Another Monday!

Sometimes I literally have to come back to work to rest, and I think that is the case this week. I'm exhausted, but in a good way of course!

My weekend up north went great! The weather was gorgeous on Saturday, and the lake was perfect!

I left Friday morning about 945 for the north, and I got up there about 130. When I got there is was raining, but I was fine with that since we were having company up Friday night and Saturday, so my mom need help in the kitchen regardless. When I got up there, I was starving, and my mom had sandwich stuff, so I ate a sandwich. I was surprised at how gross I found real white bread (it was all they had). I don't remember not liking bread EVER, but I seriously thought it was gross, I love my light wheat bread now, haha. So I helped my mom in the kitchen, watched some tv and then they decided to do dinner....at the Casino buffet in another town about 30 minutes from them.

I was nervous about going to a buffet, I hadn't been to one since being on WW's, but I think I did well. I had a little bit of everything. I wanted a perogie, so I got one, cut it in half, and left the other half for garbage. I did the same with everything else. I left there feeling satisfied, but not overly full, which was great. I know the food was high in sodium, and probably not the best, but I didn't go crazy, so that was good.

Saturday I spent all day out on the water, swimming, water skiing and tubing (for the first time in 5 years!), we had lunch which I controlled myself good too!

Needless to say the scale was up when I got home, but I had it down again this morning by about a pound, and I'm back in my "range". So I would say the weekend was a success! yay!

Suppose to be hot here this week, ugh! I think I will be opting to stay in on the couch and rest up, I'm exhausted!

Also yesterday I got a 30 minute Rollerblade in, and I managed to pick 2 quarts of raspberries and get my raspberry vinegar set up to do its thing for the next 3 or 4 weeks, so that was good.

Alright, I'm going to get back to work. I hope everyone is doing wonderful and having a healthy happy day!

Weigh In

Thought you were getting rid of me eh? Nah! Weighed in this morning, and I was down .6lbs. I'm happy with that!

I don't know if anyone else recieved the storms that we did last night, but wow! I seriously thought we were having tornados from about 10p to 5 or 6 this morning. Our power went out about 11, and came back on about 430 this morning. The sky appears to be clearing up right now, but I heard more rain for today.....and god knows we need it.

But I have today off, and the dog and I are heading North! So everyone have a splendid, healthy and happy weekend!

My Decision

After some long hard thought, and some heart to hearts with some of my girlfriends who've been on the weight loss journey with me, I've decided to switch over to maintenance mode. I'm content with where I am at right now, for the time being. After a month or two of learning to maintain where I'm at, perhaps I will switch back to loss mode and try to lose the last 10lbs, but for the rest of the summer, I'm going to give my body a break, and maintain. I'll still be posting weekly weigh ins, and the range I am going to allow myself is 148-153, as I seem to be hovering right around 150.

I'm discouraged

For some reason the scale has been heading back up the last couple days, and I'm totally discouraged about it, since I've been totally OP. I just keep fighting the same 5lbs over and over and it's getting so frustrating. Once again at the point where I feel like quitting, but I'm not going too, I've worked to hard. But god I'm frustrated.

Zucchini Bread Recipe

For those who are interested, here is my Zucchini Bread Recipe. It's great, and only 2 points per slice.

Weight Memory

So this is a topic that I keep meaning to touch on, but never seem to remember. Weight Memory. We've all heard about it before. But what do you guys think?

I never really believed that your body had a memory of weights which you were at for an extended period of time previously (some articles I've read have said this can happen if you were at a weight for over a year). But recently, with my weight loss, I've hit the weight which I was in High School. I was at this weight throughout High School, and even my first couple years of college. My body was comfortable here, I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted, and with a little activity, my weight never moved from the 150 mark. I was happy with that.

When everyone was talking about this weight memory, I was thinking what a bunch of hoopla, if I want to lose weight, I can. Cutting calories, upping activity, I'll lose weight. And I did. I did it successfully. I have lost almost 20 pounds now. But, I seem to be stuck. I think it's beyond a plateau. I think my body is happy here. I think 150 is where is was meant to be. And now I'm thinking that is due to the "weight memory". I was at this weight for so long, my body is like "hey! I really liked being here before, I think we're gonna hang out here!". Never believed it was possible, now I do.

It's not that I don't enjoy the weight I'm at. I'm a heck of a lot healthier and happier than I was 7 months ago when I started weight watchers. I feel thin, I've been told I look good, and some of the issues I was clearly having from overeating have disappeared. But I don't know that I'm ready to switch to maintenance mode. I know that my body is happy here, and I am too, but darn I want to see that goal of 140! I know I'll see it eventually.

But what do you guys think? Is weight memory a myth? Have you guys noticed this in your journey to lose weight? I'd love to hear opinions.

Also, on another note, I will post my Light Zucchini Bread Recipe, as it's to die for, and I've had requests, so expect a post later with that :)

Hope everyone is having a fabulously healthy and happy day!

Happy Monday

Well the weekend went very well. I had the house primarily to myself again this weekend (I just love that!). Friday night the roommate and I went to Mongolian BBQ for dinner, and had yummy stir fry. Then came home and just relaxed on the couch.

Saturday morning I got up and a headed out to get some hiking in with the dog. We managed to cover about 6.5 miles in about 1 hour and 50 minutes. It was a good workout, and the weather was great. I think next time I get a chance to go hiking I am going to try to do about 10 miles. When I got home from hiking I dropped the dog off, had some lunch and then headed out to stock up on my fruit for the week. Got home from that and spent the rest of the day baking zucchini bread, the real kinda, and then my "diet" version. The diet version didn't rise quite like the others did, but it still turned out really good, and only 2 points per slice.

Sunday I got up and was pretty much a lazy ass, haha. I finished baking zucchini bread, got laundry done, burned some CD's for one of my brothers, and finally around 5 decided to get out of my PJ's and go Rollerblading, which I did for about 45 minutes. After that made dinner, showered, puttered around some more and went to bed. As I said, a pretty lazy Sunday.

Overall eating wise the weekend went well. Stayed on program, didn't eat any flexies, but did eat some of the activity points. This weekend I'm heading north again, so I'm going to need to plan and pack accordingly.

The scale is heading back down, so that's encouraging.

Other than that, not much new here in Michigan. I hope everyone is having a healthy and happy day!

Weigh In

Gained 1.8lbs. I'm not upset about it cause I normally gain between 1 and 2 this time of month. So I'm okay with it.

This weekend is going to be gorgeous here in Michigan (then the heat will take over next week, yuck!). I'm planning to get in a nice long hike tomorrow with the dog, although I haven't decided where. Also, I think I am going to bake up multiple loaves of zucchini bread to give to people, and also to freeze. I'm going to try a Weight Watchers-friendly loaf with Splenda, Egg Beaters and Applesauce, we'll see how that comes out, if the recipe is good, I'll post it. I'm using my grandmas recipe, which is just the best, yum!

Other than that, no real plans, just some relaxing. I hope everyone has a great, healthy and happy weekend!

It's been awhile...

I don't know why, but I haven't been in much of a "blogging" mood the last couple days, hence my disappearance. Usually when people disappear it's because they've fallen off the wagon or something similar, but fear not, I'm still on plan, totally.

Of course the scale is up a little since it's that time, and the scale is always up, so I'm not really going to sweat it much. This weigh in tomorrow doesn't really count in my eyes, because what I gain is just water weight, not a true gain.

I have eaten a few of my flexies this week, I've been hungry, so I ate them, thats what they are there for right?

I've noticed something as of lately, and I don't know why I just noticed it, because it's been going on for sometime now. I think Weight Watchers has made me very anal retentive. I know this sounds funny, but it's true!

I'm so particular now about when I eat. It's like on the dot with times, and I try to schedule myself around my eating, or make sure that I have food with me when that time comes. My body is programmed, it's hungry at these times, so I must eat. I was also getting really out of control with cutting up and weighing my fruit. Like I would eat exactly 6 ounces of Apple, because that was one point. Luckily, in order to keep sanity, I decided that I would just count fruit as 1 point. If I eat an Apple it's a point, regardless if it's 3 ounces or 7 ounces. No one got fat eating an extra ounce of fruit.

But I've noticed not even just with food, I'm just very systematic about the way I do things now. When I get dinner ready at night, I know what time I have to start everything so dinner is ready about 715 when my roommate gets home from school. I know which things I have to start at which times.

I plan out our meals 6 weeks in advance, and have one large shopping trip which I get everything canned or that can be frozen, and then I have fresh lists for each week.....yes I'm a freak. But you know, with a little bit of organizing, I have healthy meals planned all the time.

Of course there are many other things which leads me to believe Weight Watchers had brought out the touch of obsessive compulsive that I might have always had (I've always been a little crazy about organizing). Does anyone else notice anything like that?

On another note my garden is producing like crazy, I picked 12 cucumbers on Monday, and I've eaten a bunch of them...so yummy! I'm waiting for my tomatoes and peppers to really let go. I'm sure they will after we get some of the rain that seems to be eluding us.

Anwyays, I hope everyone is having a splendid and healthy day, weigh in tomorrow!

Weekend Wrap Up

I had a great weekend! To start it off when I got home on Friday I went out skating for about 40 minutes, then I prepared myself some dinner, enjoyed my quiet house (and quiet time!) and then headed to Mejier to get my groceries for the week.

Saturday morning I allowed myself to sleep in (because how often do I not have someone else in the house to wake me up, right?), I managed to sleep til 830, which is a victory in itself! After I got up, I had coffee and breakfast and despite the weather looking like rain, I decided to take the dog for a nice hike. So we his the Waterloo State Recreation Area trails, and hiked about 5.5 miles in 90 minutes. It was a great workout, and both the dog and I were exhausted when we got home. So needless to say, that required lunch and some lounging on the couch.

Sunday, I decided I was going to go Mountain Biking, until I realized I had a flat tire. But I didn't let this deter me in the mindset that I was going to get some activity in. So I went skating instead for another 45 minutes. Just kinda hung out the rest of the day, did housework, made myself dinner and took the dog on a 20 minute walk. Nothing to exciting.

So needless to say, a great weekend, and totally on plan, with activity! yay! Unfortunately the scale is up as of this morning, but that was to be expected due to TOM, so I'm not going to get all pissy about it.

I had a NSV of sorts again the other night. Well two actually. First one, I was standing there when I got out of the shower the other night, and for some reason I realized that my arms are looking really thin! I never really thought of them as "fat" but I always had bigger upper arms, you know the kind that couldn't fit into those cute little shirts without being tight around my bicep (I have a real athletic build). And I noticed they were looking rather slim, I was quite pleased! Also another one of sorts, the new jeans I bought the other day, I noticed that now that I "broke" them in a bit, they are actually kinda big, I'm thinking I should've bought the smaller size! Awesome!

Anyways, I hope everyone had a wonderful and healthy weekend! We are finally suppose to get some rain around here the next couple days, which is sure to happen since I spent Saturday night washing my truck! But we really need it, and so does my garden!

Weigh In Report

Well official weigh in this morning showed a loss of .4lbs. Not the biggest loss I've ever seen, but it makes three weeks in a row I've lost, and I haven't had that in a couple months now, so I am totally happy. Next week will be my TOM gain, but at least I know that :)

On a sad note, I feel like I should hold a funeral for the point they finally took away from my daily target. I was really attached to that 22nd point ;). Now on 21 points a day, so I will have to decide where I am going to squeeze that point out of the mix.

Anyways, have a great weekend bloggers, I hope everyone stays healthy and happy!

It's almost Friday!

Thank god it's almost friday, it seems like it's been a long week, when really it hasn't!

Last night went really well. The concert was awesome, and my girlfriend and I had a great time. Tim and Faith are awesome, I think it's the 3rd time I've seen them in concert, and I would totally go again! I also stayed completely OP, I ate before we left and then finished my points when I got home (which was not by my 9p cutoff time, but what the heck, you can't win them all!).

As far as the challenge goes, I did good for my first day, although I didn't get in any Activity Points, but thats because I just didn't have time. I did get in 3 servings of fruit and 2 servings of veggies, and I drank 110 ounces of water. So Day One went well.

Tonight I'm going to stop by my garden to water and pick anything that might be ripening, and then come home, eat dinner and hopefully get out for either a rollerblade or a dog-walk. Depending on whether the dog is up for a walk, we'll see, he has a hard life you know! Then after that I'm going to enjoy my quiet-ness :)

Cooler around here again today...only a high of 78 (breathes a sigh of relief). I hate the hot weather, even with being cold all the time. If I could live somewhere where it was 60-70 all year round, I would be doing great! I don't mind the winter's either though!

Alright, back to work for me, but I hope everyone has a fit and fabulous day, weigh in tomorrow !

Happy Hump Day!

Well Wednesday is finally here, yay! I like Wednesdays because my week is half over at this point. This weeks seems to be incredibly long, just because I only worked two days last week. Plus we've been slow here at work, so when we are slow I end up getting bored and staring at the clock, it makes for a long day. Plus, on top of that, I'm having another allergy test to find out what's been causing me so many problems, and that requires me to be completely off any allergy meds for a full week, so needless to say, I'm miserable allergies wise. Don't realize how much the meds help until I don't have them. The next week ought to be fun.

Other than that, the weather is cooler today! Finally. My computer says it's 68 out right now. I don't think our lows the last couple night have been in the 60's. I wish I was going to be around tonight, I could get out for a skate, or a walk with the dog.

So the Challenge started today that I am going to participate in through October, I'm excited, hopefully it will give me the boost that I need to get to goal. I think I am going to try to get out and mountain bike or hike once a week as part of a "challenge" to myself. Both are awesome workouts, and it will help me get to goal faster. I feel so close to goal, yet so far away.

I totally had a NSV that I forgot to tell everyone about last post. Sunday I decided that I really needed to go jean shopping. It's to the point where my jeans are even just baggy anymore, they are falling off my ass. And my capri's that I wore out (that were a 32 waist), quite literally were falling down, so I went into the jean store to buy some jeans, and I actually fit into a size 8 (28 waist) jeans. Of course I didn't buy them, because I'm not a fan of wearing my pants like they are suppose to fit, but prefer them a little big (I've always been this way, it's the tomboy in me!). So I bought the 30 waist pants, but it was totally a NSV to even be able to fit into the 28's, I've never been an 8, even in HS. But it's encouraging, because I know once I lose this last 10lbs I will probably fit into a size 8 the way I will like to, and I'll be able to squeeze into a 6...which is just crazy to think....bye bye to those 14's forever!

Other than that everything is going good. Been OP, the scale is behaving itself, and I'm feeling pretty motivated...all great things! Plus on top of that I have the house to myself until Sunday when my roommate gets back....I totally enjoy a house to myself!

Anyways, have a great healthy and happy day everyone!

I'm alive, Really

I just realized how long it had been since I posted, wow. But I'm alive, I'm back!

I had a great time up north again this weekend, and I did manage to pretty much stay on plan for the weekend. I say pretty much because on Saturday at lunch time, I did have my sandwich and preplanned food, but my mom put a bowl of fresh picked up north Cherries in front of me. Needless to say, I ate a bunch, but I did count them, the best I could anyways. Plus, they were fruit, can't go too hog-wild on fruit right?

But needless to say, I managed to stay on plan pretty good, and this morning when I weighed myself I was only up .2lbs, so thats not bad. Hopefully I can get that and a little more off by weigh in.

Although TOM is approaching, and for some reason it's been screwing up two weigh in's lately instead of just one, very frustrating. But I'm praying for a small loss this week, and then my normal 1 to 2 pound TOM gain the following week.

I hate this week though, I get so munchie from TOM that I find myself having a ton of BLT's gotta get that under control if I want to see a loss.

Other than that, everything is going great. I got my first cucumbers out of my garden last night, so that was exciting. It's been hotter than heck here for the last two days, yesterday was 95, today is no better. Tomorrow is suppose to be 78, go figure.

And tomorrow I'm going to see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, crazy excited!

Alright, back to work for me. But I hope everyone is have a fabulously healthy day!

Weigh In 7/6/07

Well I did it, I broke into the 140's on the scale...just barely, but I'm there! I weighed in this morning at 149.6 with a loss of 1 pound, yay!

I just noticed the width of my blog cut off alot of the pictures, sorry about that. I have to figure out how to fix that.

I've been off work since Wednesday (and enjoying it!), and yesterday I got all my landscaping done in the front of my house, it looks great! And I'm sore from all the up and down, so I suppose that is good too.

Well I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, I'm heading up north again (all my pre-portioned food in hand!). Promise I will catch up on everyone's blog on Monday!

Happy 4th and Some Pics

First, the scale was holding steady...in the 140's. Go me!

Second, Happy 4th to all the Americans who read :)

And third, here are some pics from last weekend up north, unfortunately I didn't take as many as I'd hoped, I'm going back up this weekend, and will take more. The first couple were taking about 545a on Saturday when we were getting ready to leave for the island. The next one was taken going over the Mackinac Bridge at 615a. And the next ones are of my brother playing in his jeep on the rocks, to give you an idea of what the day consisted of. Enjoy!

Shhh don't tell anyone!

A peak at the scale this morning revealed the 140's......lets see if I can keep it that way until Friday!

A Successful Weekend

Well good news! My weekend went exactly as planned and I stayed on plan! I ate what I brought up with me, and I ate a reasonable dinner out with the family on Saturday night. There is a local Italian Joint up there that has awesome food, and the family always goes there to eat. So when we got there I opted for the 5 oz baked whitefish, with a side of corn and spaghetti, and a garden salad with vinegarette dressing. I counted everything, and while I did go over a few points from my daily allowance, I think the walking, and climbing in and out of the jeep all day Saturday compensated for that.

I figure I did alright, since when I stepped on the scale this morning, I'm show I'm down .6 from Friday, yay!

I was really worried about being away from home, and trying to stay on program, but I succeeded..Major NSV.

Other than that had a great weekend, I got a few pictures, and I'm planning to head up again this weekend to get some hiking and boating in, so that should be fun.

Crazy busy at work today, so a short post, I'll update more tomorrow, maybe with some July goals, Hope everyone had a great weekend!