Lettuce Eat Cake

The following are entries made on the Lettuce Eat Cake weight loss contest I enrolled in mid-January:

Lettuce Begin - January 17, 2010

I began Weight Watchers on Jan 1st with a weigh in at 180 pounds (maybe 182 depending on the scale). As of today, I weighed in at 177.4. My goal weight is 150, but I think to be at the current healthy BMI standards I need to be closer to 145. I have no training goals, but I would like to maintain a 5 day exercise program. Exercise and food intake are my dynamic duo for healthy weight. I am an emotional eater, so I need to keep an eye out for that. I have found that exercise makes an excellent appetite suppressant for me.

January 18, 2010

Today was a school holiday and the beginning of free breakfast items at the Chickfila just down the street. So, we walked to Chickfila this morning as a family. YAY for family exercise and good food! Although, apparently the yogurt parfait is the only really healthy option in their free food offer b/c the sausage biscuit offered tomorrow is 540 calories!! WOWSERS!! So, exercise for today: walked briskly 2 miles (1 mile each way) = 45 minutes.

Yesterday when I weighed in for WW I was disappointed that I'd gone back up a pound from Saturday. So, just to check for consistency, I weighed myself two more times: 175.4 and 177.8. So, I kept the first number which was 177.4. Apparently my scale isn't very consistent. But, I will accept the first number it gives me assuming it really is a reasonable number - not something way off base. Anyway, so I weighed myself this morning to see what number it would throw at me and it was 175. something. It'd be nice if it kept that number for Saturday's weigh in and Sundays! We'll see. I may need a new battery for my scale :p

January 19, 2010

Having a hard time staying on track today - It's 2 pm and I only have 9 points left for dinner. I am munchy and not feeling like being good. I think part of it may stem from getting 7 activity points yesterday. I think I have a mental thing going where I want to reward myself with food, or my body needs the extra calories from the exercise - I just need to make healthier choices. Actually, that's not completely true. My choices today have been pretty healthy, they just take up points. I had my usual breakfast, but when I got back from exercising this morning I had toast topped with peanut butter and 1/2 a banana and milk to wash it down. Fairly healthy snack, just full of points. Guess I need to go get some carrots to munch on.

Jan 20, 2010

Jared and I managed to make it out the door early this morning to get to the Chick Fil A free breakfast offer (chicken biscuit) before school started. Those are my FAVORITE kind of biscuits (and I was craving them recently), but I didn't get to eat slow and savor them because we were in such a rush to get him to school. As a result, I was hungry all morning! I did my usual P90X Cardio X routine, but I just couldn't bring it today. We've been up too late the last couple of nights and it's finally catching up. When I went to enter the biscuit for WW, I was SHOCKED and dismayed to discover that that small little biscuit was 10 POINTS!! I only get 25 for the day. So, I ate a salad and a piece of toast for lunch. Very disappointing. I did manage to end the day with 1 point left after dinner. YAY! I spent it on a piece of wheat toast w/ blackberry jam. Still hungry, but tomorrow is another day.

Tomorrow's breakfast offer is the yogurt parfait = 5 points. I usually only spend 3 on breakfast. It wasn't very satifying for me when I went on Monday, so I'm not sure it is worth the extra 2 points (especially when it is playgroup day). I love the accountability of WW, but sometimes I hate not just being able to eat what I want. I like a quote that I saw on a weight loss forum:

"It's HARD to be overweight. It's HARD to lose weight. It's HARD to maintain weight loss. You just have to pick your hard."

Jan 21, 2010

Weigh-in: 172.4 Amazed! Yesterday for BL I was 174.8. But, I double checked it with the Wii and it was verified.

Jan 23, 2010

Today was weigh-in for my bro's BL competition. I was happily surprised to see I was down to 173.6! I should gorge at girl's night every night! j/k In preparation for girl's night I had 11.5 points left for the day, saved 30 weekly points, and racked up 20 activity points. I actually didn't do toooo bad considering - it was mostly chips and dip. I didn't expect to see the 3. Up until this week I've been content to weigh myself only on weigh-in days, but the fluctuation in numbers last weekend had me curious. As a result, I've been on the scale more often this week and usually saw 175. So, to see it go down to 173 was surprising. Hopefully it'll stick around for tomorrow's official weigh-in.

I finally took my before pics this morning (they won't be going on here b/c no one needs to see me in a swim suit. But, I can tell a difference already in the way it fits. I bought it towards the end of last summer when they went on clearance and it is fitting looser. I'm wearing the same pants I wore one day last week and just in these few days my pants are already really loose. I told Matthew this morning that I might be able to get back into all the shorts I bought the summer I quit WW last time (at this point 1 1/2 years ago). When I stopped I was down to 167. Here's to a quick catch-up!

Jan 24, 2010

Weigh-in at 174.0. According to WW that means I am down 6 pounds from the Jan 1st start, but for this contest I am down 3.4 pounds. yay!

Jan 28, 2010

oof. Last week was awesome and this week I'm 'eh, whatever.' It's funny how easy it is to fall back into old habits. Yay WW for keeping me accountable at least. I'm still within my point allowance, but my points aren't being used wisely. Last night at Book club I ate 2 cookies and a brownie, chips & hummus. Then I went back for another cookie b/c they were SO good. I could have eaten the WHOLE plate of them! I spent 11 weeklies as a result. Granted, that's why I save my weeklies for get-togethers. But, still.

On a more positive note, this week it has been nice and warm so I've been wearing my capris (although I really only have 2 that fit well). Matthew's great aunt had given me a bunch of her daughters clothes a few months back that were just shy of my size range. At the time I I was able to fit in one of them (a little tight, but still could get away with wearing them). I wore it this week and fit quite nicely. I tried on the other pants waiting for me and I'm not quite ready to wear them in public. They fit over everything and can be fastened, but I would be uncomfortable. I'm hoping that by the end of February I can wear them without embarassment. That's one of my goals :)

In a more interesting note, veggie juice is not such a great addition to the yogurt/fruit smoothies I've been drinking. I don't care for the taste of V8 (knock off isn't any better). I'd hoped that it would blend well with some fruit added in, but the taste was still too much. Perhaps if I decreased the volume of juice, but I'm not convinced it's worth it. It has been suggested to add raw spinach to the smoothie b/c you can't taste it but you get the benefits. At some point when I make it to the commissary again I'll have to get some and try it. Hopefully it'll go over better than the veggie juice :p

Feb 7, 2010

Weigh in: 171.7 Loss has definitely slowed down. Couldn't be b/c I'm making terrible food choices, could it?! :p WW is the only thing keeping me from stuffing my face.

Feb 11, 2010

Today is the first day in a couple of weeks where I felt like my eating was in check. I think the difference is my workout today. We've been doing the cardioX on P90X so often that it's not a hard workout anymore. A good exercise session works as an appetite suppressant for me and that element just hasn't been there. Today we did plyoX - an incredibly intense workout consistenting of almost an hour's worth of variations on squat jumps. OUCH! My legs have gone from rubber in the morning to sore at night. Interestingly though, it wasn't as challenging/brutal of a routine as the first (and last) time we tried it. The cardiox has definitely strengthened our muscles and prepared us for the plyo. I am excited for that obvious progress we've made!

So, as for my eating habits, what changed? I had oatmeal w/ raisins for breakfast (same point value as my cold cereal w/ milk) and an apple after getting back from plyoland. An apple and veggie/yogurt smoothie (1 point) as a mid-morning snack. Leftover ziti vegetable bake for lunch (huge portion for only 4 points!! woohoo!) and another smoothie serving.Taco soup for dinner (had enough points for 1 1/2 servings! yay!) and finished the night off with 2 slices of homemade bread w/ butter & honey with milk to drink. And the best part is I didn't spend ANY weekly points!!! yay!! I guess what changed is that I snacked on apples and had a heartier breakfast and lunch. The smoothies really help too b/c they are packed with good nutrients and filling for few points.

I've discovered that FiberOne yogurt is only 1 point, so I like using that as my yogurt base for my smoothie. As suggested, I've been adding spinach and carrot to my smoothies. I grind? them in the blender with a little bit of orange juice and flax seed, then add strawberries and the yogurt. 1 TB flax seed (milled or whole), 1 baby carrot, 1/2 c. baby spinach, 1/2 c. OJ, 4 oz yogurt, 1/2 c. strawberries = 1 1/2 cups = 3 servings @ 1 point each. YAY!

Feb 14, 2010

You know you've lost weight when:
~ your wedding rings go flying off your finger while reaching for an object.
~ the anchor settings on your son's car seat are too short because you don't weigh the seat down enough to fit them like before.
~ the crotch on your old clothes reaches almost to your knees.

My scale is officially off, so I'll be weighing myself on the Wii. I knew when I weighed 175 that something wasn't right. Yesterday I weighed 170 (yay!) for my bro's BL. I weighed myself on the Wii and was only 171 after breakfast and getting dressed. I went back to the other scale just to see what it would say and it said 182. Uh, definitely not. Anyway...

So, today's weigh in is 171. I made my first official WW goal (10% of my starting weight!) woohoo! My next WW's goal is 162. It's amazing to think that in another 6 weeks I could be there! I discovered WalMart has started a healthy tools section on their website, so I was checking it out yesterday. One of the questions it asked was what I weighed when I felt the most comfortable as an adult. I answered 167, which was what I was down to almost 2 years ago when I quit WW the first time. When Matthew and I got married 11 1/2 years ago, I weighed 165, but I had gained like 10 pounds in those few months before we were married. It was a bit of an eye-opener this morning when I realized I was that close to what I weighed when we began our married life. I didn't know at the time that I had started a trend of gaining weight that wouldn't end until I got pregnant with Jared. Well, I suppose it really started when I went to work at a day care. Running after 4 - 6 two year olds can do that for a person :) It helped to be on my feet and not eating all day long. At one point before my working days, my VT asked if I'd like to join WW with her. At the time, I had no idea how big I really was. In fact it wasn't until I saw a picture of me taken when I first went to work that I realized what 240 pounds (size 24) really looked like. This morning I wondered what would have happened if I had joined WW with her - how my life might have been different. But, I wasn't ready at the time and you have to be ready to commit to lose weight.

Despite the numbers (whether high or low), the best part of my weight journey is that Matthew never once complained and always loves the way I look. Granted, I think he prefers the thinner look but the outward beauty isn't nearly as important as the inner.

Feb 21, 2010

Weigh in - 170. Just for the heck of it I'm still weighing on the bad scale, and today it showed 169.2 - not too far off! As nice as it would be to put that down for today's weight, I'm kinda glad I'm still in the 70s because I'll lose a point once I get below it. lol I reached my 10 pounds lost goal for WW. In fact, since joining WW the beginning of January I've lost 12 pounds. Woohoo!!

This week has been interesting. More than once I've reached the end of the day with points left over and yet feel satisfied. In fact, Friday I had 5 points after dinner. I felt like my world was open because of the number of points, but I didn't really want anything. I chose to have ice cream b/c Matthew had made vanilla ice cream the night before and I probably wouldn't get any if I didn't take it then. The ice cream was only 2 points for 1/2 c. though, so I still had some points to spare. I spent them on cheese and crackers - another treat b/c cheese it so high point.

One of the things that has really helped is my 0 point treat - 1/2 c. berries with 2 TB whipped topping. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries are all 0 points for 1/2 c. Nice!! The reddi whip topping is only 15 calories for 2 TB, so another 0 points! It makes the perfect sweet treat :)