight Watchers.  If you count the 10lbs. I lost before starting WW, I’ve lost almost 40 pounds!  Yay, me!  I am so excited about this, I’m just beside myself.  I honestly didn’t think I would be able to do it – but I did!  Aaand, I have done TWO 5K’s this year.  I did one in January and another the last Saturday in February.  I was amazed at the difference of how I felt after each race.  After the race in January, things hurt that I didn’t know could hurt.  After the race in February, I was a little sore and tired, but had no where near the aches & pains I had after the January event.  Granted, I’m only walking the races, but still, I’m amazed at the things my body can do now.  I’m determined to get the remaining .6lb off by next week, so I can officially meet the goal, and then I’ll work on setting the next goal.  I’ll keep you posted with the results!

For now, I’m headed to bed.  It’s been a long day, and tomorrow has a whole lot more in store. So, good-night ya’ll!

We took a break from school last week, which would lead you to believe that I would have more free-time than usual, but some how it all vaporized into thin air.  Now here we are with only one month left in 2009.  How the heck did THAT happen!?!?

Well, to update my stats on my quest of weight loss.  Last week I lost 4.6 lbs., this week I lost another 2.6 lbs, which brings my total to 14.4 lbs – >this< close to reaching the halfway point to my 30 lb. goal.   Again, I’m so proud of myself, I think I could bust.  Since October 28th I have lost nearly 15 pounds, which means I made it through Halloween and Thanksgiving.  And, I not only didn’t gain weight, I lost it! Woo-hoo!

Now I still have a looooooong way to go.  Most people don’t notice any change.  But I have already felt some big changes with just 14 pounds gone.  First, my knees and ankles don’t scream at me first thing in the morning.  I get up now and they don’t hurt at all.  It’s kind of weird to walk to the bathroom and realize nothing aches.  The other thing I’ve noticed is the change in my view from the top.  It sounds kind of silly, but when I look down I don’t see my tummy like I used to – it’s still there, and there is still lots of it that needs to go, it’s just that I can tell something is gone and THAT is a good thing.

We’ve also been playing with our Wii quite a bit more lately.  I’ve really enjoyed the Wii Fit.  I do have to claim an injury from it though – I overused muscles in my left wrist when boxing.  I guess I need to do it more often so I can build them up.   We’ve also played Mountain Sports, and the Sports Resort games.  They are fun to play, but they don’t make me sweat like the Wii Fit can.  I’m thinking I might want to add the Wii Fit Plus to my Christmas List for the year.

For Thanksgiving, my parents came up for a short visit.  I always love it when they come.   We had a great time, and due to their schedule, we re-scheduled Thanksgiving to Wednesday.  It was great!  We made turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberry relish, “miracle mashies”, and an apple-pear crisp.  The only thing that wasn’t “cleaned” with healthier products was the gravy.  The dressing was made using a low-points value recipe for the corn bread and turkey sausage. The cranberry relish and the Apple-Pear Crisp were both WW recipes.  The Miracle Mashies were from a Hungry Girl cookbook.   Which means I managed to stay in my points range for the day – even on Thanksgiving.

There’s more to share but it’s getting late and tomorrow’s schedule is packed.  So it’s off to bed for now!

I don’t have a lot of time tonight, (because I am dead-dog tired) but I just wanted to pop in to say….

I’m down another 1.6 lbs!  Woo-hoo! Bringing my 3-week total to -7.2 lbs.  Bringing me very close to being 25% of the way toward my goal of 30 lbs.

I’m still excited about the program because this is obviously something that actually works for me.  I like that there are no “forbidden foods”.  Because in all honesty, as soon as someone says “You can’t eat that”, then “that” becomes all I want to eat.

Some of the changes I’ve made include:

Portion control – this was by far my biggest downfall prior to WW.  Learning to be satisfied with enough, instead of too much.

Bring on the veggies – I’ve added a lot more broccoli and cauliflower to my menu.  I love it, and my kids love the broccoli.

“Cleaning” recipes – I’ve gone through some of my favorite recipes and cleaned them up by using more “fat free”, “low fat”, and “sugar free” ingredients when possible.

Hungry Girl – I purchased one of her books.  I’ve made her Chocolate Cake twice in the past week.  It’s soooo yummy, and the POINTS value is pretty low.  (Her recipe is to take a box of Devils Food Cake Mix or I used a Chocolate Cake Mix, then mix it with a can of pumpkin.  Don’t add eggs or oil or water – just pumpkin.  The batter will be pretty thick when it is mixed, but it will taste wonderful.  Bake it as the box directs for the type of cake pan you use.  Voila! Yummy cake, at about 4 points per piece. And I promise, you don’t taste the pumpkin at all.)  Now, if I could just get Hubby to slow down on the cake eating, it might actually last a couple of days.

Tonight concludes my second week of following the Weight Watchers POINTS program.  As I mentioned last week, I have a fair amount to lose.  Through some research, I decided that WW would be the tool I could use to find my solution.  After living with the program another week, I still think it is the right tool for me.  I am so glad that I found it, and that my friend KC is right there beside me to offer support and encouragement.

I had another pretty good week.  Not stellar, but considering some of the lessons I learned, it was pretty gosh-darn great.   I’ve learned to calculate POINTS on everything.  And I do mean everything.  Also, it would be wise to calculate them prior to eating them.  Here’s why:

Hubby and I had a date night at Pizzaria Uno’s in Fort Worth last week.  I had a salad and two slices of pizza.  Now, I know that pizza is not the healthiest food, but I also know that WW will allow a little flexibility.  So, I had two wonderful, delicious slices of the Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza – which is the pizza Hubby and I share whenever we go there.  (Luckily for me, we only go once or twice a year.)   Anyway, when I got home I looked up the nutritional information for the Chicago Classic.

Do you care to make any guesses about how many calories are in ONE slice of this amazingly-delicious pizza?

500?

600?

700?

Nope, its MORE!

There are 770 calories in ONE slice of this pizza.  And I had TWO!  Now the good news is that because I knew I would have to write down what I ate, I only had two slices instead of three.  And truth be told, I was feeling quite full with the two – so I’m glad I didn’t have that third one.

Although once I learned the POINT values, I nearly passed out when I went to write down on my tracker how many points I ate at dinner that night.  But, I behaved quite well the rest of the week.  And, drum roll please…

I lost 1.8 pounds this week.  Bringing my two week total to 5.6 pounds, which puts me right in line with what all doctors/experts/health gurus say about healthy weight loss (i.e. right around 2 lbs. per week).

Yay, me!

So, I think it’s time to confess my dirty little secret.

I’m overweight.

Not like it’s a huge secret, I mean anyone who sees me – knows that I’m overweight, by a lot.  I don’t feel comfortable enough to share how much I weigh, or how much I could stand to lose – at least for now.  Maybe as I move forward with this in the weeks and months to come, I’ll feel confident enough to share.  But for now, let’s just say I could stand to lose a few pounds.

It’s not like this is a revelation.  I know it, and known it for years.  I’ve tried all sorts diets and schemes.  Some work, some don’t – all of them have required more effort than I was willing to put into it.  Ergo, none of them worked in the long run.

When we were on vacation a couple of weeks ago in San Antonio.  I was really overcome by the thought that I have to do something about my weight.  There was no major event that caused this.  I didn’t fall into the river.  I didn’t have any embarrassing moments.  I just realized as I was staring out at the skyline from our balcony that I don’t want to be like this anymore.  So, I set a goal to lose 30 pounds.  I don’t have a required time frame because I tend to take myself WAY too seriously and quit if I don’t meet all points of the goal.

So, 30 lbs. with a time frame of “get it done, but do it right, and don’t try to kill yourself in the process.”  I know I’m not going to be one of “The Biggest Loser”s and get it all done in 2 weeks.   But I also know that if I’m left to my own devices, nothing will happen.  Something had to change in order for me to move toward this 30 lb. goal.

And, that change is official – I have joined Weight Watchers.

I’ve been doing it for a week now, and for the first time ever – I really feel like I can do this.  I don’t ever remember feeling like this after one week on any other plan.  Sure there were some where I lost tons of weight, but I knew what I did to lose it couldn’t be done for the long haul.  But this WW thing, I really think I can do this!

I love that I can eat normal food, just smaller portions. I don’t have to buy any pre-packaged meals or eat only prescribed foods.  I like that I can still have my coffee the way that I like it, which is a little coffee with my cream.   I like that I don’t have to give any particular food items up.  I like that I’m learning (or rather, re-learning) proper portion sizes.  I like that I’m learning to pay attention to everything I eat.  I like that I have a buddy to go with me to the meetings.  I like that I’m moving toward a healthier me.  And, I like that it has an impact on my immediate family because I’m pretty sure Hubby’s going to end up losing a few pounds, too.

Tonight, I had my second weigh-in.  I lost 3.8 lbs. this week.  Can you believe it?!  Nearly 4 pounds the week of Halloween!  I’m so proud of myself, I think I could bust.