"When nothing is sure, everything is possible."
-- Margaret Drabble

TGIF everyone!

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a seriously glad it's Friday! It's been a long week! If you have ever worked in a customer service related industry, you know what I'm talking about. Yesterday was one of those days, everyone I talked to was cranky and being an idiot. I swear, it wasn't just my customers either, every salesman here was about to kill their customers. I was so glad the day was over. And today is looking like it might be quiet, which is good!

Has anyone not been following Michael Phelps? Seriously, that kid is half human, half fish! Did you guys see this article about how much he eats? Honestly, a breakfast that consists of three fried egg sandwiches, a five egg omelet, a bowl of grits, coffee, three slices of french toast and three chocolate chip pancakes? I couldn't eat all that food in one day, let alone one sitting. And he struggles to gain weight, in fact most of the time, he is losing it. I wonder if at that point, eating becomes a chore? I can't imagine it ever being a chore, but it seems like at that point, it might become that way.

Everything is going good for me right now. Eating has been good, and under control. I would say I'm probably eating a little more, but it's primarily fruits and vegetables, so I don't really see that being a problem. I start eating more ice cream and chips, that would be a problem. I've just taken the approach that I don't keep the stuff in the house. I have one bag of crackers which I finished (wheat thin multigrains...yum!), and I keep cereal, those are my snack foods. I have ice cream, but I've learned to keep it in the freezer in the basement, that way if I'm grazing, I don't "stumble" across it. One of my favorite snacks as of lately has been frozen bananas, terribly yummy, and taste like ice cream!

Running has been going good, I planned for a total of 13 miles this week, and I got them in, so that's great. Next week is 14 miles, and I'm looking forward to it. Although next week is suppose to be alot warmer, so it won't be quite as pleasant as my 75-80* running weather this week!

I think I've decided to step away from the scale again, and just weigh once a month. It's getting a little insane, I'm weighing myself like 5 times a day, and this isn't a good thing. I am up about 1lb, averaging about 143.....but get this my clothes are feeling even bigger. My 29 pants I bought just a month ago, are getting a little big on me. So I'm assuming with running I'm gaining muscle, losing fat. So that's a good thing. So I can't fixated on that number on the scale so much. So My official one month weigh in will be Sunday, and then I will put the scale away for the month..

This weekend should be a good one. Tonight is my normal Friday night (I'm totally a routine person!), Grocery Shopping, and then the Tigers are on, and I will watch them. Tomorrow I'm going to be doing something with Tech, although I'm not sure what yet. And Sunday a run, and then normal chores, and I think I might meet a girlfriend at the park with the dogs. So should be good, plus I have to do a little baking! Fun!

What's your guys plans for the weekend?

Have great weekend guys, and I will catch up with ya soon!

"The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly-
that is what each of us is here for."
~Oscar Wilde

I was bored this afternoon, so I thought I would stop in for a quick little update.

Yesterday went well, eating wise I had no problems. Running went good, I got two miles in real quick when I got home, and got showered, and had something to eat before heading off to meet Tech to play some mini golf.

The date went well. I had made chocolate chip cookies the day before as I had mentioned, and I saved a few to take to him. So we played some mini golf, and hit some balls in the batting cages and went to part our separate ways, and I gave him the cookies, which he loved...but he had made cookies the night before and brought me some. So it was cute, it was like a little cookie exchange. Of course being a man, his were from the dough you buy at funraisers, and mine were homemade, but still it was totally the thought that counts.

And I was good, I really was tempted just to toss the cookies, being I don't normally even eat stuff like that anymore. But I had small bites of each (peanut butter and choc chip) and then tossed the rest. So it's kinda another NSV for me too. Just proof that the health thing is just a way of life now, For along time it was all or nothing for me. I couldn't just have a bite and stop. And somedays are still like that. But yesterday I had my small piece, and even though I wanted more, I was done.

And yes, they were good!

So Date #5 is in the works, probably towards the end of the week!

Other than that, nothing new and exciting on this front. Planning a 2.5 mile run tonight, even though I'm tired as heck (I had to go back to work after the date last night..computer problems, didn't get home till almost 11, yuck!). Then I'm making some tuna salad for dinner, and going to chop up a cantaloupe that I got on Friday that should be so yummy!

Anyways, I hope everyone is having great days, catch up with you soon!

"Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach

them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try

to follow where they lead."

-- Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) American Writer

I hope everyone had good weekends!

I had a pretty good weekend, both eating wise and just in general.

Lets see, Friday was my normal laid back night. I went for a run, grocery shopped, and came home and flicked back and fourth between the Olympics and the Tigers baseball game. It amazes me how many small countries there are throughout the world that participate in the Olympics, I honestly had no idea that some of them even existed. Boggles my mind.

Saturday was good too. I didn't do anything too exciting, I got up and had breakfast, watched the Olympics for a bit and did some running around. Later in the day I went with Tech to a Baseball Game, and I'm glad to report Date number 3 went remarkably well, and there will be more in the near future, in fact date 4 will be tonight (more on this later!).

Sunday was uneventful, but good. I woke up, and went for a run. Did 5.5 miles, and it went great. When I set out it was actually a bit cold out. I almost had to go back inside and put on more clothes, but remembered they always say to dress like it's 10 degrees warmer than it actually is when running. I'm glad I stayed in just shorts and a tank, cause I still sweat'd pretty good! After that did crunches and pushups and had breakfast and hung out most of the day. I did make myself some yummy (and healthy!) french toast yesterday. I just made it with milk and egg beaters and light bread, and it was fantastic! It's been A LONG time since I had french toast, yum! I also had a bit of an NSV, made some chocolate chip cookies for the guys at work, and I had one! Just one! Wasn't even tempted. Which is pretty good for me, normally I avoid making cookies, or trying to have just one, because I can't.

So otherwise, a great weekend on my part.

I did weigh in yesterday at 142.8lbs, which is the same I weighed last week, which is good! I was up this morning, but it seems I usually am on Mondays...I'm thinking it's because I don't drink enough water on Sundays so I retain a bit more!

Food Choices were pretty good all weekend. Friday was fine. Saturday I was faced with eating "ballpark" food for dinner, but we went to a coney island that is in the ballpark, and I had a greek salad with dressing on the side. I picked off a majority of the feta cheese, and didn't use alot of dressing, so I was pretty happy with that choice.

Sunday, I did well, I did have a bit of an incident sunday night. I had some ice cream with a vitatop for dessert, and for some reason, I started eating some sherbert out of the container in the freezer. I have no idea why! I did stop, and I probably only ate a 1/2 cup, maybe a cup, but still, kicked myself. Didn't need it, but that mindless eating took over.

Other than that maintenance has been going pretty good. Last Year when I went off weight watchers, I don't think I was quite ready for it. I remember eating alot. Alot more than I should have been. This time is different, I'm making healthy choices, and I'm fitting things into a healthy lifestyle. Sure there are days where I eat a bit too much, but then there are days where I don't quite eat enough to balance it. I'm sure there will be times when I have to really watch it to drop a pound or two, but I realize now, that's all part of the game. Maintenance isn't about being perfect all the time, and never gaining a pound, it's about staying within a range. I feel more prepared this time.

Anybody been watching the Olympics? Any favorite events?

As far as tonight, I'm gonna go for a short run when I get home, and then eat a quick dinner, and I'm meeting Tech to play some mini golf. It should be fun, and it's a 4th date...I haven't made it this far in quite sometime!

My new addiction food-wise? Hummus! I've been loving it lately, and it's such a healthy snack. I've been making Hummus and turkey sandwiches for lunch everyday, just using the hummus in place of something less healthy...say mayo? Very yummy, very filling. It's been my lunch for awhile now!

I'm really looking forward to my runs this week, they are all relatively short, and the weather is suppose to be gorgeous (and cool!). It's really getting a hint of "fall in the air". I love it.

Anyways, I'm being chatty-kate again, so I will get back to work, but I will be updating on said date tomorrow :)

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."
~George Eliot

So this morning, while browsing through the abundance of news, I came across two rather shocking things. The first of these things, was that our mayor has been thrown in jail. Very nice huh? I'm glad I don't actually live in Detroit, what an embarrassment.

The second really disturbed me even more, because I care so much about my healthy lifestyle. Check out this article. It says, that in 40 years, if the current trend continues, everyone in the United States will be obese. Now I don't know about you, but something like that baffles me. I understand that they are giving an "if situation" basically saying if we see the same increase in the next 40 years as we do in the previous 40 years it will happen. But I don't think it's possible, I think people are much more aware of the epidemic, and there are many more people who are eating healthy and taking charge of their health. I think we will see a decrease in the trend over the next 40 years, in my opinion. What do you think?

Also along that lines, I've been meaning to share this article with you also. Kinda goes hand in hand with the above said epidemic. Look at the pictures of those hamburgers. Just looking at them, and thinking about how much calories and fat are in them make me sick. Whew.

Ok, onto other things. I've been tinkering with the idea of going back to school. I'm one of those rare people who actual enjoy school (I know, I know, very odd!), I enjoy the challenge, enjoy learning new things.

I've been tinkering with going back to become a registered dietitian so I can become a nutritionist. It's just a field that interests me so much, I feel like I would be such a help to people who were in desperate need (but who didn't always want help). Just something I was thinking about, nothing I've committed to, but wanted to throw it out there.

As far as the weight front things are going good. I'm having another day where I'm feeling like a balloon today, and I have no idea why. I'm thinking my cycle is all out of whack because of my new running schedule, that's the only thing I can attribute it to. The scale showed 144 this morning, after a couple days of high 142-low 143. So it's echoing my feeling of being bloated. I'm ok with that.

My maintenance plan is going good. The only thing I haven't quite gotten down yet is the eating after 9p thing. I was so good about this for so long, but as I've gotten into running (and with summer being here), I seem to not be able to sit down to eat dinner til 730 or 800. So by the time I want a snack it's after 9p. Do I honestly need a snack? Probably not, I guess I just need to get over the mentality that I do. I think alot of it is mental.

But I have been doing good listening to my body and only eating when I'm hungry, and I've been doing well not eating out of the container. Yesterday I had some frosted mini wheats, and instead of eating out of the bag, I put a handful in a bowl and took it to the couch. Sometimes it's hard, and it's a hard habit to break, but I'm working with it.

But other than that, nothing terribly exciting here. I plan to run 3.5 miles tonight, and I'm looking forward to it, since the weather is finally cooling off a little bit. It's only a high of 80 today, and no humidity. Can't wait.

One fruit that I am just loving right now are Bananas. They are a fruit that when I was counting points, and especially when I was trying to lose I did not eat, because I refused to spend 2-3 points on a banana. I love Bananas! If you've never tried it, try slicing them, and freezing them for 1-2 hours. They taste just like ice cream. Very yummy!

So I think that is it from the peanut gallery today, but talk to you guys soon!

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
~Herman Cain

Thank you for all the nice, encouraging and helpful hints in your comments yesterday, they mean the world to me.

So after freaking out a little bit yesterday (ok, so I freaked out ALOT), I went home from work (after drinking over a gallon of water, and eating my food for the day) and weighed in .4lbs above what I did that morning. So totally water weight. But I finished out yesterday on 21 points, and I packed myself lightly for a 21 point day today.

The digital devil showed 143.2 this morning. Much more of a reasonable number. See with weighing everyday, I see alot of fluctuation, and I've been averaging my daily weigh in's over 7 days as my "weigh in" for the week. Well my normal average is right around 143, and I'm ok with that. I realize that averaging a weigh in of 142 would many many days below that number, and I don't want to shoot for that. 143 average is fine with me.

So, when I went on maintenance, and then subsequently decided to stop counting points, I never actually had a set in stone plan to deal with gaining a few pounds and how to handle it. I basically just get 145 as the upper limit, I hit that, ever, and I go into emergency weight loss mode. That was my plan. Well I have a new one now, that is a little more detailed, and should prevent further freak outs. Plus, honestly, why would I freak over 2lbs? Getting back on plan, I could easily lose that within a couple week, no reason to freak out. So here is the new plan.

Maintain a weight of between 142-145. Average of daily weigh ins for the week should remain around 143.

An average weigh in of over 144lbs mean, raised awareness to what I'm eating. Start writing it down, don't worry about points/calories yet. Just journal it.

Average weigh in over 144.5, start journaling with points.

Any two consecutive weigh ins (daily at or over the 145 mark OR more than two consecutive weekly weigh in averages over 144lbs, go back into full weight loss mode, which will be 21 points, 8GHG's, counting zero point foods, until the scale returns back to averages of below 143. Much easier to get rid of that pound, than it is to get rid of it, and five of it's little buddies!

Also, I'm setting up some guidelines for my pointless maintenance:

1. maintain between 142-145 (sick of hearing this yet?)
2. Continue running 4 days per week
3. Try to avoid eating after 9p at night, and try to limit after dinner snacks.
4. Limit "processed foods", aka granola bars, vitatops, chips
5. Limit ice cream to two servings per week. Also on the same note, only buy the pint containers of ice cream, how much trouble can I get into with only 1 pint in the house. It's only 4 servings!
6. Eat primarily fruits and veggies.
7. NEVER, I repeat NEVER eat from the container (even if it is standing in the kitchen, that doesn't make it alright!), or take the box/container of ANY food to the couch...NEVER. Your allowed to take a bag of veggies or fruit, or a bag of popcorn to the sofa...but nothing else.

I'm taking a list of these to the fridge door when I get home tonight. All great reminders to myself, and all things that I follow pretty much on a regular basis.

So there you have it, a little more in detail maintenance plan, hopefully it will prevent future "flip outs" Anything you guys have in the way of suggestions?

I also wanted to thank you guys for the Peanut Butter suggestions last week, I have been doing well with peanut butter so far. I have only been buying the natural type for about the last year, I love it. Plus now on maintenance I've been allowing myself just a smidgen everyday, and that seems to help immensely in having a problem with it. If it ever becomes a problem I'll throw it out again, simple as that.

On a food find note. Have you guys seen all the flavors of frosted mini wheats they now have? Holy smokes, back when I used to eat these things, they just had the original one kind. I like frosted mini wheats because they aren't a cereal which I can tolerate a ton of it dry (unlike say cap'n crunch or honeycombs), so the binge potential isn't there. But I got the cinnamon stresuel ones on Sunday, and they are pretty darn tasty!

Other than that, last night the date went well, and we have tentatively planned on going down to the tigers game on Saturday and spending some time in Detroit beforehand, so I have that to look forward to. We met for coffee this past Saturday, and we had dinner last night at Max and Erma's where I had the hula bowl, YUM! We will call him "the tech" for now. He's a prototype technician for a big company in the area. He's 28 and he doesn't live terribly far from me. He seems smart, cute and outgoing thus far :) Plus he's interested in spending more time with me, who am I complain? But I will keep you posted, a third date would be a record for me in quite sometime, lol.

Running is going good. Yesterday was a rest day, and today I'm planning an easy 2.5 miles tonight after work in the nasty humidity, but I'm still looking forward to it. I'm debating on what I will make for dinner. My options are a cajun stir fry, turkey enchilada casserole or egg salad. Leaning towards the turkey enchilada right now!

Alright, back to your regularly scheduled programming now! Thanks for listening :)

"We mustn't run away from our battles,
because sooner or later we will have to face them,
if that's the case, why not now?"
~Jasper Tong

So this should be an interesting blog post.

On Friday night, I made an executive decision to stop counting points. I finished my Friday off, but made the decision starting Saturday I was just going to start listening to my body, afterall, I know what I should be eating.

Why did I decide this? Because I honestly felt some nights like I was eating points just for the sake of eating points, not because I was actually hungry. I felt like somedays I needed 27 points, or 30 points, and other days, I was fine with only 21 or 22, but I was eating 25-30 everyday, because that's what I was given, and afterall, weight watchers always told ya "eat your points!".

So I decided to stop counting.

Overall the first two days went good. Saturday I ate a bit more than necessary during the day, but basically didn't eat anything in the evening, because I was busy, and I wasn't hungry.

Sunday also went good, I think I grazed a little more than necessary, but overall, no big incidents. I made cookies and lemon bars and managed to not lick spoons or taste test. AND! I had lunch of a sandwich with a Banana and some carrots, and I was full after half the sandwich and half the banana, so I wrapped the rest and put it in the fridge! I was happy about that, maybe I'm learning something? We then went out to dinner at Red Robin and had this awesome Asian Chicken Salad (we will come back to this), and I came home, I had a Fiber one bar I probably didn't need, and then I had a small serving of ice cream, with a vitatop of dessert later in the evening, so overall...pretty darn successful for a couple days sans points. Enjoyed having the freedom, and just not obsessing over it, because really it had gotten to that.

So how did the scale look over the weekend...not bad...until this morning 145lbs...where the hell did that come from. I heard the term "digital devil" used this week on another blog, and I would say the digital devil was not kind to me this morning.

So what do I do? I flip out! Of course, that's true Kate fashion right there, act and then think about it later. So I re packed my lunch for today to account for only eating 21 points throughout the day, as that is my weight loss points. So I'm on 21 points today.

Now of course everyone I talk to (and I know this in the back of my head), says you can't gain 2.2lbs overnight. And yes, I know this. I had plenty of good weigh in's recently, so I know I didn't actually gain and that I don't actually weigh 145, but that number was on the scale, and it flipped me out.

I promised myself anything over 144, would put me back in to Emergency Weight loss mode...so here I am. Necessary? It might not be, but I'm not taking chances.

What do I honestly think caused this? Bloating of course. I feel like a balloon today. So I think I should see it disappear, but until I do. "Hi 21 points a day, my name is Kate".

So about this Red Robin Salad, being the good and healthy person I am, my parents decide they want to go to Red Robin last night, so I look through their customizer feature, and figure out what I want. I pick the Asian Chicken Salad, with nutritional content of 338 cals, 3g of fat and 6g fiber for the salad without the side of bread, I knew it was a good choice (since I know points by heart, i was like 6 points, fantabulous!). I go, I eat the salad, dressing on the side, yum!

Well I come home, and being OCD, I want to check the info again, well I go to look at it, and I realize it doesn't account for the rice noodles or almonds that were in the salad, as I don't see them listed anywhere. So I finally find them in the "add an ingredient" section. So I add them, and pull off mandrian oranges which weren't on the salad I find I've eaten quite a few more points, completely unintentionally.

So what do you guys think? Whats up with that? Should they have to state that certain ingredients aren't included in the calculation? I mean, I would have asked for no almonds or rice noodles had I known they weren't included in the provided NI, but no where did it say that. PLUS, it said it was included in the salad on the menu. I was a bit peeved.

So I think this might have had a bit to so with the scale being unhappy this morning as well. I mean I'm sure the thing was chocked full of sodium, making me retain more water too.

So what does this week hold for me:

I plan to run 12 miles this week. Did 4 yesterday. Tonight I'm taking off, I have a date...a second date (stay tuned for updates!).

Stay in "weight loss mode" until the digital devil tells me otherwise, after which point, i will make another executive decision on how to proceed.

Start the push up challenge again. I wasn't able to handle week 3, so I'm going to drop down to week two this week.

not let the scale rule my life and moods. I was ticked off this morning, even though I know I shouldn't be, since I commonly can fluctuate a couple pounds.

Alright, so there you have it, lots of information! Sorry to have babbled on so long. I'll be stopping in to a blog near you soon!

"Through action, our potential becomes our identity;
our dreams become our life."
- David Jaing

Good afternoon everyone!

Welcome to August, goodbye July! How many of you had good July's?

I had a pretty good July, I think for the most part it was a month full of change, which there is nothing wrong with that. Change is good right? I would review the goals I set for July, but most of them are irrelevant at this point, since I shifted focus. Although my goal was to get to my goal weight this month, and I did! So I'm very happy to report July was successful.

Looking back on July, I had a good month. Eating was good, I did have a couple days at the beginning of the month where I was off program, and I ate alot, and alot of stuff that wasn't that healthy. But such is life, the world goes on, and the rest of the month was on plan, and as I said, I reached goal, so I suppose that weekend indiscretion in the midst of things seems irrelevant now right? Just goes to show, don't beat yourself up, just move on and get back on plan.

Activity this month was great. My goal was to log over 20 AP's a week, and I handled that with no problem. I also started running outside this month, and it went well, and I'm throughly addicted to it now.

So what's August to bring for me?

1. Maintain my healthy weight of 142-145.

I have been weighing everday lately, just while I get the hang of maintenance, and I will continue to do so, I've been using an average of the 7 days weight as my "weigh in" for the week. Anywhere in the 142's or low 143's for average, I'm golden. If it starts to creep into the upper 143's...time to take notice. So there is the weight goal.

2. Keep Running!

This is a broad goal, but heck, I just want to keep running and having fun.

3. Enjoy myself, and my vacations, but keep eating healthy, and tracking. Vacations= leeway, but that doesn't mean go on a stuff my face fest.

Ok, so there is the goals for the month. I think they can be done!

So what's been going on with me this week?

Well I ran 4 miles on Tuesday, and it was just about the most miserable 4 miles I ever ran! Not good! It was terribly hot and humid, and then to boot I got 2 miles from home, my garmin died and I had to use the facilities. BUT! I didn't let this deter me, I got out yesterday for an awesome 3 mile run!

I did decide to change my training plan a bit. My body was telling me I was doing too much, too soon. How was it telling me this? I was having joint problems, my muscles felt lethargic, and I was so freaking tired. Perhaps I should've taken into consideration increasing from 9 miles on a treadmill to 17 miles outside in a matter of a couple weeks wasn't wise.

So what's the new plan? I'm stepping my mileage back by 20% next week, and then I will steadily increase it from there. I probably should've started lower, but we live and learn. I just want to remain running and uninjured!

Got another set of bad news on the Mom situation the other day. She now told me she's been having problems with high blood pressure. So she went to the doctor and got on some meds. I hate to see people use meds to control something which could be controlled by lifestyle changes.

BUT! She is trying. I know everything comes in stages. I told her awhile back I would print her the information WW's had on Diabetes if she wants me to, but never said another word. So she asked for it the other day, and this morning I printed it for her. I've also offered help several times, by telling I would help her with Weight Watchers if she wanted to go that route. So I think she is coming around, slow process, but we're trying.

Other than that, nothing to exciting. Grocery Shopping and a run tonight. A Date a some point this weekend (let you guys know how it goes!). I have to make some cookies for a guy at works birthday, and then just other stuff around the house. Plus I think I am going to go see the new Batman movie, looks cool!

Anyways, have great weekends and I will talk to you guys soon!