lovinaz's "getting her act together" journal

[lovinaz]

Hello everyone!:wave2: I had a WISH journal a loooong time ago, and think it's time to start another one. I need some encouragement to get my act together and get in shape before summer!

About me, I just turned 37 (yikes, I think that is the first time I've said that number! :eek: ), I am married to a wonderful man and have 2 kids - DS12 and DD9, along with a feisty beagle named Buckley.

I am 5'4" and weighed 143 this morning. I don't have a ton of weight to lose, but I would like to at least get back down to what my driver's license says - 135! And tighten up all my flabby areas, which seem to be taking over my body... :rolleyes1

I eat pretty healthy already, although I have been known to go on food benders occasionally... :confused3 I plan to journal EVERYTHING I eat, the good, bad and ugly (this will make for an insanely boring read!) and also aim to exercise 5x a week, before work. Currently I've been pretty consistent working out 3x a week, but I need to stop sleeping in on Tue and Thu! Weigh-ins will be on Fridays, hopefully I will start seeing the scale move in the right direction this year.

Thanks for reading this far, I could use all the encouragement I can get!

Amy

[Amy&Dan]

Okay, this one made my day! I am soooo excited to "see" you back here. I am onboard with your journal my friend. All these months you have come to Wish to see me and now I can support you too!

You can do it, I am here to help you in any way I can. Lets make 2009 our year!

Did I mention how glad I am you're back????:yay: :hug:

[lovinaz]

Thanks Amy! I knew I could count on your support!!! :hug:

Yesterday was definitely eye-opening. Since I have to write everything down now, I realized how much I was just grabbing a handful of pretzels here, a candy cane there, snacking while cooking, etc. I did NOT do that yesterday, simply because I didn't want it to "look bad" in my journal... :rolleyes1 I am going to try to keep it to B, L, D and 2 snacks. This will be hard when I go back to work Monday (I've been off since Dec 23! :cloud9: ) because I really struggle with the after work/before dinner time. I swear, I probably consume 500+ calories every day during that time. But I am going to fix that!

B: Mini-Wheats w/skim milk
L: 1/2 personal size (9.5") leftover Pizza Bianca (very thin wheat crust (thickness of 2 tortillas), cheese and pine nuts - no sauce); 1 graham cracker
S: apple w/peanut butter
S: candy cane
D: flank steak w/mushroom sauce (from Eating for Life cookbook); green beans; Healthy Choice fudge bar

E: 45 minutes on elliptical

I would say yesterday was a success! Hopefully that will continue... My biggest struggle is when I travel, which is quite often. In '09 I will have at least 7 trips to the UK (first one in March) and we are taking a 2-week family trip to Europe in June. I'm not going to stress about it now, I'll just have to deal with it when it gets closer!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, you can do it! Yesterday sounded really good. I think we all have some sort of time every day when we overeat. For you its between work and dinner, for me its the time between about 1-3. Its good we know when our danger time zone is! Do you ever pack a snack to eat in the car on your way home? Maybe a mini Cliff bar or something? I am going to buy some of those and have one with a glass of milk and see what that does for me. Some lady in my WW group yesterday who is down over 50 pounds says she eats one every day on her way home from work.

Travelling is tough but you can do it. Just remember any trip is a finite piece of time, not a forever thing. If you go off program, you'll get back on.

Two weeks in Europe with the whole family, how cool is that??

[goldcupmom]

Great new journal, amy!

Pine nuts? I've never been brave enough to try them, but here in NM they sell them on every corner!

7 UK trips & 2 wks in Europe? Wow! this is going to be a busy year for you! Frequent flyer miles galore!

Hope you're having a good weekend!

[lovinaz]

Amy, I actually have a planned a snack when I get home (usually apple-n-peanut butter) but I just have this mental urge to nibble, pick, etc. It's horrible! I need to break the habit. I will try to drink tea or Crystal Light during that time, or chew gum, to see if that helps...

Julie, thanks for stopping by! I am in fact using my FF miles to fly everyone to Europe - in business class!! The kids are super excited they get to sit on the second floor of a 747.

Yesterday was another good day, with regards to snacking. Food choices weren't stellar, but I've done way worse! No gym, but I went 4x last week. I took Wednesday off, but was painting DS12's furniture from 10am-4:30pm! We totally redid his room while he was at his dad's, I can't wait to see his reaction when he gets back tonight! It actually looks like a teenager's room now instead of a little boy's room. :scared1: Yesterday's food:

B: Mini-Wheats w/skim
L: 2 turkey rollers (from Costco); graham cracker
S: apple-n-pb
S: pecans (~1/2 cup); Chex mix (~1/4 cup) while watching the Cardinals crush the Falcons! :cool1:
D: veggie burger (no bun); pretzels; 2 Ferrero Garden chocolates

E: none (but I plan to take weekends off, so I don't feel guilty about this!)

Tomorrow it is back to work after almost 2 weeks off. I'm sure the stress that comes along with it will come crashing back about 30 seconds after I get to my desk. But that's life!

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Amy,

Your food yesterday for a weekend day with football thrown in sounds very good to me! I am the same way with the nibble thing. I budget in my snack, eat it and then still want to mindlessly graze. I like your Crystal Light idea, maybe I'll try that!

That is great ds is getting newly redone furniture! I hope the kids had fun at their dad's.

Good luck back at work tomorrow, just stay strong and you can do it!

Amy

P.S. I see your trip to Europe and my trip to WDW are at the exact same time (our counters are identical)! Lets make a challenge to do well on our vacations!).

[toystoryduo]

Welcome back to journaling, Amy!:cool1: It's great to have you back!:hug:

It sounds like you are doing a great job with your food choices and your workouts. Keep up the good work!:banana:

How did your DS like his room?

I hope you have a great week ahead!:goodvibes

~Tracy

[lovinaz]

Amy, how weird our trips are starting the same day! Except the Disneyland we will be going to is Disneyland Paris...

Tracy, DS loved his room! He was very surprised, and his reaction was the best part!

Yesterday's food was fine, I have been doing pretty good on the weekends lately. Except now that I am journaling I have noticed that I could probably win the World's Most Boring Eater award... :confused3

B: Mini-Wheats w/skim
L: 2 turkey rollers, 1 graham cracker
S: apple-n-pb
S: cottage cheese; pretzels
D: turkey meatloaf; green beans; Healthy Choice fudge bar

E: none

The menu will get even more boring since I tend to eat the same thing for breakfast (I'm switching to chocolate oatmeal, yum!) and lunch while working. Today will be the big test of my willpower - not snacking after my post-work planned snack! I CAN DO IT, one day at a time, right??

[traceycooper]

woohoo welcome back Amy :)
I'm soo excited to hear your coming to my side of the pond!!
let me know where you are & hopefully one of your trips we may be ableto meet up!!
where are you visiting with your family - they are very lucky :)

[Amy&Dan]

Amy you can do well at work today! Just keep thinking about how long it takes to burn off those calories. It takes walking the length of two football fields to burn off one M & M according to my WW leader. That kept me out of the candy at the movie yesterday!

You don't eat boring, you eat very well. Variety is the spice of life and it can be deadly for the waistline!

[toystoryduo]

You're doing a great job with your food choices, Amy! :cheer2: Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

I'm so glad to hear that your DS loved his room!:banana:

I hope you have a great day tomorrow!:hug:

[lovinaz]

Well, I've already disappointed myself today by not getting up and doing my Pilates DVD! I still have a chance to go home and do it right after work, but I need to get a grip! There must have been something in the air, since both DD and DS slept through their alarms and I was SO tired when my own alarm went off (hence the sleeping instead of exercising...:rolleyes1 ). I need to make time for 40 minutes of working out when I get home today, NO EXCUSES!

Food yesterday was fine. I did pretty good when I got home from work, avoided the Cheez-Its as I was packing lunches for the kids (I like to get everything but the sandwiches ready the night before so I am not so busy in the mornings!). I ended up drinking 2 huge cups of tea, but that beats snacking, right??

Food for yesterday:
B: Chocolate oatmeal (1/3c oats, 1 scoop choc protein powder, 1 tbsp pb)
L: Salad w/chicken (3c spinach, 2oz grilled chicken strips, 2tbsp shredded cheese, 2 tbsp LF dressing)
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: apple-n-pb; 2 pecans (DH left the bag on the counter, I stopped myself from going off the deep end! :banana: )
D: Shake-n-Bake pork chop (boneless thin cut); zucchini; HC fudge bar

E: 45 min on treadmill (5mph w/intervals of 6 and 7mph)

My breakfast, snacks and lunch will most likely be the same during the week. I'm such a creature of habit!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, I always end up in Yeovil, about 2 hours SW of London. I drive by Stonehenge everytime :) We are going to spend a week in Paris (renting an apartment instead of a hotel) and then going to spend a week in Germany (Frankfurt area) to visit my dad and stepmom, who are there on a 3 year assignment. It's going to be so fun, I can hardly wait!!

Amy, don't worry about variety during the week, the only thing that changes is what's for dinner! And even my dinners are boring, I tend to make the same things every 2 weeks or so. I need to get some new recipes!

Tracy, thanks, it stinks being back at work after such a long holiday break, but someone has to pay the bills!

[Amy&Dan]

I am betting you do workout when you get home, I have faith in you! Your food looks great yesterday.

We overslept today too, so I guess it is in the air!

Keep up the good work!


Oh, and very good job not eating Cheese Its! One portion (and not a very big one) has four points. Someone your size on WW would get around 20 points a day total. So that gives you an idea of how deadly those little orange buggers are. I buy them for my kids too and I love them but am swearing off of them from here on out (at least that's the plan).

[toystoryduo]

I still need to get my workout in today too. You CAN do it, Amy!:cheer2:

Your food is looking good.:cool1: Way to go on avoiding the Cheez Its!

Hope you have a great evening and a wonderful day tomorrow!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I did it!!! :banana: I actually worked out yesterday when I got home. I just did my Pick-Your-Spot Pilates (there are 3 10-minute segments, one each for butt, thighs, abs, plus a 10 min total body segment) instead of my Pilates Sculpt DVD, but hey, it's better than nothing, right?? DD9 actually joined me at the end of the thigh workout, she was struggling (so was I!). I can't believe I let myself get so out of shape - I have been only doing cardio for the past 6 months or so, obviously I need to get back to some toning/weights!! But I probably erased any benefit of the workout by having pecans for a snack... I need to lay off the nuts! I know they are good for you, but not in the quantity I usually eat... :eek:

B: chocolate oatmeal
L: salad w/chicken
S: 2 egg whites, 3 mini cucumbers
S: pecans (~1/2 to 2/3 cup :sad2: )
D: chicken sir fry (w/bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, snow peas, red pepper and onion); brown rice; sprinkle of crunchy rice noodles; HC fudge bar

E: 40 min Pilates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, that is really eye-opening about the Cheez-Its! There have been so many times I have plowed through WAY more than a single serving... If I was on WW I wouldn't have been able to eat for 3 days afterwards! :rolleyes:

Tracy, part of what made me do the workout was that I didn't want to be embarrassed and admit I slacked off!!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I KNEW you'd do your workout! Great job, that is nice your dd did some too! My dd loves to go on walks with me and I figure its always good to have them start out early!

Yep, Cheese Its are deadly. You heard here first!

Keep up the good work, your stir fry sounded very healthy. And better to eat pecans by themselves than baked in a pie!

[toystoryduo]

Great job on the workout, Amy!:banana: Your stir fry sounds yummy. :goodvibes

Have a great day tomorrow!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I was pretty proud of myself this morning for getting up and doing my Pilates Sculpt workout! :yay: However, I was not so proud of myself after the workout proved to be WAY tougher than the last time I did it... :sad2: I know I will be feeling the effects tomorrow, my legs were not thrilled to walk up the stairs to my office this morning, that's for sure!

Work is driving me absolutely 100% insane. The stress is unbelievable and I feel frenzied all the time. :upsidedow So far I have avoided emotional eating, but I know the temptation is coming. I have done really good the past 3 days as far as snacking after work goes, I really want to keep that up.

For yesterday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: salad w/chicken; small cookie (1/2 inch diameter)
S: 2 egg whites, 3 mini cucumbers
S: apple-n-pb
D: whole wheat spaghetti noodles; sauce w/Morningstar Farms meatless crumble; HC fudge bar

E: 45 min on elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I am willing to bet 1 piece of pecan pie has less calories than the amount of pecans I have mowed down in the past! :scared:

Tracy, I love making the stir fry, and the kids have actually stopped complaining about it, so I will make it more often!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, you can stay strong, I have faith in you! I am sorry work is so stressful, with having two kids and a husband to deal with on top of work, you must definitely be feeling the affects. I hope it gets better soon! In the meantime, just stay focused and true to yourself.

Your food yesterday sounded perfectO!

[traceycooper]

well done on the workouts Amy :)
mmmmm pecan pie - hard to get here - proberbly a good thing for me!!!
well done for resisting the emotional eating - i hope work calms down for you soon :hug:
keep resisting & see how good you feel :)

[lovinaz]

Since my e-mail is messed up at work and I am basically useless without it, I will sneak in a post now instead of waiting for lunch! Hey, they have to fix the problem, I am just using my time as efficiently as possible... ;)

Good news and bad news today. Bad news first - I am SORE!!!!!!!! :headache: I could not give 100% to my treadmill workout this morning, but at least I did it (5 mph for 20 min, 4 mph for 25 min). All those squats and lunges yesterday did me in. And my Dr called and my last pap was abnormal. Great... :sad2: The good thing is that I did some research and the cell abnormality he said I had usually goes away on its own 70% of the time. And I just have to get re-tested in 3 months. If it was something more serious, he wouldn't wait 3 months to retest!

Good news - I worked out 5x this week!!! :yay: :woohoo: And I will be taking a much needed break from working out over the weekend. And more good news - official weigh in this morning was 141!!! :eek: I lost 2 lbs this week!!!!!!!! :cool1: :banana: :yay: :cheer2: I know I should not get too excited, but I haven't seen a number that low in a loooong time. I reached an all-time high of 148 this summer, and it took me all that time to get down to where I am now. But this is motivating, and I will definitely try to stay serious about losing those last few lbs.

Yesterday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: salad w/chicken
S: string cheese; 2 mini cucumbers
S: apple-n-pb
D: crockpot pork roast w/rutabaga, carrots, onion; HC fudge bar

E: Pilates Sculpt DVD (55min)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, if I knew a way to get rid of the stress, I would be all over it. It is just crazy, but I guess that is what happens when you move higher up the chain - more responsibility = more headaches!

Tracey, you have enough to worry about in the UK - clotted cream, mince pies... I actually smuggled clotted cream into the US last time. So we had my British friend's daughter try to bring a couple tubs in over the break, but she was stopped and Customs confiscated it! They said if it had sugar as an ingredient they would have let her keep it. So now I can only get my "cream fix" whenever I am in the UK!

[toystoryduo]

Five workouts in one week and a 2 pound loss.....Way to go, Amy!!!!:cheer2:

Sorry to hear about the abnormal pap. :( I agree...If the doctor thought it was serious, he would have you come in right away instead of waiting 3 months to re-test. I hope the cell abnormality fixes itself.

Hope you have a great weekend!:hug:

[lovinaz]

Yesterday did not end as well as it could have... Once again I went off the deep end in the nut department. I wish DH would stop buying pecans and/or almonds at Costco, I just can't resist them! That and peanut butter, I am beginning to wonder if I have some sort of deficiency that makes me crave nuts - you know like some kids eat weird things like dirt, etc because they are missing certain minerals/nutrients? Hmmm, maybe I'll ask my Dr next time I see him.

I am going to try a new thing this week - weighing in ala Weight Watchers - only once a week. It's going to be hard, since I'm a slave to the scale, but I already skipped the scale this morning, so now I only have to wait until Friday! :goodvibes

For yesterday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: salad w/chicken
S: string cheese; 2 mini cucumbers
S: apple-n-pb; pecans (2 large handfuls :sad2: )
D: burrito (turkey meat, LF cheese, hot sauce, wheat tortilla); HC fudge bar

E: 45 min on treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, thanks, I am pretty confident that my "cell problem" will go away on its own. Now if it is the same when I get tested in March, I'm going to freak out!

[traceycooper]

well done on the loss Amy & getting all that exercise in :)
you are an inspiration!
i suppose you could have a worse vice than nuts ;) i thought they were supposed to be pretty healthy??
Mines dip - surely much more unhealthy fat!!

keep up the great work :)

[Amy&Dan]

Amy great job on losing the two pounds!!!!!:cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :banana: :goodvibes :woohoo: :yay: :cheer2: I am proud of you and not one bit surprised you worked your butt of this week!

I have had abnormal pap smears off and on for about 17 years, it always scares me but they do always just sort themselves out. I havent' had one in about five years now.

Nuts are very addictive and also so high in fat and protein it does make you wonder if you are needing those nutrients. Definitely ask the doctor. I make Dan take his nuts (that sounds weird ;) ) to work, I just can't resist them.

Hope this weekend is going well, weighing in once a week is a good thing, good luck!

[lovinaz]

Yesterday (Sat) was definitely an off day... Started out good, then got progressively worse as the day went on... I did way better than I have in the past, but I should have been more careful. It all started when DH invited people over to watch the Cardinals spank the Panthers (:cheer2: ). My friend said she had to cook this pasta dish because the stuff was going to go bad, so I said that was fine. It was pretty tasty, but pretty fattening - she used regular spaghetti and tons of olive oil. Add that to the 3 rum drinks and I'm glad I'm not weighing myself until Friday! :eek: Oh well, I will get back on track today, we have to go to the grocery store and Costco to stock up on goodies. The kids want to make cookies today, that will be a challenge!

Yesterday's toll:
B: Mini-Wheats w/skim
L: 2 Wasa Fiber crispbreads w/chicken lunchmeat & 1 slice of cheddar; pretzels; 1 graham cracker w/chocolate frosting
S: apple-n-pb
S: way too many pretzels; 10 chips-n-salsa; handful pecans
D: spaghetti noodles w/mushrooms, garlic, zucchini, tomatoes (1c); 2 small pieces garlic bread; 2 Ferrero Garden chocolates (these are finally gone!)

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, nuts are healthy when eaten in moderation. Unfortunately I eat about a week's worth of nuts when I get started! :scared:

Amy, I am so relieved to hear that you have had similar pap issues that have amounted to nothing! That makes me feel a lot less anxious, thanks for sharing! I really hope I didn't erase all my hard work with one day of overeating. I know if I gained anything back I would be ticked off, so I'm glad I'm not getting on the scale until Fri.

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, one bad day (and it wasn't actually that bad) isn't going to do any damage I am betting! Glad those chocloates are gone, I am telling you, it takes some time to get the holiday goodies out of the house!

Yes, the pap thing is very scary but its very common. Just keep those regular visits to the doctor and it will be fine. I had to use some sort of jel/cream stuff once and that was really all the treatment I ever needed. I have a friend who has an abnormal pap almost every time and they never seem concerned. But I know firsthand its upsetting!

Here's to a good and successful week for us all!:thumbsup2

[toystoryduo]

I think you're doing a great job, Amy! Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

Have a great Monday!:hug:

[lovinaz]

Sunday turned out pretty good. The kids wanted to go shopping to spend some of their Christmas gift cards, so that took half the afternoon! I only had 1 snack, which is amazing... My legs are finally not sore anymore, hopefully when I do my Pilates Sculpt DVD tomorrow (I WILL get up and do it!) I will not be as out of shape and sore the next day!

I was pretty proud of myself this morning, on the elliptical I was reading People magazine and they had the article about losing weight and they did a poll of 100 people to see what they ate for 4 days. They said that only 1 person had good eating habits, and my food intake looks pretty darn close to what she was eating! So I am at least doing something right, even if my body doesn't react by shedding a bunch of weight... :confused3

From Sunday:
B: oatmeal w/cinnamon, stevia & skim milk
L: 2 Wasa Fiber crispbreads w/chicken lunchmeat; 1 slice cheddar; 1 graham cracker
S: apple-n-pb
D: grilled tri-tip; yellow squash; HC fudge bar

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, it was a bad day for me because I just ate too much. I felt stuffed from pretzels, and that is a feeling I haven't had in a long time. It's not one I want to repeat either!

Tracy, thanks, I can use all the motivation I can get!

[goldcupmom]

Your food really looks good, Amy! You did GREAT with only 1 snack yesterday, too!

Praying that the pap is just a fluke and it is cleared up by the recheck....been there, done that!

Have an awesome rest of the week!

[traceycooper]

Well done for getting straight back on track after the game Amy :)
I'm liking the rum ;)
Keep up the great work :)

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Amy good job getting on track! You exercised and ate well all on a Monday!:banana:

Hey, I coulda told you that you have good eating habits. I mean you are the girl that was sad when they pulled spinach off the shelves! I of course didn't even know they had. Seriously, you do very well with food which is how I know you will get these pesky pounds off and keep them off! You are well on your way!

[toystoryduo]

Hi Amy,

Great job with your food on Sunday and your exercise on Monday!:goodvibes Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

Have a great day today!:hug:

[lovinaz]

Argh, work!!! :headache: :headache: :headache: It just never ends... I was in an all day meeting from 8am - 4pm today, tomorrow looks the same... Things were weird foodwise yesterday, I got kinda nauseous right as I was cooking dinner and didn't feel like eating anything. I choked down 1/4 of a quesadilla, but that was it. Of course I was starving later... :confused3

Today I have to go to DD9's parent-teacher conferences (one for regular class, one for gifted class). It is such a joy going to her conferences because she is such a terrific student with an awesome personality! DS12's conferences were painful - that is one good thing about him being in Jr High now - no more conferences! They both had the same gifted teacher, I'm sure she is wondering how the heck I could be the mother of these 2 extremely different kids!

For Monday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: salad w/chicken
S: string cheese; 3 mini cucumbers
S: apple-n-pb
D: 1/2 wheat tortilla w/2% cheddar
S: HC fudge bar; PB Cap'n Crunch... :sad2:

E: 45 min on elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Julie, thanks. The only reason I only had 1 snack was because I was too busy! Usually I live for my snacks! :rolleyes1

Tracey, the rum drinks were made from Sprite Zero, so I shouldn't feel guilty, right??

Amy, I can't believe you remember the spinach fiasco! Yes, I was upset, as you can see from my super boring food intake, I have no problem getting spinach for my salads! :rotfl:

Tracy, I have been doing pretty good about getting up and working out, I even got up this morning and worked out at home! :woohoo:

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, all day meetings don't sound too fun. I hope you aren't coming down with something, getting nauseaus while you cook doesn't sound good. Oh yeah, I remember the spinach. I remember thinking "can I be her when I grow up?" :lmao:

You aren't boring with your food, you are consistent!

Enjoy the conference. And our middle school still does conferences. With all the teachers!

[traceycooper]

Tracey, the rum drinks were made from Sprite Zero, so I shouldn't feel guilty, right??

definatley shouldnt feel guilty, every little helps! - just hope there was more rum than sprite ;)

Hope works gone better today :hug:

Feeling nauseous....hmmmmm do we have some happy news a coming?? ;)

[lovinaz]

Ok, I am on a downhill slide, someone stop me!!!!! We provided lunch yesterday and today for these meetings. Needless to say I should have stuck with the lunch I brought... The only good thing is that I have exercised 3x already, only 2 more days to go to meet my self-imposed quota! I couldn't bear it any longer and made the mistake of stepping on the scale this morning. :confused3 I think it was to confirm what I already suspected - weight creeping back up. :sad2: But, my "official" weigh-in date isn't until Fri, but I already know what's coming. :scared: I believe pre-TOM is to blame, even though I just had it 2 weeks ago! :mad: :mad: :mad: This is when I usually start falling off the wagon, but NOT THIS TIME! I'll chug along and get through it, right??

For Tuesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 1/2 turkey-n-cheese on sourdough (there was a stupid amount of turkey on it, I had to eat it with a fork, I couldn't get my mouth around it!); small mixed salad with about 1tbsp Ranch dressing; 3 bite-sized cookies (they were the smallest cookies I've ever seen - each about the size of a quarter!)
D: huge bowl of crockpot chili (made w/ground turkey, no beans); HC fudge bar

No snacks, too busy!!!

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, the conferences were fine, it's always nice to hear good things about your kids! I feel fine now, I'm not sure what was up with my stomach the other night. I think maybe I scarfed down my apple-n-pb too fast or something...

Tracey, there better not be any "happy news" like you are inferring! If so, my ob/gyn has some serious explaining to do! :rotfl:

[toystoryduo]

You CAN do this, Amy!:cheer2: You are doing a great job with exercise and your food. I bet by the time Friday rolls around, the scale will cooperate for you. :goodvibes

Have a great evening!:hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Okay, I gotta say your stomach thing did make me wonder if something was a cookin in the Amy Oven! Glad it was just from eating too fast.

That lunch didn't sound too bad, its so hard to do well when you are eating restaurant or take out food.

Great job on the exercising. You most certainly will NOT fall off the wagon, I won't let you (picture me standing below, reading to shove you back on that wagon missy!).

Tomorrow will be better, no catered lunch right?

[lovinaz]

Why, oh why do I torture myself so??? Stole another peek at the scale, I am not going to be happy tomorrow... I just need to tell myself that it is not because of what I am doing, because there is NO WAY I could have gained that much fat just by having 2 off days. It's gotta be water retention, and I have to keep that in mind and take it with a grain of salt. Might as well be salt, I'm bloated already! :lmao:

I think I will be able to get back on track with food today. I did not get up to work out this morning, but that is OK because I can either work out when I get home or work out on Saturday. My goal is 5x per week, it doesn't ALWAYS have to be M-F in the morning, right??

For Wednesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
S: piece of banana bread
L: turkey-n-provolone on salt bagel (ooh, I just realized that might be some of my problem!); brownie
S: apple-n-pb
D: large bowl PB Cap'n Crunch w/skim; small handful pretzels (I'm seeing a theme here); small handful Cheez-Its; HC fudge bar

E: 45min on elliptical/stair machine (I have no idea what this machine is actually called, but it is a cross of the two)

Obviously I did not feel like cooking the planned shrimp for dinner, I elected for a carb and salt fest instead!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I am pretty sure the scale will not be cooperating tomorrow, but I am going to try to not let it bother me too much (easier said than done!)

Amy, yesterday was definitely a bad day. I didn't go overboard snacking, but I definitely ate too much! This weekend will be hard, we are having people over to watch the Cardinals game. I just need to stay out of the kitchen!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, this sounds like a pre-TOM thing to me. Don't worry about skipping today's workout (if you do), as you say, you can get that 5x in per week in more than one way! Drink a ton of water and if the scale isn't friendly, next week will be better!

By the way, your dinner sounded very tasty! Capn Crunch and I go wayyyy back!:lmao:

[lovinaz]

I knew last week's weigh-in was too good to be true... Today's weigh-in: 144! Yes, for those keeping track that is a 3 lb gain from last Friday!!! :sad: I'm in worse shape than when I started!!! :guilty: I looked back at my journal, wondering if there was anything that I could have done differently. I had 2 relatively bad days, but even then - I wasn't mowing down cheesecake and ice cream! It's gotta be PMS, at least that is my excuse... :confused3 I am done whining about it, I need to stop worrying about the past that I can't change, and concentrate on the future.

No workout yesterday, but I am OK with it. I will get that 5th workout of the week in on Saturday morning. This Sunday we are having people over for the Cardinals game. We are also having a Superbowl party. I need to lay off the alcohol and stay away from the kitchen and I should do fine. I'll be sure to make a veggie tray so if I have to munch I can do it without too much guilt! There will be cocktails involved, I just need to keep it to 2-3 at the most.

For Thursday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: salad w/chicken
S: string cheese; 3 mini cucumbers
S: apple-n-pb
D: veggie burger (no bun) w/mustard; 6 Doritos; 5 waffle pretzels (1" x 1" squares); HC fudge bar

E: none

I am still in my "don't wanna make dinner" mode... I did make grilled cheese for the kids and made myself the veggie burger instead, and I stopped eating Doritos when I realized they weren't as good as I remembered!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I have been trying to slam water, but it just sits in my body instead of flushing things out... Hopefully my body will adjust itself soon!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I am bummed for you but really and truly is some sort of water thing. Either a pms water gain or just maybe something salty you ate that caused a slow down of water elimination! Your food all week was really very good. Even on the days you splurged, they were little splurges! So just keep doing what you are doing, I predict those three pounds will be gone by next week's weigh in. Try not to weigh yourself until the middle of next week if you can. I know when I weigh, if its bad news for more than a day or two, it can really wreak havoc with my mind and I just get discouraged!

You are doing everything right, but the female body has its quirks! And remember, you have so little weight to lose overall that small losses or no losses are not uncommon. Us big gals get the big losses but we have so far to go, that in fact they are more like a half pound to you.

You had a good week say I!!

Enjoy the football party, if you have a cocktail, make sure you enjoy it!

I see its 76 for you today you rat!

Sorry the Nuggets beat the Suns ;)

[lovinaz]

I swear, I need to take a stress managment class or something! I was so absolutely ticked off at someone at work I was yelling at him over the phone. This person is so verbally combative it's not even funny. And it's not just me he bugs, it's everyone! I have a SUPER mild-mannered co-worker, who never swears, and rarely says a bad word about anyone. After our telecon with "LF", she called him a d-head! Oh well, it's the weekend now, so I'm not gonna think about it anymore!

Last night we went out to dinner. I totally splurged and I don't feel a bit guilty. I think one splurge meal a week isn't going to kill me. I'm not going to stop enjoying life just to drop a couple pounds.

Got my 5th workout in this morning!!! :cheer2: It was a little more difficult than usual because my kids are gone and DH is at work, so the attention-hog dog was all over me. It's hard to do push-ups with a beagle trying to lick your face... He eventually got the hint that I wasn't playing everytime I pushed him away and just sat there staring at me, wondering what I was doing...

For Friday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: salad w/chicken
S: string cheese; 3 mini cucumbers
D: chips-n-salsa; salmon taco w/mango salsa; shrimp taco w/pineapple salsa; 1/2 pitcher pomegranate margarita :rolleyes: ; single scoop Reese's cup ice cream in cup (oh ya, I wasn't messing around last night!)

E: 45min on treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, thanks so much for your support. You know how much I struggle to lose anything and I am so sick of the ups and downs! If it takes me 7 months to lose 5 lbs, then I guess that is what it takes... And yes, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous this past week! But I am such an Arizonan I still wear long sleeves until it's about 80. I know, sad, huh??

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, good job going out and having fun and a food splurge! Have you ever read any of the Bill Philipps Body for Life books? He says to take a FREE day each week. Like free as in if you want to eat five pizzas and a six pack of beer, do it. But you have to be disciplined and on point the rest of the week. You do that so in a way, a splurge is a good thing. It keeps you from feeling deprived and keeps your body from thinking you are starving it. So splurge and be happy!

Good job getting that workout in. And too cute that Buckley gave you some Beagle Lovin while you did! They really are sweet dogs!

[toystoryduo]

Good for you for splurging, Amy!:goodvibes I think one free day every week is a great idea!:thumbsup2 (Of course, I need to change that for myself because I usually have 7 free days a week!:lmao: )

Great job getting that 5th workout in this week! The Beagle love was an added bonus! ;)

Hope you have a great Sunday! :hug:

[lovinaz]

All I can say about this weekend is "whoa!". Total alcohol and carb fest. :scared: But hey, the Cardinals are going to the Superbowl for the first time, so I had to celebrate! No one was cramming the drinks down my throat and the food into my mouth, it was all me, self-destructing.

But I am already over it, surprisingly I don't even feel bad, which is weird... I got in my 5x of exercise last week and I already worked out this morning, so I'm going to get back on the healthy path starting TODAY. I don't even think I could recall everything I ate over the weekend, so I won't post food, but here's to a better week! pixiedust:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, yes, I have the Body for Life (and also Body for Life for Women) but my free day turned into a free weekend... :scratchin I don't care, if I can gain 3lbs behaving, at least I "earned" whatever couple pounds I may have gained this week!

Tracy, I am doing great getting all the workouts in, now I need to concentrate on getting the food under control again... I always say I'll never go overboard, but it always ends up happening! I was actually sick to my stomach yesterday (probably a combo deal from too much rum and too much food!) and I really don't want to feel that way again anytime soon!

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Amy, yeah the Body for Life free day turned into a free decade for me! But I do think the idea of a splurge day is a good one.

So happy the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl, I'll be pulling for them.

Great job getting those workouts in. And I am proud of you for not beating yourself up. You had fun, your team won and its a new week!

[traceycooper]

Last night we went out to dinner. I totally splurged and I don't feel a bit guilty. I think one splurge meal a week isn't going to kill me. I'm not going to stop enjoying life just to drop a couple pounds.
All I can say about this weekend is "whoa!". Total alcohol and carb fest. :scared:
But I am already over it, surprisingly I don't even feel bad, which is weird... I got in my 5x of exercise last week and I already worked out this morning, so I'm going to get back on the healthy path starting TODAY. I don't even think!

what a great attitude Amy :)
Have a great week

[toystoryduo]

Congratulations go out to your Cardinals!!! That was quite a game on Sunday!:cheer2:

I am so proud of you for enjoying your weekend and moving on. That is a great attitude to have!:goodvibes

Have a wonderful day today! :hug:

[lovinaz]

I am officially back on track! And as anticipated, my monthly "friend" showed up, so hopefully now I will be able to get rid of some of those extra undeserved pounds! But I am not expecting a miracle at Friday's weigh-in, since I probably did do some actual damage this weekend... :rolleyes:

This morning I didn't do my Pilates Sculpt DVD (I don't want to get bored with it) but I did 40 minutes of squats, lunges, leg lifts, upper body weights and abs. And I know 40 minutes doesn't sound like much, but there was no break in action, I was working up a little sweat! I think I get a more efficient workout like that than I do when I use the machines at the gym. I was still disappointed at how much strength I had lost, but I'll eventually get back up there...

For Monday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: string cheese; 3 mini cucumbers
S: apple-n-pb
D: 2 small pieces homemade pizza w/ham (Boboli Thin Crust); HC fudge bar

E: 45min on elliptical

I need to input my boring menu into FitDay to see if I really should be eating that much peanut butter! I have 1 tbsp in my chocolate oatmeal and another 2 tbsp for my snack. I might have to tone it down a bit (every other day or something) if my fat and calories are too much... That would really bum me out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I am so excited about the Cardinals! Usually I couldn't care less who wins, I just watched for the commercials... not this year!

Tracey, I am shocked and amazed at my own positive attitude, I hope it sticks around!

Tracy, I need to learn how to roll with the punches, because I know I will occasionally have these splurge weekends! I just need to make sure they are not EVERY weekend...

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, my cousin's wife gave me some lowfat peanut butter powder. You mix it with water, its pretty good and its very low in fat. Let me know if you're interested and I'll give you the name of it (too lazy to go downstairs now). I love pb too!

Your attitude is so good, I love it! Keep up your good work and way to go getting that 40 minutes of kick butt strength training in today. :cool1:

[lovinaz]

I definitely didn't want to roll out of bed at 4:45am when the alarm went off this morning, much less go to the gym! But I did, and that is a good thing... Eating was pretty decent yesterday, I did input everything on Fitday and of course my fat was about 60g! It's mostly from the 3tbsp of pb I've been eating every day. I need to get some different afternoon snacks for during the week and save the apple-n-pb as a treat for the weekends instead...

For Tuesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: string cheese; 2 mini cucumbers
S: apple-n-pb
D: sauteed shrimp (no butter or oil, just cooking spray); broccoli; 1/4c Pasta Roni; HC fudge bar; small handful Chex "puppy chow" (could have done without that!) :confused3

E: 40min at-home strength training (lower body, upper body & abs)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I might have to check that pb powder out! I definitely eat too much of it, that's for sure! My attitude will probably take a big nose dive after Friday's weigh in, but hopefully it won't be too horrible! :scared:

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, good job getting to the gym so early!! :thumbsup2 That is some serious dedication. Peanut butter is so hard to resist, but I have to wonder if your body is needing more fat and that's why you crave it so much. Try drizzling a teaspoon of olive oil on something else. WW swears you need two teaspoons of healthy oils beyond salad dressing and pb etc to keep satiated. You eat such a healthy lowfat diet, maybe you don't get enough fat and that's why your body craves the pb?

Don't stress about the scale, I think you may be pleasantly surprised! I am keeping my fingers crossed for you and me both with our little monthly gift that makes it all harder than it already is!:rolleyes:

[toystoryduo]

Great job getting to the gym that early, Amy!:cheer2: Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

Hope you have a wonderful day! :hug:

[lovinaz]

I am so pathetic!!! :sad1: I actually got out of bed this morning, changed into my workout clothes, but instead of doing my workout, I crawled back into bed for 45 minutes extra sleep... :sad2: Yes, I was tired, but I wasn't as tired as I was the morning before. I just didn't want to do it! I don't know what the problem was, but now I will have to work out on Sat again to get my 5x this week! And to top it all off, one of my co-workers had a 20 year anniversary at work today and I had a very small piece of rum cake. I'd never had it before, it was OK, but too sickening sweet. I actually listened to my body and stopped eating it, instead of scarfing down the whole piece, like I usually do... So I guess that is a good thing.

This morning was quite traumatic - I was getting a Coke Zero out of the garage, and DH had put a brand new 24 pack on a high shelf. I opened the box and all the cans started falling out, hitting the ground, breaking, spinning and spraying soda ALL OVER THE PLACE. All over me (including my face and hair), all over the floor, all over the Christmas storage boxes, and the worst part - all over my brand new car that I spent an hour hand-washing this past weekend! :sad: I'm sure it was pretty comical to watch, but I wasn't amused at 7am... I tried to clean myself up the best I could (we were on our way out the door!), and wipe the car down, but once I got to work, there are still things that are sticky - like my feet and my eyelids! Thank goodness it was diet soda, or I would be a real sticky mess!

For Wednesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: baby carrots; string cheese
S: apple-n-pb
D: turkey burger on wheat bun; 7 steak fries; zucchini; HC fudge bar

E: 45 min on treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I'm sure I get plenty of fat in my diet, I'm just obsessed with peanut butter! When I go shopping this weekend I am going to get some cottage cheese for my afternoon snack and only have pb with my chocolate oatmeal in the mornings. I am pretty sure I am not going to like what the scale says tomorrow, hopefully I can forget about it and move on!

Tracy, I wish I would have stayed up and worked out this morning, but like my DH always tell me - it's not the end of the world if I don't work out one day!

[traceycooper]

sorry for laughing Amy but that did sound pretty hilarious!!! :)

good luck for WI tomorrow (mine too!!)

[lovinaz]

My amazing attitude has gone, and last night I had a little pity party for myself... I made the mistake of inviting DH, and he was a party pooper - he kept trying to cheer me up! :lovestruc I was just really down in the dumps about not being able to lose weight, my complexion is a mess half the time, blah blah blah (where's the "poor me" violin smilie?). I told him that I don't know how I can manage multi-million dollar projects at work, but can't seem to manage my own weight! :confused3

Anyway, he thinks I worry too much about it, and he's totally right. I get too obsessed about it and freak out if I mess up. I need to get the mental game going so I can stop the cycle of being on track one week, not seeing an instant result then blowing it the next week, etc.

Weigh-in this morning was 143. Not thrilled about that, but at least it is 1lb less than last Friday. Nothing planned this weekend, so I should be able to stay on track with food.

For Thursday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken; small piece of rum cake
S: baby carrots; string cheese; small brownie (2" x 2")
S: apple-n-pb
D: baked chicken breast; cauliflower; HC fudge bar; 1/2 c Chex puppy chow

E: none

As you can see, yesterday wasn't a complete disaster, but what the heck, there were way too many sweets consumed! Oh well, I'm over it! I did resist DH's offer to go out to eat and made chicken instead. So I'll focus on that good choice!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, both kids thought the soda incident was hilarious, and I think it's funny now, but I sure wasn't laughing at the time!

[lovinaz]

Yesterday was spot on with food! :thumbsup2 Today I have a choice to make - do I exercise to get my 5x this week? I guess I will see how the day goes. I could squeeze in at least 40 minutes of Pilates, I'm sure...

For Friday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 2 Fiber Wasa crackers w/ham & 1 slice cheddar
S: baby carrots; string cheese
S: apple-n-pb
D: flank steak w/mushroom sauce; green beans; HC fudge bar

E: 45min on elliptical

That was my last apple-n-pb snack during the week. I am going to save that for the weekends from now on, as a special treat. I'll get something else for my after work snack, so my fat grams count is lower. 60g of fat per day when you are trying to lose weight probably isn't a good idea, even if it is a "good" fat!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I am sure that soda incident wasn't one bit funny when it happened! But its good you can laugh now. I had that happen once with a two litre bottle I dropped and to this day, I think my garage smells like 7 up! What kind of new car did you get? Did you get the Acadia you were thinking about ahwile back??

I am very proud of you and happy for losing that pound. A pound is a good thing to lose! And I hear you and the weight struggle, as far as the issue of "why can't I just do this" sort of thing. Look on the bright side, its a hard thing to do for everyone so you aren't alone. I still know for a fact you are going to be successful! Well done for not eating out last night! And one small piece of cake and a small brownie is not horrible. Its when you eat a whole pan of brownies there's a problem!

If you don't get the workout in, just focus on next week and the fact you got four in this week. I am betting you did it though! Keep up your hard work! And I like your idea of having your apple/pb treat on the weekends. See how healthy you are that this is your weekend treat?? I'm impressed!

[traceycooper]

That was my last apple-n-pb snack during the week. I am going to save that for the weekends from now on, as a special treat. I'll get something else for my after work snack, so my fat grams count is lower. 60g of fat per day when you are trying to lose weight probably isn't a good idea, even if it is a "good" fat!

i have a similar problem Amy - i found out my low fat hot choc drink i have everyday at work is actually quite high in fat & ridiciously high in sugar - so i'm gonna have tea instead & the hot choc for the odd treat!!
Will miss it though!!

Well done on the 1lb loss - you should be proud - much better than me!!!!

looks like that amazing attitude came back pretty quickly :)

[lovinaz]

I got my 5x a week in!!!! :cool1: I actually did my Pilates Sculpt DVD yesterday!!! :hyper: I didn't start the morning off well, slacking off, surfing the net, etc... And I finally got the courage to have "the talk" with DD9 (DH had to work and DS12 was at a friend's). Poor thing had no idea what she's in for! I found a really cool website that showed what goes on during the cycle, etc. She was just dumbfounded. But I'm glad I got that over with, I started the fun when I was 10 and I don't want her to be caught off guard!

Food today has been a hodgepodge of carbs - no real meals except breakfast. :scared: We went to see Bedtime Stories, it was pretty cute! I let the kids choose popcorn or candy, they picked candy so we stopped at the store and got the $1 big boxes. And they had Sugar Babies, which I can't resist! I ate 2 at a time, maybe 1/3 of the box. Which is a lot better than the whole box! :p So I figure today can be my "free" day, and I know that 100% I will be back on track tomorrow and all week. Went to the store and re-stocked on all my healthy stuff. Next free day will be Superbowl Sunday! I will not stress about it now, I'll deal with it when it arrives. ::yes::

For Saturday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: grilled cheese on wheat; 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes
S: 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes; string cheese
D: homemade sloppy joe (w/ground turkey) on wheat bun; corn
S: popcorn; 1 graham cracker

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD; 20+ minutes walking dog to park and back
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, you are right, I'm happy about the 1lb loss. Any time it's not a gain, I should be happy! Yes, I did get a '09 Acadia, I love that car! It's silver-green, it's an awesome color. And I didn't even buy apples for me this week, so no temptation! I stocked up on cottage cheese, celery and hummus instead.

Tracey, you guys have the best hot chocolate! I love the Aero kind. But you guys also have the best tea (I am addicted to PG Tips!), so hopefully you won't miss the hot choc too much.

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I had the talk with my dd when she was 9, she also had no idea! I love the American Girl book, The Care and Keeping of Me. It was recommended by my pediatrician. They have a whole series for girls on fitness, friends, grooming and a few other things. You can buy them at Barnes and Noble or online. See what you think! I dread the whole puberty thing with dd!:guilty:

Well done for doing your 5x a week and pacing yourself with the candy! We really enjoyed that movie too.

Glad you got your Acadia, I love those cars! Here's to a GREAT week!:cheer2:

[lovinaz]

Yesterday was definitely a bizarre food day. But it's over! We ended up walking to the park and playing this game the kids made up - one of us hits a tennis ball with the racquet and the others try to catch it for points. It's actually pretty exhausting! :faint: DH went with us this time, which was fun for the kids. We also took a picnic lunch, at DD's request. So, sounds like a good way to end the weekend, right? WRONG!!! When we got back from the park, DS12 wanted to go to a friend's house. He was supposed to be home at 6:00, and as usual he called at 5:59:59 and asked if he could stay until 6:30 because he was helping clean someone's yard for $5. I said sure, but be home by 6:30.

Fast forward to 6:48pm, when he calls again, to tell me he "accidentally" put Vaseline on his friend's neighbor's car windshield! :mad: :furious: How does that ACCIDENTALLY happen??? Anyway, he got caught by the neighbor and I talked to them on the phone, then I talked to the friend's mom. They were very understanding, boys will be boys, blah blah blah. And the whole time I am trying to figure out how I will not kill the kid when he gets home... So he spent the next hour trying to get the stuff off, and today he is going to go back to wash their car...

And the thing that made me the most mad was that because the neighbor said "oh, it's OK", he copped an attitude with us when we tried to punish him! And this morning I already got a call from his school that he has an F in science (this kid is gifted, with an IQ of 150) and got detention today. :mad: :furious: :mad: :furious: I am just at my wit's end, I don't know what to do with him sometimes! I thought he was doing so much better, I guess I was wrong, he obviously still needs 100% adult supervision...

Sorry for venting, but geez that kid is hard to parent! Thank the stars my DD9 is such a :angel: princess: !!!

So, the damage for Sunday:
B: 2 packs lower sugar apple-n-cinnamon oatmeal
S: 1/3 large box Sugar Babies
L: Chex mix; string cheese; 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes :confused3
S: mini Nutter Butters :confused3 :confused3
D: 2 bowls Cocoa Krispies; 3 graham crackers :confused3 :confused3 :confused3

E: none

No biggie on the food, I did good on Sat and I didn't go overboard with calories, just didn't eat anything nutritious besides the oatmeal!!! Not a single fruit or veggie!!! I'm already back on track so far today, so I'm OK.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I will have to check those books out. I don't want DD to be too freaked out about it!

[lovinaz]

WARNING - EXCUSES AHEAD! I didn't get up this morning to work out. :sad2: I don't know what the heck is going on! I have no problem getting to the gym for cardio 3x a week, but when it comes to working out at home, I just make every excuse not to do it!

Here's what happened: Last night and the night before I did not sleep well. Tossing and turning all night, having totally bizarre dreams, and waking up way before the alarm goes off. Usually my head hits the pillow and the next thing I know the alarm is ringing! So when the alarm went off this morning, I got up, got changed, took the weights into the living room, then decided I couldn't get past the splitting headache I woke up with and went back to bed... :confused3

So now I will have to do my Pilates DVD when I get home, which I HATE. There is too much going on when I get home from work, which is the whole point of working out in the morning. But I did it to myself, so now I need to pay the price...

Food yesterday was great - no pb after work. I had almost forgotten how much I love hummus!

For Monday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: 2 celery stalks w/hummus; cottage cheese
D: chicken cordon bleu; peas; HC fudge bar

E: 45min on treadmill

[traceycooper]

oh dear amy - you are having a rough time lately!
you proberbly did the right thing not working out if you felt so tired!!
look at the positives - your food wasnt bad :)
& you'll proberbly have a really good nights sleep tonight :)

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, its okay and actually quite a good thing to listen to your body. If your head hurts, the best thing to do is get some extra sleep. I don't think you are making excuses at all, but rather you are just physically hurting. Don't be so hard on yourself!

I love Hummus too, its on my list for today. Your food looks A+!!!

Hope you get the pilates DVD done, if not, well that's why God invented tomorrow!

How is Buckley? Did I ever tell you MIss Daisy almost got the whole platter of turkey off the table on Christmas? Right during stepdad's prayer, I hear the sound of a metal platter being dragged across the kitchen table (we were in the dining room) and I had to go running in there. She had literally pulled herself up and was dangling, feet off the ground, clawing to get that platter! She looked like a cat. But really, she's a pig!! And a very resourceful one. She does all sorts of things Benjamin never figured out. Good thing she's cute.

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Amy,

You did the right thing by not working out yesterday. There's no sense in working out when you have a splitting headache! :hug:

I hope today is a much better day for you!:goodvibes

[lovinaz]

I didn't get that workout in yesterday, it's just too hard in the evening! I can still make my 5x a week if I work out today (already in the bag!), Thu, Fri, Sat, so we'll see how it goes.

I did get a call from DS's science teacher, to discuss what needs to be done to get his grade up before the end of the quarter. At mid-term, he has a D in science and A's in everything else. Hmm... Hopefully he'll get back on track soon.

My food has been great the past couple days, but the scale has not. I'm not going to count the number until Friday's weigh-in, but I'm not liking the trend. :sad1: I just don't get it! I need to stop worrying about it! It's the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night, and I pretty much obsess about it all day. I'm sure it's not helping, but I don't know how to stop. :sad: Any suggestions?

For Tuesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: cottage cheese
D: turkey fiesta pie (plus DS's crust - that kid is so anti-carb! maybe that's why he is 5' 6.5" and weighs 106lbs); broccoli; HC fudge bar

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, yes, this week has been rough! Last night I didn't sleep much better, I am still waking up at 3am or so. It's like jetlag and I haven't even gone anywhere!

Amy, I can totally see Buckley doing that! He's such a scrounge, it's pathetic. But that is what beagles do best! I was stressing about not doing my workout yesterday and DH told me that HE doesn't care if I don't work out 5x a week. Bless him, but he's not an obsessive-compulsive mess like I am! :crazy2:

Tracy, thanks, I just wish I could get to the point where I didn't feel so guilty about missing a workout. I mean seriously - what is going to happen if I only work out 4x a week instead of 5? NOTHING. It's a self-imposed goal!!! I need hypnosis or something! :upsidedow

[lovinaz]

I actually got up this morning and did my Pilates DVD! :cool1: I'm still having that jetlag kind of sleep, where I keep waking up all the time. I HATE it and I wish it would stop! So now I know I can get my 5x this week, as long as I work out on Sat morning. DH will probably have to work and the kids will be gone, so that is a good scenario for me to get it done first thing in the morning. ::yes::

The scale is being totally bizarre. There was a 3lb difference between yesterday and today. No idea why. Tomorrow is weigh-in, hopefully I will be happy with the number!

For Wednesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: cottage cheese
D: chicken ole; italian green beans; HC fudge bar; 1/2 graham cracker

E: 45min elliptical

[Amy&Dan]

Good job getting that workout in! Your dh is a good egg! No idea how to stop obessing, other than getting a sex change operation! Because every woman I know does the same thing. Just remember you are a very healthy person and your weight doesn't define you. Easier said than done I know.

My own ds has a D in science. Which is how I ended up with his nifty PSP! I think our sons were born under the same star.;)

Keep up the good work and no matter what the scale says, you are doing very well.

[lovinaz]

Today's weigh-in: 142. I'm still 1lb up from where I was 3 weeks ago! :guilty: But it's a pound down from last week, so I should be happy about that! :thumbsup2 Boy, I'm going to have to really watch myself - I don't want to get too crazy and lose weight at such a fast rate (1 lb a month!!!!) :rolleyes2

Looking back at Jan, I guess I did pretty good. I lost a pound and I stopped snacking in the evenings. And although I did have a little bad spurt, I got back on track. I worked out 5x a week the whole month (this means I HAVE to work out tomorrow, since I already posted it! :rolleyes: ) and I resisted some goodies along the way. This week I walked past muffins and cookies and yesterday I refused a pecan muffin (and you know how much I :lovestruc pecans!!!). Today there is a "progressive tailgate party" at work. Basically that means all the break rooms have a bunch of food and everyone is supposed to graze all day. NO THANKS! I didn't contribute anything (on purpose), and it wouldn't be right if I ate something without bringing anything, so I should be good to go. Let's hope I can make it through the day - there are already good smells wafting through the building...

For Thursday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: cottage cheese; celery-n-hummus
D: wheat spaghetti w/sauce & 3 turkey meatballs; small piece garlic bread; HC fudge bar
S: 1 graham cracker; 10 Sugar Babies (DD found these in the back of the pantry from last weekend's movie!)

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, DH is definitely a keeper. ::yes:: DS called me this morning from school. I am no stranger to getting calls from him, usually it means he got sand trapped (meaning he didn't have his homework, or was tardy, or wasn't prepared for class) and has to stay after school. But today it was to tell me that he re-took the quiz he failed, turned in his missing assignment and got a 94 on his test yesterday so he ended up with a B on his mid-term progress report for Science!!! :cool1: I told him I was so proud of him for getting back on the right path. Hopefully he will stay that way!

[traceycooper]

Well done on the loss Amy :) - much better than mine!!

Well done on catching up with the exercise & resisting those muffins too :)

Have a great weekend!

[goldcupmom]

You're doing GREAT, Amy! I've never done Pilates....is it kind of like Yoga?

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I imagine PHX area will be CRAZY on Sunday!

:grouphug:

[lovinaz]

I had quite an evening last night... We went to dinner at this new place, which I had driven by before, then read a good review. The review raved about their shrimp scampi ravioli. After looking at the menu, I was torn between that and the chicken amaretto and I asked the waitress and she recommended the ravioli. So, I skipped the wine, ate 2 very small pieces of bread w/butter, and a side salad with the dressing on the side. My ravioli smelled very fishy when it arrived, which I was not expecting. I ate one ravioli and it was pretty good. I started slicing up the second one when I got an old familiar feeling I hadn't felt in a long time. My tongue started tingling, then my throat. And if any of you have a food allergy, you know what I am talking about and the panic that ensues! :scared:

I am allergic to crab, but I have never had a problem with shrimp before - I eat it all the time! So we asked the waitress if there was crab in the sauce or ravioli (there was nothing to indicate this on the menu), and she said no, but that the ravioli was not made at the restaurant, it was processed somewhere else. I took a Benadryl to try to stop the allergic reaction (I always carry some in my purse, for situations like this!). The only thing we could figure was that the shrimp was processed on the same machine as crab or something. I'm sure it came from some seafood processing plant.

The good news is that I got the hint after only eating 1 ravioli and the Benadryl stopped the reaction. I progressed to the tongue swelling and lip tingling part, but it didn't get farther than that, thankfully. But the bad thing is that I was falling asleep on the couch at 8:30pm because of the Benadryl! So much for our romantic night without the kids... :rolleyes:

So, for Friday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: 3 egg whites; 2 mini cucumbers
S: cottage cheese; celery w/hummus; 5 Sugar Babies
D: 2 small pieces bread w/butter; small dinner salad w/Italian dressing; 1 shrimp scampi ravioli :confused3
D2: 2 bowls Cocoa Krispies (when I finally got back to "normal" feeling, I was starving!); 10 M&M's

E: 45min on treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, thanks, I know you understand how hard it is to resist junk food in the breakroom at work!

Julie, I think Pilates is a lot like yoga, but it's more repetitive moves instead of holding poses. It's used by a lot of dancers. If you are interested, I recommend Pilates for Dummies and Pick Your Spot Pilates DVDs.

[traceycooper]

Amy - i'm soo glad the allergic reaction didnt progress into anything worse!! it must have been pretty scary!!
You have an excuse to plan another romantic evening now ;)

[toystoryduo]

I'm glad you had some Benadryl with you to stop the allergic reaction. :hug: My DH is allergic to chicken and turkey so we always have Benadryl with us just in case. I hope you're feeling much better today.:goodvibes

Have a great weekend!pixiedust:

[lovinaz]

I got my workout in yesterday!! So I made my 5x a week for the whole month of January! Hopefully this week I will be able to get my act together on Tue and Thu and wake up and work out in the morning so I can have the whole weekend off!

Food was really good yesterday, considering I was by myself for most of the day. And I got a bunch of stuff done around the house, which is always nice. I need to start cleaning for the Superbowl party. I made the jello shots last night (raspberry SF jello w/raspberry vodka!) and I just finished making snickerdoodles (and didn't eat any dough or a single cookie!). I am going to try to behave today. That means having small portions of whatever I want, but stopping when I get full. ::yes::

For Saturday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 2 Fiber Wasa crackers w/chicken lunchmeat & 1 cheddar cheese slice; 2 servings Quaker mini rice cakes (120 cal)
S: cottage cheese; celery-n-hummus; 5 Sugar Babies
S: 1/2 serving Goldfish (65 cal); string cheese
D: broiled teriyaki salmon; corn; HC Fudge Bar; 5 Sugar Babies; 5 M&M's

E: 40min Pilates DVD

I need to get rid of those Sugar Babies! But I am proud of myself, I count out a couple and make them last. Before I would have demolished the whole box and not have thought twice about it. Baby steps...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, you are right, I need to plan another date night!!!

Tracy, food allergies stink - usually I avoid crab like the plague (and beans and tuna, I'm allergic to those too!), but you just can't tell with some processed foods apparently! Fortunately for me, my reaction happens within minutes of eating the offending food so I can stop and take Benadryl before it gets too bad.

[Amy&Dan]

Wow Amy, I am so glad your body warned you after just a small portion of the ravioli. That must be really scary. I agree, plan another date night!

That is awesome news that ds retook the test. He really advocated for his own success. So I'd say that was a pretty successful semester if he got all A's and one B. Huge relief for you I am sure.

And I am very proud of you for focusing on the postives you achieved in January. You lost weight and fulfilled your exercise goal. I am impressed!

Congrats on making that 5x per week challenge. You amended things when you needed to and hung in there. Great job!!

Enjoy those jello shots (I love me some jello shots ;) ) and have fun at your party. Go Cardinals!!!:cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

[traceycooper]

Hope you are having a great super bowl sunday Amy :)
They show it here but its in the middle of the night!!!

[lovinaz]

Wow, what a game yesterday! I am bummed the Cards lost, but hey, they didn't go down without a fight! As expected, I ate too much and drank WAY too much... I was never full and uncomfortable, but just kinda grazed all day, and on things I wouldn't normally eat. I can be proud of one thing though - the first plate of food I had was ALL veggies w/lowfat ranch. :cool1: I know I ate about 5 snickerdoodles... A little tiny bit of buffalo chicken dip w/tortilla chips, small handful Chex mix, popcorn, 1 turkey wrap (from Costco), and 1 cheese-n-cracker. Overall, I did pretty good I think. I jumped on the scale this morning, just for grins and it was 4 lbs up!!! :scared: I'm not paying any attention to that number at all - my weight doesn't count until Friday and I know it is mostly water retention from too many rum drinks and jello shots... :rolleyes: I definitely didn't consume over 14,000 calories to gain 4 lbs overnight!

So, no food log today, other than what I mentioned. I think I did pretty good, I am already back on track today. Worked out this morning and everything! :cheer2:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, thanks for your support! I was very proud of DS for getting all that Science stuff squared away. It's only mid-term, so hopefully he can keep it up for the rest of the semester. Of course I already got a call from him this morning - he got sand trapped for not having his Science book... :confused3

Tracey, are you affected by the huge snowstorm that is slamming London? My colleague is stuck there - the flight to Phx was cancelled.

[toystoryduo]

I'm bummed that the Cards lost too, but they played one heck of a game!:thumbsup2

You did much better with food than I did yesterday. I stopped counting pieces of pizza after number 5. :blush:

I hope you have a great evening! :hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I was also bummed about the Cards, I really got hopeful they would pull it off! Oh well, at least it wasn't a blow out, I hate superbowls where one team just dominates the whole time.

Way to go eating plenty of veggies for your first plateful, that's not easy to do when there is all sorts of goodies to choose from. Your rum will flush out quicky, good job not letting that number freak you out!

Boy can I relate to the science book thing. My ds has finally solved his dilemma with his books being forgotten! He puts his entire locker into his backpack. It looks crazy, like one of those Himalayan guides that has 85 pounds of stuff on his back! But I have not gotten a call all year to take something to school! I am telling you, our ds' are kindred spirits!;)

[traceycooper]

Amy - sorry your team didnt win, but it sounds like you had a great time :)
yes we have the snow - i have a pic of it covering my garden on my journal!!!
Hope your friend gets home soon!
roll on summer!

[lovinaz]

The scale is still stuck - I guess my body wants to hold onto the rum and jello shots as long as possible! :rotfl: It can do whatever it wants as long as at least 3 of those 4 lbs are gone by weigh-in on Friday! :p

I was ALMOST back on track yesterday. I did decent, but I need to get rid of the buffalo chicken dip. That stuff is like crack and should be banned from the planet! I snacked on that after work instead of my usual cottage cheese. But I do have to pat myself on the back - I stopped eating when it started not tasting super good anymore. Which is a major accomplishment! :thumbsup2 But of course that threw my dinner plans off. I was going to make eggs and turkey bacon and toast (the kids love when we have breakfast for dinner!) but the turkey bacon was bad and the kids just wanted cereal and I was pretty full from buffalo chicken dip... :confused3 Could have been worse though.

For Monday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: buffalo chicken dip (maybe 3/4 cup) w/tortilla scoop chips (about 10); 10 Sugar Babies (I am really getting my money's worth out of this $1 box I bought 10 days ago!)
D: 2 bowls Multi-Grain Cheerios w/skim; 10 M&M's

E: 45min on elliptical/stair climber combo machine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I've been down that road with pizza before! And the only reason I didn't do worse on Sunday was because the only other sweets were chocolate cupcakes and I don't like those.

Amy, I wish our DS's were kindred spirits in ways other than lack of responsibility at school - yours is wanting to go on a church mission, mine is putting Vaseline on the neighbor's car... :crazy2:

Tracey, I saw the picture of your garden - that's crazy! I'll make you all jealous by telling you that today is an unseasonably warm 80 degrees F (tomorrow should be 83!)

[traceycooper]

Tracey, I saw the picture of your garden - that's crazy! I'll make you all jealous by telling you that today is an unseasonably warm 80 degrees F (tomorrow should be 83!)

NOooooooo
Thanks for that Amy...:rolleyes:

my downfall is cheese & chive dip - i have to walk on the other side of the isle in the supermarket to stop myself from putting it in the trolley!!!

I'm sure the scale will settle in a couple of days :)

[Amy&Dan]

Buffalo dip = crack, you crack me up!!! I was about to ask you for the recipe earlier than thought wth am I doing? Like I need more dip in my life!

Vaseline on the neighbor's car? What part of the car? Your ds cracks me up, he is creative and crafty at the very least!

Good job stopping yourself with the dip. That is the hardest thing to do, putting the brakes on when you are indulging. So well done!:thumbsup2

[toystoryduo]

Did you say 80 degrees?!?!?! :eek: You're right...I am jealous!:lmao:

Great job stopping yourself on the dip!:thumbsup2 I love dip! It is a weakness of mine. :upsidedow When it's in the house, I want to eat the whole thing right now. :blush:

I hope you have a great day ahead! :hug:

[lovinaz]

Scale is still stuck! What the heck??? I've been really good the last couple days, I am really surprised that I am still 4 lbs up from Sunday. :sad2: Again, not going to worry about it, but I will be really upset if I show that much of a gain on Friday!

I did get up yesterday morning to work out! :cool1: I didn't do a DVD, but I did tons of squats, lunges, upper body weights, etc. My butt is sore today!!! I fully plan to get up tomorrow and do my Pilates Sculpt DVD, then hit the gym again on Fri and that will be my 5x this week - so I'll get Sat and Sun off!!!

I decided to do myself a favor and pack up the buffalo chicken dip and send it to work with DH. But alas, it was still in the fridge this morning! I'll have to remind him to take it tomorrow, or I will have to just throw it out. I only had 2 scoops of it yesterday, which was REALLY good!!! But I'd rather not be tempted at all, so it has to go!

For Tuesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 2 turkey wraps (from Costco, leftover from the party, I'll be eating them for lunch for the rest of the week!)
S: 2 egg whites (had 3, but one was a stubborn peeler and I got so mad I just threw it in the trash); 3 mini cucumbers
S: cottage cheese; 2 tortilla scoop chips w/buffalo chicken dip
D: taco salad (spinach, turkey taco meat, pinch of shredded cheddar, hot sauce); 10 M&M's

E: 40min strength training (lower & upper body, abs)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, I never see any scones w/clotted cream and jam on your journal, what's up with that? I live for a good cream tea!!! :thumbsup2

Amy, you must have missed my journal entry about DS's Vaseline incident. It was the windshield... He is definitely an "out-of-the-box" kinda kid. He's still grounded from going to his friend's. I told him he can hang out with his friends, but they had to come to OUR house, where there is actually adult suprevision. He didn't like that idea, so I guess he'll be lonely for a while!

Tracy, today it is 83 and absolutely GORGEOUS out!! I'm bummed that I have to be in meetings all day... :confused3

[Amy&Dan]

Yep, I missed that post, I saw the one you made after it but somehow missed that one. I'm sorry about that, I know how you feel, my own son and his never ending issues in life makes me age quicker! I swear some kids are just a bit more work than others. My dd is also a much easier kid to parent.

Great job getting those workouts in and being disciplined with the buffalo dip!

The scale will unstick itself soon, you have done really well this week.

[toystoryduo]

Great job on the workout, Amy!:cheer2:

I'm sorry to hear the scale is stuck. You're doing a great job this week! I bet you'll see a change at weigh-in!:cheer2:

Have a great day! :hug:

P.S. Our temp this morning was -8!!! :cold: What's the weather like out in your neck of the woods?

[lovinaz]

No workout this morning! :guilty: I was SO tired yesterday, just physically beat. I went to bed at 9pm and when the alarm went off this morning, said "forget it". I can either do my DVD tonight or wait until Saturday, I guess. I don't even know why I bother working out at all, it doesn't seem to be helping me lose any weight, that's for sure! Scale has NOT BUDGED! :mad: Now I know that when I drink and overindulge I will have a gain. But usually it goes away pretty quickly (within 3-4 days). For me to have a 4lb gain overnight and for it to still be there 4 days later is very frustrating. So, the forecast for tomorrow's weigh-in = 100% ticked off... :sad2:

Yesterday I did not eat any cookies or brownies from my meeting. I really thought about it, but knew I'd beat myself up the next day if I did...

For Wednesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 2 turkey wraps
S: cottage cheese; celery-n-hummus; 5 Sugar Babies
D: crockpot dish (potato, onion, turkey kielbasa, peas, cheddar and cream of celery soups); HC Fudge bar; 13 M&M's

E: 45min on treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, the buffalo chicken dip is STILL in the fridge! But I didn't touch it, I wasn't even tempted yesterday. And that was a surprise since I skipped my snack at work.

Tracy, the weather today is 80 degrees, but it looks like it will be in the mid-high 60's with a chance of rain this weekend!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, that scale will come down in a big way very soon. Could you have pms? Just watch the salt and keep on doing what you are doing. If you didn't work out, that scale would be way higher. But feel free to kick the scale if it makes you feel better!

Hang in there and just stay strong. And well done resisting that dip and the cookies and brownies!:thumbsup2

[lovinaz]

Today's weigh-in: 143. Yep, a gain of 1 lb from last week. Frustrating, but I guess it's better than a kick in the face. Just a little bit anyway...:rolleyes:

No plans this weekend other than a party on Sat night. I don't even want to go, since I gained those 4 lbs after the Superbowl and it took 5 days to get rid of only 2 of them! :sad2: So, we'll see how it goes I guess.

For Thursday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 2 turkey wraps (I'm getting sick of these!)
S: string cheese; red pepper strips; baby carrots
S: cottage cheese; 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes; 1 mini Chips Ahoy (30 cal! :scared: ); 4 Sugar Babies
D: chicken stir fry; brown rice; HC Fudge Bar; 10 M&M's

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, who knows if it's pms - my cycle is usually 3 weeks, but I never know what's going on! Scale is still irritating me, but there is not much I can do about it. It really stinks to do everything right and be at EXACTLY the same weight I was 5 weeks ago!!!!! :sad: DH thinks I should see a nutritionist. I am going to ask my Dr about it when I go back in March. I'd like to get a full-blown test for food allergies. Maybe I have a sensitivity to something I eat that is causing me to retain fluid all the time. :confused3

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I am bummed about the one pound but know you can take that off in no time! I was up too, but I know that the three days I spent off program are what did me in. I think dh is right, seeing a nutritionist might be good. You do eat and exercise so well, that seeing a professional might really do the trick. Just keep hanging in there!

I also don't feel like going to the party I have to go to, the temptations of food and drink on the weekends just kill my efforts all too often! Lets both be good at our social functions and have a nice loss next Friday!

Too funny, for years my cycles were also 3 weeks. Now that I am old, they just come on about every 4 months and then I"ll have three in a row. Being a woman stinks sometimes. Our poor dd's!:sad2:

[goldcupmom]

I hear you about the 4 lbs overnight & the WI gain. I do it all the time & it takes forever to go away.

Hang in there & keep exercising!!

[lovinaz]

All I can say about last night is :scared: :crazy2: :scared: !!! I don't know what came over me, I was a snacking machine! And the funniest thing about it is that the scale was still 143 this morning. Go figure... So I decided to post all the nonsense I ingested, before I forget! I still need to work out today to get my 5x this week. Don't know when that will happen, but I will try to squeeze it in. And if I don't, OH WELL, I still got 4x this week and should be proud of that. ::yes::

We have a friend's 50th b-day party tonight, I have NO idea what the food situation will be. I'm not as worried about the food as I am about the drink... :p Fortunately I am in a happy place right now and will enjoy the evening and not worry about it (remind me of this at next WI if I'm not happy!!!:rolleyes2 ).

For Friday (brace yourself!):
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 2 turkey wraps
S: string cheese; 3 mini cucumbers
S: celery-n-hummus; 1.5 servings Quaker mini rice cakes; 5 Sugar Babies
S: 10 M&M's; 3-4 tbsp apple butter (yep, straight out of the jar :confused3 )
D: BBQ chicken bake (chicken breast, BBQ sauce, LF cheddar, Bisquik crust); cauliflower; 1 glass white wine; HC fudge bar
S: frightening amount of Chex mix; 2 graham crackers :rolleyes:

E: 45min on elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I did see a naturopath a couple years ago and still have the food info she gave me. I'm sure if I stuck to that I'd see some results, but talk about BORING! We're talking no sugar, no high fructose corn syrup, etc... They also have a nutrition program at my gym, maybe for grins I will see how much that costs. It's hard because I travel so much. Trust me, they are not big on salads in UK pubs! You are right, we got the raw end of the deal when it comes to hormones! :rotfl:

Julie, I know I'm not the only one in this boat, but you know how much it frustrates you and knocks you down mentally! Thanks for your support!!

[Amy&Dan]

Okay I didn't think it was that bad but had to laugh at the "frightening amount of chex mix".:rotfl: :rotfl2: Good girl for posting what you ate! What's really bad is when you eat so much you get to a black out food drunk stage and can't remember!

Someday for grins and giggles, give me the fat, fiber and calories of what you have eaten and I'll calculate the points. Then I can plug in your weight and height and see where you are at on an average day on the WW plan. I just think your food is so healthy and with that exercise you do its a mystery. Although here's another thought: Maybe you are at your ideal weight! You look pretty darn good to me. ;)

In any case, you work hard, you are dedicate and disciplined and by golly I am proud of you!

I hope you had fun at the party tonight!

[toystoryduo]

Good job posting what you ate, Amy!:thumbsup2 I don't think you did too badly. You should have seen what I ate yesterday! :eek:

I hope you have a great day today! :hug:

[lovinaz]

Well, the good news is that I got my workout in yesterday!!! :cool1: So, Feb is off to a good start (with exercise, anyway!). The not-so-good news is yesterday's food/drink. It started out really good, but we went out to eat and I did not make the best choices. But I've done way worse in the past, so I'm not going to worry about it! Today is a new day, I can stick to my plan and hopefully see the scale go down on Fri! My brother is coming to visit next weekend, that is going to be another liver-destroying cocktail fest...

For Saturday:
B: 2 bowls Multi-Grain Cheerios w/skim (this does not fill me up like oatmeal, I was starving 3 hours later!)
L: 2 Fiber Wasa Crackers; chicken lunchmeat; 1/2 slice gouda; 1/2 slice havarti; 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes; 8 Sugar Babies (they are finally gone! 1 theater-sized box lasted 2 weeks :) )
S: celery-n-pb; 15 M&M's (I wish these were gone, I need to stop!! :rolleyes: )
D: chips-n-salsa; chicken taco salad (ate only the bottom of the shell); mango margarita; 2 servings light ice cream (Samoa Girl Scout cookie flavor! :lovestruc )
S: handful mixed nuts at party; 5 rum-n-cokes (real Coke - they didn't have diet :scared: )
S: Chex mix - maybe 2 servings, definitely not as bad as Fri night!

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, that would be cool to see how I would do on WW! I just might take you up on that, I have all the info on FitDay... I am within the "normal" weight range, but on the high side (the range is 110-146 lbs for my height). I just want to be back in the 130's so bad!! And most importantly, I want to feel good about myself in my shorts and swimsuit, since in AZ, a LOT of time is spent in those!! Thanks so much for being there for me, I really do appreciate your friendship! :hug:

Tracy, I think we all have those days when we just lose our minds in the food department! The key is to make those days few and far between! ::yes::

[toystoryduo]

Great job on getting your workout in, Amy!:cheer2:

How did your Sunday go?

I hope you have a great week ahead!:hug:

[lovinaz]

Well, my mother threw a wrench into my plans yesterday! She had the kids stay over Sat night, and she asked if we wanted to come have lunch on Sun when we picked them back up. I said that is fine. Well, she made a HUGE lunch - something I would have made for dinner - and we didn't eat until after 2pm! :scared: So needless to say my planned meatloaf dinner didn't happen, I guess we will have that tonight instead.

PMS has arrived, I am so sick of dealing with this every 3 weeks! :sad2: I can almost guarantee a gain this Friday, but I know it happens every time, I just need to deal with it knowing that the water weight came on its own and will go away on its own. I will NOT give into cravings and make it worse by over-snacking! :rolleyes:

I was dead tired this morning, another PMS bonus... But I dragged myself out of bed and went to the gym. :cheer2: I was supposed to run on the treadmill but I was way too tired, so I did the elliptical/stair climber combo machine instead. Still burned over 400 calories, but it's not as intense as jogging...

For Sunday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
S: celery-n-pb; 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes; 8 M&M's
L: chicken breast wrapped in bacon w/chipped beef and cream of chicken/sour cream sauce (yum!); peas (dripping w/butter, my mom just cooks that way :eek: ); brownie + corner crust of DS's brownie (that kid is such a texture freak!)
D: 1 bowl Cocoa Krispies w/skim; 1 serving light ice cream (kept it to 1 serving, yay for me!!! :thumbsup2 )

E: none

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Amy,

I hope you're feeling better soon. TOM can be a real pain!:headache:

That is wonderful that you were able to get a workout in!:thumbsup2

Have a great afternoon!:hug:

[goldcupmom]

Great job getting to the gym, Amy! You're doing really good on your exercise! Food will follow!

Have an AWESOME week!!

[traceycooper]

Amy - glad to know its not just my scale thats not playing ;)
Well done for posting all your food
& well done for getting to the gym even though you have TOM & all that comes along with it!!!
Just keep reminding yourself TOM will be gone again soon :)

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, my mom used to make that same chicken! It is very good and not that bad calorie wise. My mom also used to make the peas in butter!

We have so much in common, when I get together with my brother, cocktails are a big emphasis!

You are doing so well with exercise, keep that up! Its not easy to get up early and work out when you have TOM fatigue to work with but you did it!

Definitely think about having me figure how many points you are eating. It might give you a firm idea of exactly where you at on an average daily basis.

[lovinaz]

OMG, all I can say is STOP THE MADNESS!!!!!!!!!! :scared1: :scared1: :scared1: My declaration to not snack through this week of PMS lasted about 36 seconds after walking in the door after work... :eek: It was ugly! It's not so much what I ate, but the quantity. And the fact that I was on the prowl for junk. To top it all off, I didn't work out this morning!! :confused3 I wanted to sleep in, and I figure that if I am busy doing my Pilates after work, that leaves less time for scrounging around for stuff to cram into my mouth... I'm sure all the food items in my house were cringing in fear everytime I walked by last night! :lmao:

OK, got that off my chest. Today will be better. It HAS to be!!!

For Monday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: string cheese; 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes
S: 3 handfuls pecans :sad2: ; 1 handful pretzel Goldfish; 15 M&M's
D: meatloaf (made w/ground turkey); green beans
S: 2 servings light ice cream (DH finished the rest, thankfully!); 1 graham cracker

E: 45min on elliptical/stair climber combo machine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, TOM is not the problem for me, it's the week before! Sure isn't fair, is it??

Julie, I certainly hope my food will get back in check soon, this has to stop if I ever want to get back into the 130's!

Tracey, I can definitely sympathize with you on the scale woes. Of course this week I will actually have a reason for a gain! :rolleyes:

Amy, Do you need the stats on everything individually or for the day's totals?? Having you figure points might be an eye-opener, maybe I am eating too much, even if it is all (well, maybe not the past couple days) pretty healthy...

[Amy&Dan]

Amy: That snacking isn't too bad, it could have been much worse. At least your dh got that ice cream taken care of! PMS hormones really make a woman overeat, so don't feel too bad, you're not alone!

I hope you got your pilates in tonight, if not, you've got Saturday!

And now you have me dreaming of pecans and ice cream!;)

[lovinaz]

I FINALLY got back on track with food yesterday!!! :yay: :woohoo: :cool1: :banana: It would have been really easy to overeat, since DS is causing me tons of stress with behavior issues at school, but I didn't indulge... I also didn't get my Pilates in, but oh well. I can still get my 5x a week in if I play my cards right!!

For Tuesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: string cheese; 2.5 servings Quaker mini rice cakes; 2 M&M's (they are finally gone!)
D: 20 shrimp (made w/cooking spray & Mrs Dash); broccoli; HC fudge bar

E: none (unless holding myself back from wringing DS's neck counts??)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, don't follow in my steps and thnk of pecans and ice cream! Think of something else! Quick!!! Thanks for calculating my points, it's good to know I am in the right range. Even though I was hoping I was way under or something! ;) My problem is probably cocktails. I don't drink every day, or even every weekend, but when I do, I probably knock back 600+ calories. :eek: And I'm sure those days where I went overboard with snacking (once or twice a week) would have plowed through all the flex points, so I am going to have to get more serious and stick to the plan! I'm obviously good at maintaining, but I am supposed to lose some before I maintain!!:rolleyes1

[toystoryduo]

Great job on your food, Amy!:cheer2:

Sending some :wizard: your way for your DS...

Hope you have a great evening!:hug:

[traceycooper]

yay your right back on track - & i doesnt sound as if the day before was as bad as you thought :)

Hope DS issues calm down - kids eh ;)

[lovinaz]

I really overdid it at the gym yesterday!!! :faint: I usually do 5.0mph, with intervals at 6.0 and 7.0 (1 minute each). That was getting easier, so I decided to challenge myself and keep my baseline at 5.5mph and interval at 6.5 and 7.5. What a huge difference 0.5mph makes! :eek: Needless to say, I only completed one interval, then barely got through the remaining time at 5.5mph. But I did it, and will continue at that pace until I can do it without wanting to die! Afterwards I was really sick to my stomach, but I think that might have been due to a backup of my digestive system, which was resolved after that run, if you know what I mean... :rolleyes1

More good news, I got my Pilates done this morning!!! :cool1: And mt food was on track yesterday! :banana: I really wanted to snack after dinner, since we ate kinda early so DD could go to tap class, but I chewed some gum and watched TV until bedtime. :thumbsup2

I am going to start tracking my food on Fitday again, and posting the calories. If I was doing WW, I think I might have been going over my points (thanks again for checking that, Amy!). So if I want to get serious, I need to be more diligent. I'd really like to be under 140 by my next trip (March 8). But at the rate I've been going this year, that will be tough! :confused3

For Wednesday:
1182 cal, 50g fat, 98g carbs, 93g protein, 26g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut wrap (100cal, 8g fiber!); chicken lunchmeat; 1 slice havarti; spinach; mustard
S: "cheating with chocolate" 100 calorie pack (from Costco, they are SO GOOD!)
S: 2 stalks celery w/2tbsp hummus (yes, I measured!); string cheese; 2 Fiber Tabs
D: 3oz boneless Shake-n-Bake pork chop, 6 spears of asparagus; HC Fudge Bar

E: 45min treadmill

I absolutely love that flat bread, I need to find something to spread on it to have for my afternoon snack. It's an easy way to get 8g of fiber, since I try to get at least 25g per day. Any suggestions?? Of course I'd kill to lather peanut butter on it, but that would push me over the edge on calories! :sad1:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I need all the :wizard: I can get for DS, he is making some really bad choices lately! Hopefully he's got it out of his system now and can get back on the right path.

Tracey, I must have consumed 1000 calories worth of pecans the other day. Not a smart thing to do when the scale's not moving! :rolleyes:

[toystoryduo]

How are you feeling this morning, Amy? That was some workout yesterday!:eek:

Good for you for not snacking after dinner!:thumbsup2

I hope you have a great day ahead!:hug:

[traceycooper]

Hi Amy
Great workout!!
hope you have a great weekend :)

[lovinaz]

Weigh-in today was 143, no change from last week. I am actually OK with that, I was anticipating a gain! I am still bloated (snugger than usual jeans to prove it!) and I did not start out the week well at all, but I turned it around with my food intake the past 3 days in a row, so maybe that was enough to break even. :thumbsup2 Now my focus will turn to next week, to work on my goal of losing 4 lbs in 3 weeks!

We looked at a house to buy for a rental property yesterday. It's bank owned and actually in decent shape! One of our friend's went through a divorce and is still living with his ex and he wants out! So DH is checking with him today to see if he is still interested in renting from us. How perfect would that be??? We are putting in our offer today, so we'll see how everything goes.

For Thursday:
1297 calories, 45g fat, 127g carbs, 108g protein, 28g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad (w/chicken breast strips, shredded cheddar, 2tbps LF dressing)
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: 2 stalks celery w/2tbsp hummus
D: homemade sloppy joe (w/ground turkey); FlatOut bread; 1/3c no-sugar-added corn; HC fudge bar

E: 40min Pilates DVD

Calories were a little high, but I think I overestimated on the sloppy joe. I tried to guess approximately how much meat, BBQ sauce, ketchup, tomato sauce & onion I ate for my portion and input everything individually. Probably not the best way to do it, but oh well, it's better than completely guessing!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I feel pretty darn good today! Even got in my workout this morning, one more to go and I'll have my 5x this week (and I've done that every week this year so far!!!)

Tracey, my brother is coming to visit, so I think I'll have a really fun, yet challenging-for-the-diet weekend!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy: That is great you are buying a rental property! This is such a terrific time to buy so its great you can take advantage of that. Good luck and congrats!

I hear you on the cocktails, they really add up and make the weekends a challenge (but more fun ;) )

Good job on staying the same, a great attitude and all that exercise! I am proud of you!:banana:

[toystoryduo]

Hi Amy,

Great news on the scale!:cheer2: Keep up the good work and you'll show a loss next week for sure.:thumbsup2

That is so cool that you're thinking of buying a rental property.:cool1: One benefit of the economy being not so good right now is that houses can be bought at a great price. My BIL bought a house near Cleveland for $2500!:eek: Of course the downside is that the house is near Cleveland (:lmao: ), but it is already paid off so any money he makes goes into his pocket. (After he gets the $2500 back that he used to buy it.)

I am so proud of you for making your goal of exercise 5Xs per week every week this year so far! :cheer2: You are an inspiration!:hug:

Have a great weekend!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I am getting too old to stay up until 1am playing Tiger Woods Golf on PS3!!! My brother can't beat me and he gets really competitive and keeps wanting to play "one more". He did tie me the last game, but has still never beaten me! :lmao:

Haven't done my workout yet, but DH and DB are golfing later and the kids are at their dad's, so I will do it when everyone is gone. We went out to eat last night, I did OK until we got to Baskin Robbins. I asked for a single scoop, but she really piled it on, I bet I had 2 scoops worth! :eek: But of course that didn't stop me from eating it all... :confused3

We are going to my friend's house for a BBQ tonight. She usually has healthy choices for food and I am going to stick to wine only, so hopefully the scale will be kind after 2 nights in a row of being kinda off-plan!

I don't have the calories, etc, but for Friday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad (w/chicken breast strips, shredded cheddar, 2tbps LF dressing)
S: 1 egg white; 3 mini cucumbers; ~20 small baby carrots
S: 2 stalks celery w/2tbsp hummus; 2 animal crackers, 10 pecans (didn't go overboard! :yay: )
D: 1/2 wheat pita; 1/2 falafel; ~2tbsp hummus; 1 grape leaf; 2 slices thin crust BBQ chicken pizza; 1 vodka/amaretto martini
S: 2 scoops chocolate-n-pb ice cream :lovestruc

E: 45min on elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I am getting pretty excited about the rental property, our offer goes in on Tuesday. Hopefully we will get it! The bank has had no offers on this property and it's been on the market for over 95 days, so that is good for us. I'm sure I plowed through most of my "flex points" last night... the scale was up 1lb this morning, but I expected it and hopefully if I behave S-Th it will go back down.

Tracy, getting a house for that cheap is a little scary! We have been looking for a while and went to an auction a couple months ago. Some of the ones we toured were downright atrocious! :scared1:

[traceycooper]

Hi Amy
i hope you get the house :)
congrats on WI :)
can i ask how you worked out how many cals you need a day, i have been trying to keep mine at 1500 or just under, but looking at yours i'm wondering if mine are too high?
(i'm 5 foot 4 inches tall, 42 yrs old, 170 lb's - used this on a online calculater)

[lovinaz]

Things didn't quite go as planned yesterday in the food/drink dept... But I did get my workout in! :cool1: And I really kicked it up a notch, I doubled my weights for the sculpting part and boy do I feel that today! I don't know what is worse - my sore arms or my hangover headache... :headache: :headache: :headache:

Went to the BBQ and it was really fun. Until the tequila shots started, that is... I ended up drinking a whole bottle of wine PLUS 5 tequila shots. :eek: I am usually very careful about alcohol consumption because I HATE being hungover! Yet here I am... :confused3 We also stayed up until 1am AGAIN playing that stupid Tiger Woods golf! And this was hilarious because my brother was actually up by one stroke and he blew it on the last hole and I beat him by one stroke!!! :rotfl:

I have no idea what the calories were, my food was a mess, and obviously the alcohol has calories too. But I fully intend to get back on track today. :goodvibes

For Saturday:
B: 2 large bowls Multi-Grain Cheerios w/skim; Starbucks grande NF chai latte
L: FlatOut bread w/2tbsp pb (and dare I say that was TOO MUCH pb!!!)
S: 3 strips turkey bacon; 2 bites broccoli salad (that's what the bacon was for!); 2 M&M's
D: grilled chicken breast; broccoli salad; 1/2 bacon-wrapped scallop
S: 1/4 cup Chex mix; 1/4 cup Goldfish pretzels; 1 chocolate covered caramel; 6 M&M's

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, a couple years ago I went to a naturopathic doctor who suggested 1200 calories. She said never to go under that. And Amy checked my stats according to the Weight Watcher guidelines and it came in around the same. I think 1500 might be about right for you, or maybe try cutting down to 1400 to see if that scale starts moving for you.

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, drink water! Best way to get over a hangover, although Taco Bell can help too! Sounds like a fun weekend, I know you'll be right back on track today!:thumbsup2

[toystoryduo]

How did yesterday go? It sounds like you had a lot of fun on Saturday night!:thumbsup2

I hope you have a great week ahead!:hug:

[lovinaz]

My goal to get back on track yesterday kinda fell apart...:rolleyes1 It wasn't too awful, but definitely nothing to be proud of! We went to dinner at my mom's, who does not have the same sense of nutrition that I do! Plus I had a killer headache until about 2pm, so that didn't help either. Today is back at work, which makes it way easier to keep in line!

For Sunday (no idea of the numbers, probably don't want to know anyway!):
B: chocolate oatmeal
S: 1+ serving Goldfish pretzels
L: FlatOut bread w/turkey, provolone, spinach, mustard; 100 calorie pack
D: BLT (4 strips real bacon, tomato, no mayo, white bread :confused3 ); 1+ servings of potato chips
S: 1+ serving animal crackers; HC fudge bar; 6 M&M's

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, trust me, I was drinking tons of water! And it all stayed in my body - YUCK! I could hardly get my ring off this morning...:guilty: I could have easily downed a big, greasy bacon cheeseburger yesterday morning, but I resisted!

Tracy, yesterday was definitely one of those "I'm never drinking again" type of days. I'm too old to be doing that!!!

[traceycooper]

Hi Amy
Thanks for the info about calorie intake - since i have started counting cals i struggle to keep it around 1500, so i think that be why i've struggled to lose in the past!!..we'll see!!

Sounds like you had so much fun with your brother playing the golf game :)
The hangover brings back distant memories (been a while i've felt that ill - as nowadays 2 glasses of wine goes straight to my head!!) of my hen night...i still feel sick when i think about all the shots :scared:

But you had great fun with your family & friends - & memories last a life time :) ...if you can remember it :rotfl: :lmao:

[toystoryduo]

I think you did a pretty good job with food yesterday. :thumbsup2 Today is a new day with new choices. I know you'll jump right back OP!:goodvibes

I hope you have a nice evening.:hug:

[Amy&Dan]

I don't think your food on Sunday looked that bad. Four strips of bacon probably did a great deal to ease that hangover! I gotta tell you, I admire any woman that can drink a bottle of wine and five shots of tequila!:lmao: Sometimes, you just have to let loose!

When I used to eat at my mom's it always reinforced to me why I grew up with a weight problem!;)

Keep up the good work, your exericse is awesome.:thumbsup2

[lovinaz]

It is becoming very clear why I can't lose any weight. I'm out of control with food! I had everything all planned out yesterday to make homemade pizza. But when I picked the kids up, DS reminded me that I said next time we'd get pizza. So we ended up getting pizza... It was ham-n-pineapple and I had 2 slices. On FitDay they have Pizza Hut pepperoni, so I used that, figuring it would probably be close, maybe a little over. Then I also had 10 animal crackers that were not planned! And 8 M&M's. WHY did I buy those again?? Because I'm a glutten for punishment, apparently...

Food wasn't horrible, but my calories were way over. The scale hates me after this weekend's food and tequila fest. ARGH!!!! All right - focus on the positive. I've behaved so far today (I'm at work, pretty hard to screw that up!) and I worked out this morning!!! :banana: I am REALLY going to try to make my goal of working out M-F this week, I do not want to work out on Saturday.

We are waiting to hear back on our offer for the rental property, I'm getting excited about it! We are supposed to hear back today by 6pm, but our agent said that because it is bank-owned, they don't have an emotional tie to it, and they figure if we want it badly enough, we'll wait for them to respond, even if it's not by the deadline on the contract. Nice way to run a business, huh??

For Monday:
1571 calories, 60g fat, 160g carbs, 100g protein, 24g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: celery-n-hummus (2 tbsp); 8 M&M's
D: 2 slices of a large ham-n-pineapple pizza (regular crust); HC fudge bar
S: 10 animal crackers :guilty:

E: 45min on treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, I think it's hilarious to beat my brother at a video game. He is super competitive, and so am I, so of course I remind him everytime I speak to him that he can't beat me!

Tracy, I also hope today is the day I get my act together! I better if I want to be happy with WI on Friday...

Amy, it has been a while since I tied one on like Sat. It all stemmed from a bet my brother made with one of my friends about 2 years ago while we were all in Mexico. She had a bottle of Cabo Wabo tequila and as we were doing shots, my brother said that Patron was better. She said prove it, so he took a bottle of Patron to her BBQ on Sat. And the rest is brain cell-destroying history...

[toystoryduo]

And the rest is brain cell-destroying history...

:lmao: Amy, you crack me up! Thanks for the laugh today.

Okay on to food...Seriously, I don't think you did all that badly yesterday. You might not be thrilled with the calorie content, but you didn't binge and you had some good protein and fiber numbers in there. :thumbsup2 Plus, you had some extra fruit with the pineapple as well. ;)

I hope they let you know about the offer on the rental property soon. Waiting can be such a pain! :(

Have a great evening!:hug:

[traceycooper]

i think pepperoni pizza is way higher than ham/pineapple??!!??
so again proberbly not as bad as you imagine ;)
any news on the property yet...... its sooo exciting, i hope you get it :)

[goldcupmom]

Hopefully you will get your news on that property soon! Exciting!

Don't beat yourself up for food choices. It's a journey & you just had a mini-vacation!! Life goes on!!

Hope the rest of the week is good. Ham & pineapple is MUCH lower than pepperoni in calories & fat!

[lovinaz]

Yesterday ended up being a pretty good day in the food dept. :thumbsup2 But it is a total pain to calculate calories for recipe items! Other than inputting every ingredient and dividing it by how many servings in the dish, I don't know how else to do it. Any ideas??

We got the rental house! :banana: The bank countered and we accepted. We had offered $4900 less than asking price, plus they pay all our closing costs and they came back $1000 less than asking price, but they still pay closing costs... We weren't going to haggle over $3900, since it doesn't really make a big difference in the monthly payment anyway! Now the fun begins with all the inspections, etc. I feel bad because we are supposed to close in about a month, and I have to go to Tucson for 2 days the first week in March, then I am gone the whole 2nd week and beginning of the 3rd week in March to the UK/Germany! So poor DH will be dealing with a lot of this on his own... :guilty:

For Tuesday:
1265 cal, 48g fat, 111g carbs, 100g protein, 21g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites; 3 mini cucumbers
S: celery-n-hummus (2 tbsp); 10 animal crackers
D: turkey bacon-broccoli quiche (crust made w/wheat tortillas); HC fudge bar

E: 40min Pilates DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, you are right! I have gotten really good about not binging anymore, that used to be a huge problem for me. Thanks for pointing out the positive, I need to do more of that! :goodvibes

Tracey, I'm sure the ham and pineapple pizza was a little less in calories, so maybe it wasn't quite as bad as I estimated. We'll see what the scale says on Friday!

Julie, I am so sick of maintaining! I am my own worst enemy when it comes to eating... :confused3

[lovinaz]

I am such a dunce!!! I was just about to enjoy my daily afternoon ritual (cucumbers and egg whites), and when I went to crack open my first egg, it smashed all over my desk! :eek: :scared1: :eek: :scared1: Obviously I grabbed 3 eggs from the uncooked carton... :rotfl: What a shock!! But now I am living off 2 mini cucumbers until I get home. I WILL NOT overeat when I get home. WILL NOT! :wizard:

[toystoryduo]

Congratulations on the rental house, Amy!!!!:banana: :yay: Great news!!!:thumbsup2

That is too funny about the egg!:rotfl: You could have made a cucumber and egg omelet. ;) :eek: How did the rest of your afternoon go after that?

I hope you have a great Thursday!:hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Well a little raw egg will make your afternoon interesting!! And pepperoni pizza has way more calories than ham. On average, about one point less per slice on the WW points scale. And here is a website that might help you figure in the various restaurants: www.dwlz.com Now all the restaurants are figured using WW points but if you look at that list, it can give you an idea of how much various places cost you with calories/points. There's fast food and full service places on there.

Way to go with food, exercise and getting the house! That must be really exciting to be the owner of a rental property!:cool1:

[traceycooper]

congrats on getting the house Amy :)
Good luck with WI tomorrow :)

[lovinaz]

I actually got up and worked out this morning!!! :cool1: I almost went back to bed, but I knew I'd be upset about it if I did, so I chugged through it and am glad I did... :)

I am totally stressed out today, my ex is such an a-hole! There is so much hatred in that man, it's unbelievable. We've been separated for over 7 years and he's still such a jerk. The only time I even talk to him is regarding the kids. Heaven forbid I actually try to tell him when DS is having problems at school because he just doesn't care and finds some way to blame it on me. :mad: The only thing I regret about divorcing him is that I didn't do it sooner! :confused3

OK, enough of the ranting. I need to get past it so I don't go off the deep end when I get home! Food yesterday was really good, even considering the 5 animal crackers I just had to have!!

For Wednesday:
1278 cal, 38g fat, 142g carbs, 107g protein, 30g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: leftover chicken stir-fry w/brown rice
S: 2 mini cucumbers (no raw eggs! :rotfl: )
S: string cheese; 5 animal crackers
D: turkey burger (no cheese); SF relish; FlatOut bread; HC fudge bar

E: 45min elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I can't even tell you how shocked I was when that egg smashed! I managed to pull it together even though I really wanted to snack when I got home.

Amy, ask me in about 2 months how excited I am about the rental property. We close mid-March, then we will have some fixing up to do before we can get a renter in there.

Tracey, thanks, I will take all the good luck I can get at tomorrow's weigh-in!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, having a rental property is really hard work but such a good investment! I so wish Dan and I had the funds to invest, there are so many cheap, foreclosed houses in our neighborhood and when this economy picks up, people who did invest in real estate will be so glad they did!

As for your ex, rant away. Writing it in your Wish journal is a calorie free way to cope! Your kids are so lucky to have a super mom and wonderful stepdad, its a shame they have a dad who is so moronic. Just hang in there and be glad you finally left the a-hole! You had to wait to leave him, so you could meet your current dh at just the right time!:love:

Great job working out!! And good luck with weigh in, I'll check in saturday at the latest to see how my namesake wish buddy is doing!!

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Amy,

I'm sorry to hear about the situation with your ex. :( I hope he is able to resolve his anger issues soon so that he can be more of a help with your kids.

Great job getting your workout in yesterday!:banana: How did your afternoon snack go? ;)

I hope you have a great weekend ahead!:hug:

[lovinaz]

TGIF!!! Weight this morning was 143. Yep, 2 months into it and I am the SAME weight!!! Whatever... The good part - for the first time in a looooong time, I have completed my 5x working out this week by Friday! I can take 2 days in a row off, yippee! :banana: :yay: :banana: :yay:

We ended up going out to eat last night, since DH and I both got our bonus check (small, but hey, it's $$ we didn't have before, so I'm not complaining :goodvibes ) and the realtor was over to have us sign the bank's counter offer. I was very proud of myself at dinner, we went to our fave Baha Mexican place and I avoided chips-n-salsa AND my usual pomegranate margarita! But I didn't do quite as well when we went to Baskin Robbins afterwards... :rolleyes1

I need to get a grip this weekend. The last several weekends I have totally derailed, and by Monday morning I have been up 2-3lbs. Then it takes ALL WEEK to get those pounds off. NEWS FLASH - if I behave on the weekends, I have a shot at losing real weight, not gained weekend weight! :idea: There are no parties, not gatherings, no mom's unhealthy cooking this weekend. So I am going to do it. And I WILL have a loss next Friday! Even if it's just 1 pound. :thumbsup2 I have 2 different trips coming up, which makes it SO hard to maintain, let alone lose anything. I need to come up with a plan. I guess just eat 1/2 at every meal...

For Thursday (no totals):
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: 20 animal crackers; 10 pecan halves
D: 1 halibut taco (2 corn tortillas, sprinkle of cheese, cabbage); 1 shrimp taco (2 corn tortillas, cheese, pineapple salsa); 1 KID SCOOP chocolate-n-pb ice cream in a cup

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I know we will make quite a bit of $$ off this rental house. We plan to sell it within 5 years, whenever the market picks back up. Then we will either use that to buy another rental property, or better yet, a condo in the Caribbean somewhere. That is our ultimate goal!!!

Tracy, my ex's anger issues will never get resolved, I have given up. It's sad that he can't talk to me without badmouthing me or DH. Which is pretty pathetic since we have never said one bad thing about his wife... I was a little snacky in the afternoon, ate too many animal crackers, but I behaved while eating out, so I was happy!

[traceycooper]

well done for getting the exercise in Amy :)
& for not gaining :)
weekends are bad for me too!!

[toystoryduo]

I think you are doing a great job, Amy!:cheer2: You have been exercising 5 times per week consistently and you are maintaining on the scale. I know that you want the scale to show a loss and it will, but you should be proud of yourself for maintaining and not gaining. I think you are doing great!:cheer2:

I hope you have a great weekend!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I did OK with food yesterday, I am still having problems with picking here and there between getting home from work and dinner. But I am not going overboard, I am counting things out and keeping it under control. I am already planning my weekend food on FitDay so I can have a fighting chance at a loss next WI!

It is my day off from working out, but I might do a quick upper body session. Sleeveless shirt season is quickly approaching and I want my toned arms back!

For Friday:
1341 cal, 50g fat, 118g carbs, 105g protein, 25g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 2 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: celery-n-hummus (2 tbsp); 4 pecan halves; 10 animal crackers
D: baked chicken parmesan (chicken breast dipped in Egg Beaters, coated with bread crumbs and topped w/spaghetti sauce); 6 asparagus; HC fudge bar; 5 M&M's

E: 45min stair climber/elliptical combo machine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, I'm glad I didn't gain, but I would sure like to see a loss at some point...

Tracy, thanks for always pointing out the positive. I am proud that I have been working out consistently, it has truly become a habit. Now I just need to concentrate on the food part!

[lovinaz]

I actually did good on a Saturday!!! :banana: :banana: :banana: A little heavy on the carbs, but that's OK! And I had a huge mental victory - DS insisted on baking a cinnamon crumb cake and I didn't have a single piece! Of course there is still some left, but I want to see a loss on Fri more than I want to taste that cake. :thumbsup2 I still need to find a way to lay off the M&M's and animal crackers! The kids said they'd eat the animal crackers, which is why I got a huge 4lb bucket at Costco. I think I am the only one eating them (10 at a time, they are going to last forever! :rotfl: )

We are going to the movies today, I am planning on avoiding buying Sugar Babies or popcorn and sticking to a Diet Coke. I've done it before and lived to tell about it, so I should be OK.

For Saturday:
1295cal, 53g fat, 150g carb, 76g protein, 23g fiber
B: 2 packs low sugar apple-cinnamon oatmeal
L: 2 Wasa Fiber crackers, mustard, turkey, provolone
S: string cheese
S: celery-n-hummus; 5 M&M's; 5 animal crackers
D: grilled tri-tip; cauliflower; HC fudge bar; 5 M&M's; 5 animal crackers

E: walked to and from park (10min ea way) and hit tennis ball around w/kids for about 15-20min

[toystoryduo]

Way to go, Amy!!!:cheer2: It sounds like your Saturday was a good one!:cool1:

What movie did you go see yesterday? Was it good?

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I had a little calorie mishap yesterday... :rolleyes1 I put in all my stuff on FitDay in the morning, so I knew what I could eat. I thought I had put 10 M&M's and 10 animal crackers. I ate 5 M&M's and 5 animal crackers, figuring I'd save the other half for later (I know myself!). At dinner, I ended up eat 2 extra pieces of turkey bacon. Then I thought no biggie, I just won't eat the extra M&M's and animal crackers, they are about the same calories. Today, I was checking my totals to post them, and it turns out I hadn't included ANY M&M's or animal crackers! :eek: So when I put them in, the calories were kinda high, but for a Sunday, I'll take it! :thumbsup2

I have still steered clear of the cinnamon crumb cake. It looks really good, but I WANT A LOSS THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!! I am going to be in a world of hurt the next 2 weeks due to travel, I have to behave at least this week. If I see a loss, I think mentally I will be able to get through these 2 trips with minimal damage. At least I hope so!

For Sunday:
1342cal, 51g fat, 138g carbs, 88g protein, 28g fiber
B: 2 packs low sugar cinnamon-apple oatmeal
L: 2 Wasa Fiber crackers w/spinach, mustard, 2 slices provolone; 5 M&M's
S: string cheese; 5 animal crackers
S: celery-n-hummus
D: Egg Beaters w/sprinkle of cheese & 5 strips turkey bacon wrapped in FlatOut bread; HC fudge bar

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, we saw Mall Cap. I thought it was stupid, but DD9 had been begging me forever to see it, so I took her and her friend that had spent the night. DH and DS12 saw Taken, which they said was good. Not fair, next time I am making him see the kid movie if it's one I don't want to see! Or at least flip a coin....:rotfl:

[traceycooper]

wow Amy well done for resisting the crumb cake - it sounds yummy!
At least you only had 5 m&m's & animal crackers - & not 10 :)
Are you heading over my way when you travel?

[toystoryduo]

Sorry to hear about your run in with the "Mall Cop". :laughing: I definitely think that your DH should have kid movie duty next time. No coin needed. ;)

If you don't mind me asking, what do you for a living? I think you may have mentioned it before, but I can't remember.

Sending some :wizard: :wizard: your way for weigh in this week. You did a great job this weekend. I bet the scale will show a loss on Friday!:banana:

Have a great day today!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I really didn't want to get up this morning, but I eventually did... I got a lower body workout in, I need to do some upper body weights tonight after my haircut! Dinner is already cooking in the crockpot, so I should be able to squeeze 15 minutes in...

I am inching up in calories, I don't know if that is OK or not. I should really lay off the M&M's! I am up 1lb already since this weekend, no idea why. It better go away (then some) by Friday!

I am getting really stressed about the rental house, it's a pain getting everything inspected, etc. Then we have the huge chore of fixing it up and getting it ready for a renter. What were we thinking?? And I am also trying to figure out our plan for our 2 week trip this summer. DS12 wants to go to the D-Day beaches while we are in France. Not exactly close to Paris! But he is fascinated by WWII and knows all about the different beaches and he rarely shows interest in anything, so we will make it work...

For Monday:
1317 cal, 43g fat, 147g carbs, 87g protein, 27g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 2 egg whites; 10 baby carrots; 1/2 oatmeal raisin cookie :rolleyes1
S: celery-n-hummus
D: 1 serving whole wheat spaghetti w/sauce & parmesan cheese' HC fudge bar, 10 M&M's

E: 45min on treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, I am getting to the point of giving up... I get the same results whether I eat 5 or 10 M&M's, if I don't see some results soon, I am going to eat what I want! Might as well, all I do is maintain, no matter what I eat... :mad: I will be in Yeovil, I think that is pretty far from where you are. Maybe one of these times we can meet in London or something!

Tracy, I am an engineer (aerospace) for a major defense company. I hope you are right about the scale, I need some motivation to behave during these 2 trips coming up! If I see "no change" on the scale, I just might go off the deep end... :confused3

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I avoided Mall Cop when ds' church group went and saw it on President's Day! I really want to see Taken.

Great job getting through that weekend! I am so right there with you on needing weekends to be better, it takes the whole week to make up for a bad weekend. Great job on the exercise and food!:thumbsup2

[toystoryduo]

I'm proud of you, Amy for getting that workout in this morning.:goodvibes Great job!:cheer2:

Sending some :wizard: :wizard: for the rental house. Just take things one step at a time and if you're not doing the work yourselves, be sure and find a really good contractor with a lot of references and a good contract. Just think about how great it will be to have the extra income when the house gets done!:thumbsup2

I hope you have a good evening!:goodvibes

[lovinaz]

I got my hair cut last night. It looks cute (sorry, Amy!). But needless to say, I ran into some other problems... I don't know what part of "I don't want Girl Scout cookies in this house" DH doesn't understand... :confused3 I didn't get my arm workout in, unless shoving cookies into my mouth counts! :lmao: I was really bad with sweets, but I tried to make up for it by not eating other things, and my calories were not as bad as I thought! And surprise, the scale was down this morning (back to Friday's WI). Maybe I'll gorge myself on Samoas every night!! ;)

Stress is at an all time high with this rental house nonsense. Why is it when you actually get the bank paperwork, the fees are more, interest rate is higher, etc? ARGH!!!! And DH pawns it all off on me, since he thinks I handle this type of stuff better. I will get even when it comes time to fixing up the house... :rolleyes1

For Tuesday:
1402 cal, 56g fat, 127g carbs, 107g protein, 20g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: brownie (2"x3" = 170cal) :guilty:
D: crockpot beef roast; 5 baby carrots; red onion; rutabaga; 3 M&M's
S: 3 (yes, 3!) Samoa Girl Scout cookies (225 cal!)

E: 30min lower body & abs workout
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I was very proud of myself for getting through the weekend unscathed. I think I will go insane if I don't see a loss on Friday. If I see 143 again, take cover around 4:30am AZ time, because I will chuck that scale all the way to Denver! Then finish off the rest of the Samoas for breakfast...

Tracy, I am very glad I got that morning workout in, especially since I didn't get around to doing any exercise after work! We are planning on doing almost everything ourselves, except carpet and countertops. We might even have someone install the cabinets, we'll see.

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I ended up donating the five boxes of girl scout cookies I had left to our church pantry. They are killer and Samoas are my biggest weakness. Oh wait, Tagalongs are my biggest weakness!

Great job on food yesterday, you ate the cookies but you stopped at 3 and figured in the calories.

If arm workouts could be in the form of shoving food in one's mouth, I'd have arms like Madanno's!

Keep up the good work and good luck with the rental stress. It will all work out, you guys are going to make money and it will all be worth it!

[toystoryduo]

I didn't get my arm workout in, unless shoving cookies into my mouth counts! :lmao:
:lmao: Oh, Tag Fairy!!!!! This would be a good one! :tinker:

I will get even when it comes time to fixing up the house... :rolleyes1
:rotfl: Amy, you are cracking me up today!

Great job getting your workout in this morning!:banana: Sending some :wizard: :wizard: for weigh-in on Friday.

Have a great evening!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I am starting back on a downhill slide in the food department... :confused3 I really need to get a grip with the M&M's, etc. All the 2 here, 3 there is adding up. And for cryin' out loud, is it THAT HARD to order enough refreshments for the attendees at a meeting without going overboard? For the 3rd day in a row there was extras in the breakroom (cookies, brownies, etc), and I obviously can't say no... :rolleyes1

I am ticked off at my lack of progress. :mad: I really do find it hard to believe that animal crackers and a couple M&M's per day is the problem. It has to be something else. I can't work out any more than I can, if I did 7 days a week I would get burned out really quickly. And it's not like I am lollygagging on the treadmill or elliptical, I am working out hard. I was obviously in a self-torturing state of mind and tried on my swimsuit this morning. Not pretty! :sad2: I'm just so beat down about it today... :sad1: :sad1: :sad1:

For Wednesday:
1472 cal, 53g fat, 146g carb, 112g protein, 29g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots; 1 oatmeal raisin cookie :guilty:
S: celery-n-hummus; 7 M&M's
D: FlatOut bread w/turkey taco meat; sprinkle of shredded cheese; HC fudge bar
S: 1 serving animal crackers

E: 45min elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I think all Girl Scout cookies are my weakness! I didn't order a single box, but DH ordered 2. He left one at work, but brought the Samoas home, since he knew they were my favorite. How nice of him, in a horrible, torture kind of way. As for the rental, we aren't going to be making much money on it until we sell it in a couple years. So we'll see how that works.

Tracy, glad I amused you! The one good thing lately is the fact that I've been working out consistently, I just wish my body would respond to all that hard work.

[toystoryduo]

Sending a gentle :hug: your way today. You have accomplished much already this year, Amy...You are working out 5 times a week and you are making good food choices. There may be an occasional M&M or two, but you are keeping those foods to a minimum and that's a good thing.:goodvibes

Keep on keeping on, Amy. I know that you can accomplish any goal that you set out to. You CAN do it!:cheer2:

[lovinaz]

Weight this morning - 143!!! :furious: :furious: :furious: :furious: :furious: I am really frustrated and disappointed in myself right now. I behaved all last weekend, and for the most part all week, yet here I am, the same exact weight I was 9 weeks ago. :sad2: I have worked out 5x a week for the past 9 weeks. I should be happy about that, but I'm NOT! :sad1: I went back through my journal, here is my weight for the past 9 Fridays: 143, 141, 144, 143, 142, 143, 143, 143, 143. Absolutely PATHETIC!!!

Am I really that much on the edge with calories? Do I have to stick to exactly 1200 per day, and never go up to 1300-1400??? Do I really want to lose weight? If I do, why can't I lay off the M&M's and cookies?? :confused3 Maybe I am eating the wrong things, maybe something I eat on a regular basis causes me to retain water or something. I just don't get it and I'm really sick of trying so hard and not seeing results.

If I want to be serious about this, I am going to have to dig deep and become mentally stronger. I obviously can't deal with temptation - 90% of the time, if someone waves a cookie in front of me, I'll eat it. And I am about ready to smash that Statue of Liberty M&M dispenser we got in NYC with a hammer (if you were ever wondering why I eat odd quantities of M&M's, I usually eat whatever pops out of that...).

Sooo, I am sick of maintaining. I think I need to cut out ALL JUNK FOOD. Period. And probably alcohol too, except obviously I can flood my liver with tequila on the weekends and still have the same weigh-in as when I behaved all weekend, so where is the motivation to not enjoy the occasional cocktail? The next 2 weeks will be tough. I won't have control over my food choices on Mon-Tue next week or the entire following week. So I will have to focus on quantity.

Sorry for ranting, I'm sure this post is all over the place, not making much sense, but I am typing as the thoughts come... :sad1: I'm just really bummed out about this, I feel like a failure. That is what it really boils down to. I am successful at everything else, why can't I lose 8 freakin' pounds?? :confused3 Maybe this weekend I will re-read my Body for Life Women book, although my food is pretty much what is suggested in the book (minus the M&M's and cookies, of course!). But unfortunately I can't make any changes until I get back mid-March. So I guess I will continue to chug along until then. I really wanted to quit this morning, I feel a little, tiny bit better about things now, but am still bummed. I just want to look good in my swimsuit, is that a crime?? Sigh...

For Thursday:
1284 cal, 49g fat, 129g carb, 93g protein, 26g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread; chicken lunchmeat; 1 slice provolone; mustard
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: celery-n-hummus (about 3 tbsp - the rest of the container); 7 M&M's
D: baked lemon chicken breast; Italian green beans; 1 Easy Bake Oven cookie w/frosting (thanks, DD!)
S: 2 Samoas (there are still 3 left, they are lucky they are not in my digestive tract - I REALLY thought about eating them too!)

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I am really down and out about this whole thing, thanks for sticking by me, even with the whining! ;)

[lovinaz]

After wallowing in my self-defeat the past couple days, I decided to take a look at my food with microscope in hand. And I realized that I am really not making any sacrifices. I mean, yes, I'm only having a couple M&M's or animal crackers instead of a whole serving, but add those together and I am probably eating 100-150 extra "empty" calories per day. I think if I want to get to my goal weight of 135, I am going to have to make some sacrifices. Once I get to my goal, I've already proven that I can maintain! :rotfl: I just need to get to the goal first.

I got my 5x workouts this week again, M-F! :banana: And since I have to drive to Tucson Monday morning, then I have meetings all day, then we are going for a "social" (think cocktails and restaurant food and more cocktails!), I don't think I can squeeze any cardio in on Monday, so I am going to hit the gym tomorrow instead. On Tuesday, my meeting isn't until 1pm so I am going to bring my Pilates Sculpt DVD and weights and workout in the hotel room. Then I'll be back home Tues night, and be able to get back on schedule. :thumbsup2 The plan for breakfast both days is a protein bar, lunch at the hotel will be a salad or something sensible, and I will just have to make good choices at dinner on Monday. We are going to some old western steakhouse, I'm sure I can get a grilled chicken breast or something!

For Friday:
1293 cal, 51g fat, 97g carbs, 120g protein, 29g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread; chicken lunchmeat; 1 slice provolone; mustard
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: string cheese
D: 6oz broiled salmon (340cal, 20g fat!); 1c peas; HC fudge bar

E: 45min on elliptical/stair climber combo

No M&M;s, no animal crackers, no Samoas. And what do you know, I lived to tell about it! :rolleyes:

[traceycooper]

oh Amy - how i can relate!
its so frustrating isnt it? have you tried changing up your workout, maybe your body has got used to the same exercise routine??
just a thought!!

Hope all works out with the house too :hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Hang in there Amy. I can well imagine how frustrated you are when you are bascially eating on point and working out as hard as you do. I really think that for someone as close to goal as you are, losing a half a pound a week is probably a realistic goal. You have such a small percentage of overal weight to lose. The m & m's may add up a bit but a girl's gotta have some treats! Try the best you can, you have work travel and that's not easy but you have done well with that before and I have faith in you! Don't give up on yourself, because we won't let you! You can do it, I hope you have a nice weekend. :hug:

[lovinaz]

I am feeling MUCH better about things today! ::yes:: I don't know why I am so hard on myself sometimes, but that is what we women do... We went out to eat at a Thai place last night, I told DH that we had to go somewhere new. Although I love the 3 restaurants we always go to, we need to branch out! I didn't do great, but I didn't snack on junk during the day. We did finish off the box of Samoas while watching a movie though... :rolleyes1

Yesterday we went to take measurements at the rental house, so we can start estimating how much it's going to cost to fix it up. And I have no right to complain about my kitchen anymore, because the rental one is TINY! There is no dishwasher right now, and we want to put one in, and I am telling you, we are going to use every inch of wall space (it's an "L" shape, only 7' 6" on one wall and 9' 2" on the other!). So, the sink is going to be right by the door (that comes in from the carport), with the dishwasher right next to that, then a lazy susan in the corner, then a 12" cabinet, then the stove, then another 12" cabinet, then the fridge. And that is all there is room for! :scared1: And we decided to go with laminate countertops, unless we can find some granite remnants. Since there is hardly any countertop space (only 18 sq ft), we might get lucky and find some. If it is about the same price as the laminate, or even $100 more, we'll go for it!

I am mentally prepared for my mini-trip. I am going to the gym today, to make up for not going tomorrow. And I checked the dinner restaurant menu and I can get a grilled chicken breast. I will be drinking (those Dutchmen like to party!) so that is just a fact of life. The good thing is that there is no opportunity to snack! :thumbsup2

For Saturday:
B: 2 packs low-sugar apple-cinnamon oatmeal w/skim milk
L: FlatOut bread w/chicken lunchmeat; mustard; 1 slice provolone; S'mores 100 calorie pack
S: celery-n-1 Laughing Cow cheese wedge
D: 2 golden nests (small fried potato shell w/ground chicken, corn, peas, etc); spicy cashew chicken w/white rice; shared scoop of coconut ice cream w/crushed peanut topping; 1 glass white wine
S: 2 Samoas

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, I alternate 3 different types of cardio workouts, and do intervals (different speeds) on the treadmill. I also do different Pilates and weights workouts. I guess I could throw in some bike for cardio and hit the gym and do the machines for weights. Is there anything else you can think of that I could try?

Amy, thanks for your support! You are right, I have unrealistic expectations. I want Biggest Loser results! ;) On FitDay I have set up a goal for myself - I want to be 130 by the time I leave for my June trip. According to FitDay, that means I have to lose 1lb a week. Sounds easy, doesn't it?? We'll see how it goes...

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Amy,

I'm glad that you're feeling better today.:goodvibes You shouldn't beat yourself up!:hug: I think you are doing an amazing job and like Amy said, a girl needs a treat or two. ;) You have a great plan in place! You CAN do it!:cheer2:

I hope you have a great week ahead!:hug:

[traceycooper]

glad your feeling better Amy
sounds like your doing more than enough with workouts!!
hang in there & the scale will play fair :)

[lovinaz]

Just a quick post while I am in my hotel room, waiting for the next meeting to start... I did great yesterday with food, although I was hungry (or at least I thought I was!). But I kept within my calories, so that is what I need to do. Already a little off track today, I ate the most divine cookie after lunch. Mmmm... Tonight will be a cocktail fest, but oh well, c'est la vie!

For Sunday:
1216 cal, 45g fat, 117g carb, 95g protein, 23g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread w/chicken lunchmeat; 1 slice Colby; mustard
S: string cheese
D: 2 pieces homemade pizza w/ham topping; HC fudge bar

E: 45min on treadmill

I was surprised at how many calories were in those 2 pieces of pizza! I really had to watch my snacking because of it. But I'm glad I did! I actually saw a drop on the scale this morning, but of course it doesn't count until Friday! And after tonight's festivities, I might be begging to see 143 on Friday...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, thanks! I think the problem was that my "treats" were becoming a daily event... I'm pretty focused to stay on track once these 2 trips are over, because I want to rock my bikini this summer!

Tracey, I really worked myself hard on the treadmill yesterday, I hope I was just on a plateau and my body needs to catch on and get with the program! I need to stick with it and not give up.

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I am glad you are feeling better. I think we all want biggest loser results but you have to remember those people literally weigh 2 to 3 times what you do. That alone makes big losses much more realistic for them. Great job on sticking to calories yesterday, drink a couple of drinks tonight then switch to club soda!

That is one tiny little kitchen! Even smaller than mine which is bad enough.

Enjoy yourself tonight!

[toystoryduo]

Great job with your food, Amy!:goodvibes How did cocktail hour go last night?

I hope you have a great day ahead!:hug:

[lovinaz]

All I can say is "whoa". I feel HORRIBLE this morning! But I don't expect much sympathy since it was all self-induced... Food yesterday wasn't bad at all. Alcohol on the other hand...:rolleyes1 We started drinking at 4pm and didn't stop until 1am. And I am once again realizing that I'm TOO OLD to be doing that kind of thing!! Thankfully my meetings don't start until 1pm today. I think we are going to go out to eat somewhere before. The hotel restaurant was gross. I seriously could not guess what kind of meat was in the fajitas. Some people said chicken, some said pork. I'd lean more towards pork...:confused3 I might walk over to the convenience store and grab a small bag of pretzels and a Diet Coke. My protein bar just isn't sitting right! I am supposed to do my Pilates Sculpt DVD this morning, but I doubt that is going to happen! :guilty:

For Monday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: mixed green salad w/Italian dressing; "chicken" fajita (no tortilla); chocolate & walnut cookie
D: small salad w/Ranch dressing; grilled chicken breast; broccoli
Drinks: 2 Capt-n-Diet Cokes; 2 Malibu-n-Diet Cokes; 1 cosmo; 3 prickly pear martinis; 1/2 vodka-n-SF Red Bull :sick:

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I wish I would have read you post before I left yesterday! I followed your advice, but instead of switching to club soda, I switched to martinis... :rolleyes1

Tracy, I think today will be a looooong day. And it stinks because I have to drive 2 hours to get home after my meetings today!

[Amy&Dan]

Well I hope you had fun, if you did than that is worth something! Its pretty bad when you have to guess what the meat is.:eek:

When do you go home?

Good job doing well on food!;) Hang in there, what's done is done and nothing you do one night is a deal breaker.

[goldcupmom]

Hang in there, Amy! Hope your headache & the ill tummy is better soon. Sometimes I think Diet coke will cure anything!

[lovinaz]

I really blew it yesterday in the food department! :scared1: It was a total free-for-all. But I told myself I'd get back on track today, and so far so good (it's hard to misbehave at work!). I did not get my workout in, which means I will have to work out today (already done), Thu, Fri and Sat to get my 5x this week. And I also have to work out Sun, to make up for not working out next Mon (I leave 9pm Sun night and arrive at my UK hotel around 5pm Mon night!). If I work out Tue-Fri at the hotel, that will be my 5x for next week! Got it all planned... ;)

For Tuesday:
B: protein bar; Munchos (small bag)
L: buffalo chicken salad @ Chili's
S: handful Cheez-Its; handful Goldfish; S'mores 100 cal pack :guilty:
D: goulash (ground turkey, red pepper, onion, zucchini, tomato sauce); wheat egg noodles; HC fudge bar
S: 1 serving animal crackers; 1 serving M&M's :sad2:

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, it was pretty fun. Although I got a bruise in a precarious location from climbing over the pool fence at the hotel... :rolleyes1 I drove back last night, so I am home until I leave again on Sunday. Not sure what the scale will say on Fri, but if it is up (or still the dreaded 143) I can't complain because I know what caused it!

Julie, feeling much better now, but boy was it hard getting out of bed at 4:30am to get to the gym this morning! I almost skipped but I knew I would have beaten myself up about it, so I went...

[toystoryduo]

Hi Amy,

I don't think you did too badly yesterday.:hug: Yes, you had a handful of snacks here and there, but it could have been worse. You've already gotten your workout in today so that will blast some of those extra calories away. Just be sure and drink the water and you'll be good to go!:thumbsup2

Are you looking forward to your trip to the UK? Will you have any time to do some sightseeing or will it be mostly work? (Sorry, if I'm being too nosy. :blush:)

Have a great afternoon!:hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, that food you listed doens't look too bad, you could have done much worse.

Good job getting the workout in this morning and good job planning ahead for your UK trip. I know you can stick to it.

When do you leave?

Climbing over the hotel fence, now that is giving me a mental picture!:rotfl:

[lovinaz]

I did great yesterday! :thumbsup2 I don't know what the scale will say tomorrow, but hopefully it won't be too bad... :wizard: I've gotten 3 workouts in so far this week, and I am planning on going Fri and Sat, to make my 5x. And I am REALLY going to try to get my 5x next week as well, there is a gym at the hotel, I really don't have an excuse. I only wish it was open at 3am, because believe me, there have been times when I have been jetlagged and wide awake at that hour! I am taking my Pilates DVDs, so maybe I'll do one of those in the wee hours... :idea:

I have to take DD shoe shopping this evening, I felt so bad because she put on her tennies last week and said they were too tight. I told her to wear them anyway (she had PE at school) and she came back with a blister! No mother of the year award for me... :rolleyes: I hate running errands after work, there is just not enough time in the day!

For Wednesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: romaine salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 mini cucumbers; string cheese
S: FlatOut bread w/pb (only 1tbsp!)
D: Presto Sausage Casserole (macaroni, powdered cheese mix, cream of mushroom soup, turkey kielbasa, green beans); HC fudge bar

E: 45min elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I am not really looking forward to my trip to the UK. I have been there so many times (at least 10x in the past 3 years!!) and there is really nothing too exciting to see around the area that I haven't seen already. Plus the weather is RUBBISH as they would say - only in the 40's for the high! :eek: I do drive by Stonehenge everytime, but even the thrill of that has worn off!

Amy, trust me, I would have done much worse during my food free-for-all if there had been anything worse in the house! That is one "disadvantage" of eating pretty healthy - not much to binge on! :laughing: Yes, DH wasn't thrilled when I told him about the pool fence... But I wanted to tell him, in case he spotted the bruise! :rolleyes1

[Amy&Dan]

Good job on a great day! Dh was probably peeved he missed all the fun and the opportunity to watch you climb the fence! I hate taking the kids shoe shopping, we just did that so hopefully I am set for awhile. You can stick to your plan next week, that is a great idea to bring the dvd's. I bet you'll be glad when that trip is over.

[toystoryduo]

Great job, Amy!:cheer2: I hope the scale cooperates today!:wizard:

[lovinaz]

Weigh-in today - 142! :cool1: :yay: :banana: :woohoo: I was SOOOOO happy that I finally lost a pound! :thumbsup2 That gives me some serious motivation to watch what I eat when I am on travel next week. :) I need to lay off the cookies/Skittles/peanuts in the hotel room (damn that complimentary mini bar!), skip appetizers and dessert and eat slowly and stop when I'm full. I am not going to limit the type of food I eat, just focus on eating a sensible quantity of it.

Yesterday was really good with food, and hopefully today will be too. DS is still causing me gray hairs, but that is to be expected. Hopefully he has gotten through school today with no punishments, then he will FINALLY earn his Xbox privileges back! He had to make it through a whole school week without getting into any trouble. It took him 3 weeks... :confused3 He only gets to play for 1 hour max on weekdays, but hey, that's 1 hour he's not in our hair! :rolleyes1

For Thursday:
1193 cal, 45g fat, 101g carbs, 109g protein, 27g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: romaine salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 mini cucumbers; string cheese
S: FlatOut bread w/pb (1tbsp)
D: chicken ole (chicken breast marinated in salsa/dijon/lime juice); broccoli, HC fudge bar

E: 40min Pilates DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, DD is all set for shoes and spring/summer clothes now. She loved picking everything out. She is in a tomboy stage and wanted to make sure I didn't get anything "girlie". The good thing about shopping was that I wasn't home to be tempted by snacking!

Tracy, the scale finally moved - and in the right direction!:cheer2: I am definitely happy about that. :goodvibes

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, Congratulations on losing that pound!!!! :cool1: :thumbsup2 :banana: :yay: :cheer2: You worked very hard and it paid off! Now you have the motivation to stay on track on your business trip. If you get tempted to overeat out of that mini bar, remember how much longer it takes to lose wihat you gain!

I hope ds gets his Xbox back. And as you say, shopping is one way to control snacking!

Have a super weekend and keep up that great work!!!

[toystoryduo]

Way to go, Amy!!!!:cheer2: I knew you could do it!:thumbsup2

How did your DS manage yesterday? Does he have his XBOX back?

I hope you have a great weekend!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I splurged a little bit yesterday, but managed to stay away from the junk food. Apparently I have a problem with turkey bacon... :rolleyes1 But it's better than regular bacon I guess!

Today I am taking the kids to spend the night at my mom's. She works for the city and they are having a city employees campout at one of the parks tonight. The kids don't know it yet, but they love camping and they will have fun. Poor DH has to work today and tomorrow, so that leaves me to my own devices... That usually goes one of two ways - I veg out and catch up on all my TiVo shows, or I clean, clean, clean. I should probably do the latter, the house is a mess! I need to fit in a workout today, to make my 5x this week. I don't want to ruin my 10 week streak!

For Friday:
1324 cal, 55g fat, 101g carb, 117g protein, 26g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: romaine salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 mini cucumbers; string cheese
S: celery-n-Laughing Cow cheese wedge, celery-n-pb (1/2 tbsp)
D: breakfast burrito (FlatOut bread, Egg Beaters, 3 strips turkey bacon, cheese); 2 strips turkey bacon; HC fudge bar

I did save a ton of calories by skipping the chorizo that the boys had. That stuff is REALLY bad for you (but oh so good!)

E: 45min stair climber/elliptical machine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I always try to talk myself out of the minibar, but those little bags of Skittles just keep calling my name! I need to stick to the tea and leave it at that. Hopefully I will be successful, my goal is to maintain or gain no more than 1lb by the time I get back.

Tracy, DS did get his XBox back! And DH took him to buy a game that he'd been wanting that just came out (with his own $$ of course). He was pretty happy about it.

[toystoryduo]

Great job on food yesterday!:goodvibes Is turkey bacon salty like regular bacon? I've never had it before because my DH is allergic to turkey so we don't have any turkey products in the house. It sounds good though! :)

That's great that your DS got his XBOX back!:banana:

I bet your kids will have a great time this weekend. :goodvibes

Have a wonderful Saturday!:hug:

[goldcupmom]

Fantastic that the scale finally moved!!

I, too, have a turkey bacon addiction. It's just too good, but I truly think they put something in it that 'hooks' you!

Hope you have a good trip & that the mini-bar isn't too enticing. Try not to climb any pool fences while you're gone!

[lovinaz]

Man, am I SORE! :headache: Whoever says you can't get a good workout at home with nothing but a couple hand weights needs to come talk to me... Got my 5x last week. And for those that are counting, that means 10 weeks in a row!! :yay: This morning the scale said 141!!! :cool1: I know it's not "official", but I wanted to see what my weight was before I left, so I can know how GOOD I did on my trip (like that mind game?? :laughing: ). I hope to maintain, or be no more than 142 when I come back. I am fired up and motivated to meet that goal. I think I can survive the week in the UK, it's the weekend I'm worried about. I am flying to Germany to visit my dad and stepmom and she is a really bad influence in the food department. :confused3 And we are going to Strasbourg, France on Sat and Sun, which has lots of quaint wine restaurants, etc. But hopefully I will still have my head in the right place by next weekend!

For Saturday:
1325 cal, 42g fat, 154g carbs, 98g protein, 27g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal (I'm gonna miss it for a whole week :sad1: )
L: FlatOut bread w/chicken lunchmeat, 1 slice Colby, mustard); 10 pretzels
S: celery-n-1 Laughing Cow wedge; S'mores 100 cal pack
D: shrimp (sauteed w/spray and Mrs. Dash); corn (1c); HC fudge bar
S: 1/2 graham cracker

E: 40min lower & upper body, abs workout
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, yes, turkey bacon is salty like regular bacon. It is oh so good! I also love regular bacon, but get too freaked out about the calories to eat it.

Julie, I'm glad I'm not the only turkey bacon addict! :rotfl: And it is only going to be in the 40's in the UK, I definitely won't be climbing any pool fences! :rolleyes: Plus, the hotel doesn't have a pool, which eliminates that temptation...

[toystoryduo]

Hi Amy,

I hear ya on the home workout thing. When I was doing the FIRM workouts, I would feel some type of soreness at least once or twice a week. Great job on exercising 5Xs/week for 10 weeks! :cheer2: You are rocking those workouts, girl!:rockband:

I hope you have a wonderful and safe trip to Europe this week!:goodvibes

[lovinaz]

I made it to the hotel safe and sound. The weather here is pretty cold and dreary! I behaved for the most part on the plane. I told myself I wasn't going to eat anything, but ended up having dessert.:rolleyes1 I ended up getting upgraded to First class from Business class! :thumbsup2 That is the first time that's ever happened to me, I was quite pleased. We used to get a free upgrade to First everytime we booked in Business, but unfortunately the airline stopped that promotion. :sad2:

I won't have totals the whole time I'm on travel. I probably don't want to know anyway!:scared1: I did get my workout in on Sunday, I was really close to blowing it off, but I'm glad I did it.

For Sunday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread w/ham lunchmeat, 1 slice Colby, mustard)
S: 2 mini cucumbers
D: Lasagna (made w/turkey meat & LF ricotta and mozzarella); S'mores 100 cal pack
S (on plane): 1 rum-n-diet coke; 1.5 glasses champagne; 1 handful cashews/macadamia nuts; 4 small canapes; 1/2c apple crisp w/1/4c vanilla ice cream

E: 45min stationary bike

After writing it down, I definitely DID NOT need to eat any of that junk on the plane! Talk about a ton of calories added at 10:30pm... But at least I skipped the appetizer, bread and main course!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I tore out a home workout from a magazine a couple months ago. I've only done it once (here in this UK hotel!) and it totally wiped me out! I brought it again, to see if I can get through it without wanting to die...

[toystoryduo]

Glad you made it safely to the UK!:goodvibes How cool is that that you got an upgrade to 1st class!:thumbsup2 By the way, did you mention apple crisp? That is one of my favorite desserts.:goodvibes

I hope you have a great week ahead!:hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, glad you made it safe and sound to the UK! And that is awesome you got the plane upgrade.

You have a plan of action and you have plans of fun. The two can coexist! Have fun with your dad and stepmom. If you overeat a bit, don't sweat it. I think sometimes about me and my mom eating our pie on Friday's, I should never have spent one minute feeling bad about that, it was prescious time I can't get back. So enjoy your time with your dad, your wine and whatever else the week brings!

Great job getting that 45 minutes in on the bike. You are doing great!

[lovinaz]

Last night was HORRIBLE! Usually I can sleep all the way through the first night, but have problems the second night. Well, that streak has been broken. I went to bed at 9pm, and woke up sometime around 2am. I tried tossing and turning and not looking at the clock, but realized I was getting nowhere (I was wide awake!). I finally looked at the clock and it was 2:45am. I took a Benadryl and read for about an hour, then tossed and turned until about 4:30am. I finally got to sleep and the Benadryl must have kicked in because I woke up at 7am (apparently there is an elephant in the room next to me, as loud as he/she was walking down the hall!) and went back to sleep until 9am (my meetings don't start until tomorrow, today is a prep day). Breakfast ends at 9:30, so I threw some clothes on and went to eat. Hopefully this means tonight I will sleep all night! :wizard:

My food will look weird, remember that I lost 7 hours plus had a 2 hour drive to the hotel...

For Monday:
B/L (on plane): fruit plate (2 slices each of kiwi, pineapple, orange, strawberry, apple); granola crusted French toast w/ blueberry compote; pot of tea w/milk
D: 1 scone w/clotted cream and strawberry jam :lovestruc :lovestruc :lovestruc ; rhubarb/vanilla yogurt (full fat but SO good!)

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I also love apple crisp and it was really good, especially for airplane food! I would not have even been tempted to eat anything if that wasn't on the menu...

Amy, I am sure going to try to keep it within reason this week. So far, so good! I am meeting a co-worker for dinner tonight at my fave pub. They also have an awesome wine I love, so I will definitely have a glass or two! But NO starter and NO dessert (or pudding, as they say here). I was able to behave for the most part last visit to Germany. Well, food-wise anyway. Dad and I drank our weight in gluwein (hot, mulled wine at the Christmas markets) :rolleyes1

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Amy,

Sorry to hear about the sleep issues. I hope you're able to get a good night's sleep tonight. :wizard:

I hope you have a great day!:goodvibes

[traceycooper]

I made it to the hotel safe and sound. The weather here is pretty cold and dreary! ..

ha welcome to the UK Amy ;)
glad you had a safe (& comfortable in 1st class) journey :)
i see you have found the scones ;)
congrats on the 1 lb loss :thumbsup2
enjoy the rain tomorrow :lmao:

[lovinaz]

Well, so much for behaving at dinner...:rolleyes1 At least I worked out this morning! Just a quick post of my food before I hit the sack (and hopefully sleep all night!:wizard: )

For Tuesday:
B: scrambled eggs, 1 piece brown toast w/very little butter & strawberry jam
L: 1 scone w/clotted cream and strawberry jam; rhubarb/vanilla yogurt
S: 1 scone w/clotted cream and strawberry jam (I told you I was obsessed!)
D: grilled chicken, mushrooms, leeks w/creamy gorgonzola sauce; gratinated potatoes (very small serving); small piece honeycomb cheesecake :lovestruc ; 1/2 bottle white wine :confused3
S: 18 Skittles (I counted how many were in the small pack!)

E: 50min treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, thanks, I hope your pixie dust works tonight! I need to get rid of these bags under my eyes for tomorrow's meeting!

Tracey, I'm all about the scones w/clotted cream! Can't get enough of it while I'm here! I am always amazed at how the weather changes throughout the day here. Sunny for 30 minutes, then cloudy for 30 minutes, then sunny for 30 minutes, then raining for 30 minutes... Definitely keeps you guessing!

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, good job working out! I hope you slept last night. So what is clotted cream? I have a feeling I'd have a hard time resisting those too. I love scones and I love cream!

When do you leave for Germany? Just do the best you can, when you get home there is nothing that cannot be undone from just one week away!

[toystoryduo]

Ya know...I don't think I have ever had a scone... They sound yummy though!:goodvibes

I hope you got a good night's sleep. How are you feeling today?

Have a wonderful Wednesday!:hug:

[goldcupmom]

Glad you made it safely to the UK ....& FIRST CLASS doesn't hurt the length of the journey!!

KUDOS for exercising! Sorry about your lack of sleep....hopefully better tonight.

Have a good trip & please, eat a scone for me....I'll be glad to share the calories!!

[traceycooper]

Tracey, I'm all about the scones w/clotted cream! Can't get enough of it while I'm here! I am always amazed at how the weather changes throughout the day here. Sunny for 30 minutes, then cloudy for 30 minutes, then sunny for 30 minutes, then raining for 30 minutes... Definitely keeps you guessing!

now you now why us Britts are obsessed with the weather ;)

Tracy - clotted cream is a very thick cream the originates from cornwall but you can buy it at most supermarkets now :) its lovely on a scone (which is like your breakfast biscuits) with strawberry jam & a fresh strawberry on top..... now i fancy one!!!!

[lovinaz]

Sleep last night = no go... I woke up at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep! I finally got out of bed at 5:30am. I was going to do my exercises from my magazine, but there are a lot of jumping jacks and I tried a couple and the noise was really bad (I'm on the 2nd floor of a hotel that was built in 1907). So I ended up doing my Pilates Sculpt DVD, with no weights (which made it pretty easy on some sections!). I usually do not have this bad of jetlag, I don't know what is going on. And I just found out that I have to come back for an unplanned trip the week of April 20. :sad2: And I already had a trip here scheduled for the week of May 3. :sad: And again in early June. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Sometimes I really hate my job! :sad1:

Food has not been stellar, that's for sure! But I didn't go out to dinner tonight, so that should help. We are going for Indian tomorrow. :thumbsup2

For Wednesday:
B: scrambled eggs; 1 piece brown toast w/butter
L: crusty roll w/brie and cranberry; crusty roll w/coronation chicken; 2 small clotted cream cookies :cloud9:
S: 2 small (1" diameter) chocolate/chocolate chip muffins
D: 1 scone w/clotted cream and strawberry jam; rhubarb/vanilla yogurt
S: 17 Skittles :confused3

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, in UK scones are like our biscuits. And the clotted cream is to die for. You need to try it if you are ever over here! I leave for Germany on Friday, then head back to the States on Monday.

Tracy, I am beat today! I am trying to stay up until at least 10pm so I have a fighting chance of sleeping all night. Usually by the 3rd night I'm OK. We'll see!

Julie, I think I've eaten enough scones for everyone in my journal! I bought a 4-pack and they are finally gone. I'm both happy and sad about that! :rolleyes: I will get my final fix on the plane ride home, they always have them for the second meal, which is traditional afternoon tea.

Tracey, I don't know how you don't weight 20 stones with all that access to clotted cream! I saw the calories and I was shocked to say the least! :scared1: But that didn't stop me from eating half the tub... :rolleyes1

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Amy,

I'm sorry to hear that you're still having trouble sleeping. :( Sending some :wizard: :wizard: your way.

Great job getting your workout in!:cheer2:

Have a great day today!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I got my 5x of workouts in this week! :cool1: On travel, no less!! Food has definitely not been great, too many carbs, too many sweets. But I've done way worse in the past and I can honestly say that I have not stuffed myself once, which is an accomplishment. Even at dinner last night, I ate a lot, but was not stuffed to the brim.

I am currently in the airport, waiting to board my flight to Germany. Should be a fun, although quick weekend!

For Thursday:
B: scrambled eggs on 1 piece white toast w/butter
L: 1 crusty roll w/coronation chicken; 1 crusty roll w/cheese-n-onion filler (yikes, I did NOT know that was onion!); 1 banana; 2 small apple-n-cinnamon cookies (140cal)
S: brownie w/frosting
D: Indian dish (chicken w/creamy tomato sauce); vegetable rice; couple bites of Indian bread; 1 pompadam; 1 bite dessert (no idea what it was, but I had a very small bite); 1 glass rose; 1 shot (3 layers, I know 1 was Baileys, no idea what the other 2 were!)
S: 2 stem ginger cookies (170cal); 17 Skittles :confused3

E: 45min stair climber

So far Fri:
B: scrambled eggs on 1 piece brown toast w/butter

E: 40min Pilates DVD

I am in the lounge and I had a pack of cookies in my hand, but put them back and had a cup of tea instead. I am not going to eat, I think we get a small snack on the plane (like a granola bar or something), I will just have to sacrifice and wait for dinner tonight. I probably won't be posting this weekend at all, but I will try to keep track of my food and post everything on Monday, while I am once again waiting in the lounge for my flight back to Phx!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I finally slept most of the night on Wed night! I woke up a couple times, but was able to go back to sleep. Same thing last night. :goodvibes

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I am glad you got a better night's sleep on Wednesday. Congrats on mkaing your 5X per week exercise goal! That is awesome given your travel schedule. That really stinks you have all those UK trips so close together, any chance one of them might get cancelled? Have fun with your dad and stepmom this weekend! Safe trip home too.:hug:

[toystoryduo]

Way to go on the 5X's a week, even when you're traveling!:cheer2: You should be very proud of yourself, Amy!:goodvibes

Have a great time in Germany this weekend!:goodvibes

[traceycooper]

thats great that you managed to do all your exercise Amy with such a hectic schedule! have a great time in germany :)

[lovinaz]

Well, as history has proven, all common sense left me the minute the plane touched down in Germany. Way too much food and wine, but what's done is done and I can't dwell on it. I ate the gummy bears (and other gummy items) and all the other junk!

I am going to try to stay off the scale until Fri, but I won't be surprised if I gravitate towards the scale earlier than that! I'm pretty sure I gained 3-5lbs.:confused3 It just stinks because I erased 2 months worth of effort in a single weekend! But usually the travel weight comes off within a week or so, I think it's mostly water weight.

I didn't keep track of food, but there were handmade caramels involved, as well as WAY too many gummies! I'm still in the London airport, but my flight will be boardng in about 1/2 hour. Hopefully there are enough groceries in the house for me to piece together a healthy breaksfast and lunch tomorrow. I want to get right back on track! That means going to the gym on T, Th and Sat this week, and doing other workouts on Wed and Fri. That will be my 5x this week then I will be back on the M-F track starting next week. Yep, it'll all work out!:goodvibes

[Amy&Dan]

It will all work out!:hug: You had a special weekend, I mean it would take super human strength to avoid overeating when in a foreign country known for its good food and wine! I am betting the scale wont' show anything more than a pound or two by Friday. Good job making a gameplan for the workouts. If there is no food in the house, go to Subway for lunch! Hope you had a nice flight home, I know one husband, two kids and one beagle that will be very happy to see you!

[toystoryduo]

Hi Amy,

Please don't be too hard on yourself about food this weekend.:hug: Like Amy said, there are so many good options for food and drink in Germany, how could you pass it up? No worries, my friend.:goodvibes

I hope you have a great week ahead! Happy St Patrick's Day!:thumbsup2

[lovinaz]

As expected, the house was a total wreck when I got home last night! :rolleyes: It just makes me realize how much I actually do at home... It'll take a couple days to get everything back up to my standards!

I worked out this morning! :cool1: Might as well, I was up at 4am anyway... :rolleyes1 I also jumped on the scale and was really surprised it wasn't any worse than it was! Only a 2lb gain from the day I left! Hopefully at least 1 of those is gone by Fri's WI.

No food for yesterday, but I will get back to posting everything tomorrow. I behaved for the most part on the plane, I was just too stuffed to keep eating!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I scrounged some stuff for lunch, and had my beloved chocolate oatmeal for breakfast. I know there is nothing in the house for dinner, so I will either have to go to the store or go out to eat tonight. The kids are at their dad's for Spring Break, so we might go out, just the 2 of us. :lovestruc

Tracy, I was really lovin' the food and wine in France (Germany was good too)! And of course the chocolates and caramels... :rolleyes1 I could have done way worse, and I have in the past, so I think I did pretty darn good this trip. It helped that we walked around for over 5 hours straight on Saturday! I'm glad I was able to get all my workouts in, especially since I have 3 trips in the next 3 months... :guilty:

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, 2 pounds is NOTHIN!!! You'll have that off in no time. Now aren't you glad you splurged and had fun? If you had behaved in France, I might have had to worry about you.

Go out tonight!

Glad you got home, wrecked house and all.;)

[toystoryduo]

Way to go, Amy!!!:cheer2: :cheer2: I bet that 2 pounds will be gone before Friday.:thumbsup2 You did a great job while traveling!:thumbsup2

Have a great Wednesday!:hug:

[lovinaz]

Oh ya, I forgot to mention I got upgraded to First class AGAIN on the way back!!! :thumbsup2 I was boarding in London, she scanned my boarding pass and the light turned red and it beeped. I said "That can't be good, did you lose my luggage already?" and she said "It's good news, you've been upgraded" and it spit out another boarding pass and away I went! She said that they were completely booked, every seat on the plane was filled. And they had to keep bumping people up a class to accommodate everyone. Works for me!

We went out to eat last night. I went overboard with the chips-n-salsa, but didn't have a margarita or dessert. Our friends wanted us to meet them at an Irish pub, but DH wasn't in the mood and I was kinda glad, that would have been a weigh-in disaster!

I've worked out twice since I've been back. I really need to focus on my arms more, they are not as toned as they used to be!

For Tuesday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 2 Wasa fiber crackers w/chicken lunchmeat, 1 slice colby
S: string cheese, apple
S: thin chocolate square (from France); 5 pina colada gummies (from Germany); 5 animal crackers :confused3
D: chips-n-salsa; chicken machaca; spanish rice; 1 peppermint disc
S: HC fudge bar

E: 45min treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, thanks, it is pretty stressful to come home and have the house a mess. I wish DH would keep it up when I'm gone! But I guess he does a lot of other things, so I can't complain too much...

Tracy, I hope you are right about Fri!

[goldcupmom]

Gaining only 2 lbs after flying that many hours & being in UK & Germany is an absolute HUGE SUCCESS!!!! :worship: And that you worked out 5x while gone makes it even better!

Sorry about your house, but it could have been worse, I'm sure. Hope this week goes well for you!

[traceycooper]

Amy - i dont know how you manage to do so well with all the jet setting you do :)
glad you got home safe & sound :)

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, thanks, it is pretty stressful to come home and have the house a mess. I wish DH would keep it up when I'm gone! But I guess he does a lot of other things, so I can't complain too much...



Oh yeah, you can always complain about husbands! Lets face it, the perk to marriage they never tell you about is that you have someone to grip at, about and to whenever the mood strikes!:rotfl: Men are not multi taskers by nature (sorry if any guys are reading this) so I think its hard when they have to run the whole show!

Good job resisting a margarita and dessert. And good job working on those arms.

First class upgrade, lucky you!:goodvibes

[toystoryduo]

Great job skipping the margarita and the dessert!:thumbsup2

Have a great day today!:hug:

[lovinaz]

I got the floor mopped and did a load of laundry yesterday! And actually cooked dinner... :eek: And I discovered a big pile of clothes in DD's room (some were DS's) and I asked DH what the heck that was all about and he said "oh ya - those need to be washed"... I might just wait until my usual laundry day this weekend!

I was tired and sore this morning, but I went to the gym anyway. I got sucked into a TurboJam infomercial. I actually might order it! I did a search on WISH and it looks like some people have had good success with it. Now that I have finally gotten to the point where I will get up and work out at home in the mornings, I think it might be good to change things up. I did a cardio kickboxing class before and you really do get an awesome workout, and see results fast. My gym has one, but it is after work and I just don't want to spend that time away from my family. Have any of you guys tried TurboJam?

For Wednesday:
1233 cal, 45g fat, 113g carb, 107g protein, 29g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread w/chicken lunchmeat, 1 slice colby cheese
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: 2 tbsp peanut butter (why??? :confused3 )
D: sauteed shrimp; asparagus; HC fudge bar

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Julie, thanks! Yes, I have been known to pack on 5 lbs during a weeklong biz trip, so I really should be thankful it was only 2 lbs this time!

Tracey, some trips are easier to behave on than others, I have a feeling this next one will be a little more challenging, based on my travel companions...

Amy, I was surprised at myself that I didn't want to go to Baskin Robbins after dessert! Usually when I get back form a trip, I do OK with snacking because I wasn't in a position for the "after work/before dinner" snack-fest. I wish that bad habit never crept back into play! :rolleyes1

Tracy, thanks for stopping by! :goodvibes

[toystoryduo]

Great job yesterday, Amy!:thumbsup2

It's hard to come home to a mess after being away. :( I know that when I'm gone for any extended period of time (even a few hours) that I often come home to a bigger mess than when I left. Kids and DHs......gotta love 'em! ;)

I've never tried Turbo Jam. I've heard lots of good reviews on it though!:goodvibes A friend of mine just told me about the FIRM's new series called "The Wave". I went to the FIRM's website and it looks pretty cool.:cool2: I'm going to gently hint to my DH that I would like that for Mother's Day. ;) I really like the FIRM because you do cardio and weights at the same time.

I hope you have a great evening!:goodvibes Keep up the good work and good luck at weigh-in tomorrow!:cheer2:

[traceycooper]

i'm afraid i've never heard of turbo jam!!!
glad your getting the house straight - hubbies eh - cant live without them cant live with them :)
have a great weekend :)

[lovinaz]

Weight this morning was 142. I'm OK with that! I was really expecting to be a lot worse off after that trip. I am going to try really hard to get out of the 140's before Easter.

I am so bummed! I found out that my gym is discontinuing their rewards program. :mad: They had a deal where you get a point for everytime you check in and so many points gets you different things. For every 64 points, I got a free month. And since I've been at the gym, I've probably earned 8-10 free months (they sometimes give bonus points, etc). I have just earned enough for one more free month, I need to turn it in by the end of the month. That really stinks, and helped me make up my mind to get the TurboJam videos. I need a change!

My kids come back today!!! :cool1: I haven't seen them since I left for the UK on the 8th (they have been at their dad's for Spring Break this week). We are going to have pizza for dinner, I am going to stick to 2 slices of cheese (which is a whopping 600+ calories! :eek: )

For Thursday:
1125 cal, 34g fat, 137g carbs, 77g protein, 20g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 2 Wasa Fiber crackers; chicken lunchmeat; 1 slice colby
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes; 5 pretzels; 5 animal crackers
D: Fiesta Turkey Pie (made w/crescent roll dough, ground turkey, salsa, LF cheddar); HC fudge bar

E: 45min elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, I have a couple FIRM videos. They were challenging, but I don't have any of the equipment, so my choices were limited. I'll let you know how I like the TurboJam, I'm going to order it!

Tracey, I think being a bad housekeeper is DH's only bad trait, so I will just have to learn to overlook it! :lovestruc

[toystoryduo]

Great job on the scale, Amy!:thumbsup2

That stinks about the gym rewards. :( Please let us know how you like the Turbo Jam.:banana:

Hope you had a great time with the kids last night! :goodvibes

Have a great Saturday!:hug:

[lovinaz]

The scale mysteriously dropped 2 lbs overnight! :scared1: I was shocked to see 140 this morning, why couldn't it have been that number yesterday for my WI??? Don't know what's going on with that, but I am going to enjoy it while it lasts. Hopefully I will see that number again (or less, of course!) next Fri! :thumbsup2

I ordered TurboJam today, should get it in a week or so. I also ordered the Get Smart TV series for DH's b-day (coming up next month).

I am drinking tea my dad got me when he was in Portugal (he got me a really cool teapot for loose tea, and I think he is going to get me some tea everytime he goes somewhere new!). It is really good! But when I poured a dash of milk in it (that Brit tradition wore off on me :goodvibes ) it turned the most disgusting greenish-gray color! Like the color of rotting meat. :scared: But it still tastes good! :goodvibes

Yesterday was definitely a high calorie day. :rolleyes1 Could have done without some of the snacks, but oh well. I need to go work out today to get my 5x this week. I'm not too motivated at the moment! But I don't want to ruin my streak, so I'll probably guilt myself into going to the gym. I'm sure I'll be glad I did.

For Friday:
1634 cal, 62g fat, 180g carbs, 99g protein, 24g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: 2 Wasa Fiber crackers; ham lunchmeat; 1 slice colby
S: 3 egg whites; 10 baby carrots
S: 1 serving mini rice cakes; 2 tbsp peanut butter :confused3
D: 2 slices cheese pizza; HC fudge bar; 15 M&M's

E: 40min Pilates DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, I will definitely let you now how I like the TurboJam. I'm actually kind of excited about it! I hope it is a good change of pace. I still plan on going to the gym for regular cardio, but this should help break up the monotony. And hopefully help me look better in my swimsuit this summer! ;)

[lovinaz]

I have NO IDEA what is going on with my scale or my body. I've lost 3 lbs in 3 days! :eek: And I just realized that TOM hasn't shown up this month, it's about 2 weeks later than expected (and don't get excited, there is no chance of being preggers!). I am definitely loving the loss, but I am leary of getting too excited about it, since I never know what's going to happen the next day (easy come, easy go! or I guess in this case: easy go, easy come :lmao:). If the lbs are still off on Friday's WI, a party is in order!

I put on some shorts yesterday that were way too tight last summer, so that made my day when they fit perfectly! :cool1: And I just booked my train tickets for my vacation this summer! That was a little scary, but at least that is one less thing we have to worry about when we are there.

Yesterday was another high calorie day, thanks to a late softball game for DH and a couple rum-n-diet cokes (heavy on the rum :rolleyes1). I've been behaving pretty well today, considering I had a Starbucks chai for breakfast... :confused3

For Saturday:
1538 cal, 27g fat, 191g carb, 75g protein, 28g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: egg salad (2 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1 tbsp LF mayo), 2 Wasa Fiber crackers; 8 asparagus
S: 15 pretzels; 6 M&M's
S: 2 rum-n-diet cokes
D: 2 servings Cinnamon Struesel Mini Wheats w/skim; HC fudge bar

E: 45min treadmill (got my 5x!! :banana:)

[toystoryduo]

Can I borrow your scale? Mine keeps showing a gain! LOL!!! :laughing:

That's great that you booked your train tickets for your summer vacation.:thumbsup2

I hope you have a great Monday!:hug:

[lovinaz]

Work is absolutely KILLING ME today!!! And there is no end in sight. :sad2: The next 2 weeks are going to be painful. There is no way around it. I am filling in for my boss, which adds to the stress, plus I have been assigned to a new program, which just kicked off this week, and this is in addition to my regular duties, which are hectic enough as it is!

So, just a quick post while I am scarfing down my lunch. For Sunday:
1333 cal, 31g fat, 198g carbs, 82g protein, 28g fiber
B: Starbuck grande non-fat chai latte
L: FlatOut bread w/turkey lunchmeat, spinach, mustard, 1 slice provolone; 5 oz mango (I measured!)
S: string cheese; S'mores 100 calorie pack
S: about 6 chips w/salsa; 6 M&M's
D: turkey meatloaf; peas; HC fudge bar

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, you don't want my scale, believe me, more often it causes me to cry by moving the wrong direction unexpectedly!

[traceycooper]

Hi Amy
congrats on the losses :)
that stinks about the gyms reward programmes - my gym did the same - i'd saved & saved points for a personnel trainer & then they just stopped it :(
i have milk in my tea - is that not a common thing in the US???

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, sounds to me like your hard work is paying off on the scale! Take credit for making that happen!

Tea the color of rotting meat? :scared1: I had to laugh at that one.

Hang in there with work, and make sure your boss knows he/she owes you big time!

Good job with food and exercise.:)

[lovinaz]

Another busy day in store today. :scared: My food yesterday was OK until I mowed down 2 cookies in a stress panic. :sad2:One of my co-workers couldn't believe I was eating a cookie at all, you can imagine her shock when I knocked down the second one! :eek:

Work is frantic, and we are supposed to sign the papers on the rental house sometime this week so we can close by the 31st. Can't even get excited about it since I'm so busy! Can't wait for my boss to get back (not until the 3rd) or else workload dies down back to a maneagable level (I was here until 6pm last night, something I rarely do!).

For Monday:
1537 cal, 44g fat, 180g carb, 112g protein, 22g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing, 1 oatmeal raisin cookie, 1 peanut butter cookie
S: 3 egg whites, 3 mini cucumbers
S: 5oz mango, 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes, 12 M&M's
D: baked chicken parmesan, cauliflower, HC fudge bar

E: 45min elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey, milk in tea is definitely a British thing. But I like it!

Amy, I am not patting myself on the back until I see a lower number on the scale on Friday's WI. A lot can happen between now and then... :rolleyes1 My boss gave me a really big raise, so I can't complain too much (but I will whine!)

[toystoryduo]

It sounds like work has been very busy for you. I hope things ease up a bit soon.:wizard:

Have a great Tuesday!:hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Wow Amy, a raise in these times is really nice, good for you! As long as you do milk in tea and not cream, I can't imagine that will add up to very many extra calories! Hang in there with the stress and don't fall prey to the Cookie Monster!

[lovinaz]

Finally a little bit of breathing room at work! :faint: This morning was a mess - I had to call into a telecon from the car (I know, not safe, but I deal with the UK who is 7 hours ahead, soon to be 8!) and that lasted 90 minutes! And someone beeped in on my cell phone twice during that time. And once I got back to my desk, I had 2 voicemails and the phone rang 4 times during the telecon! And poor DS was one of the calls, he had late start at school today so I didn't take him since he didn't have to be in until 10am. He called to tell me that he threw up! Thankfully it was in the garage, he had gone out there to get a water out of the fridge... Madness!!! :scared:So I told him to get some water and clean it up, I'm sure it's a mess... Then he called back about an hour later and said he felt fine and he was going to school... :confused3 I think he ate too much at breakfast...

I was beyond exhausted this morning. I almost didn't go to the gym, but I ended up going. I think if I am that tired again tomorrow morning I will skip my DVD workout and do it on Sat instead. I will still be able to get the 5x in, so it shouldn't matter if they are not consistent days!

We sign on the rental house today!!! :cool1: It doesn't officially close until the 31st, that is when we get the keys and take possession, but this is the final step for us. Then the real work begins!

For Tuesday:
1286 cal, 38g fat, 136g carb, 109g protein, 21g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites, 3 mini cucumbers
S: 5oz mango, 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes
D: grilled turkey burger on wheat bun, corn, HC fudge bar

E: 40min Pilates DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, thanks! I don't think I will get any work relief for the next couple weeks, but hopefully I can learn how to deal with it better!

Amy, I just heard someone say there were cookies in the breakroom. SERIOUSLY???? What is wrong with these people in the meetings that is preventing them from eating these cookies?? I am so OCD about my calorie counting, I include the calories for the 2tbsp of milk when I have my tea... :rolleyes1

[toystoryduo]

Yikes! What a morning!:eek: I hope you're able to get some relaxation in in the evenings. Work sounds super busy!

Great job on getting to the gym today!:cheer2: I agree...If you're too tired tomorrow morning, it might be best to give your body a rest and skip the workout DVD.

Your food from yesterday looks good too!:thumbsup2 You're doing a great job especially since work is so hectic for you right now, Amy.:cheer2: Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

P.S. Congratulations on signing papers for the rental house tonight!:woohoo:

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, I hope ds is better and that the vomit garage isn't too awful! Dan has to sometimes do conference calls on the phone since he deals with India and that time change. Sometimes it just can't be helped!

Good idea to sleep in tomorrow if you're still wiped out. Five days a week can be accomplished in more ways than one!:thumbsup2

[goldcupmom]

Wow, Amy! What a day you had! Hopefully today is going much better!

Try to get in some 'amy' time this weekend & take a breather!!

[lovinaz]

I took this morning off from working out and slept in. Why does it always seem like the more sleep you get the harder it is to wake up?? :confused3 I will have to do my Pilates DVD on Sat, but that is fine since the kids will be gone and DH will probably have to work AGAIN.

Food was a little out of control yesterday... :rolleyes1 Didn't do too awful on calories, but could have done better nutrition-wise, that's for sure! We signed on the rental house, we might close as early as tomorrow! If we do, we are going to get started on fixing it up this weekend. :thumbsup2 But the signing went late and DD had tap class, so the planned dinner of burritos didn't happen and we had cereal instead.

For Wednesday:
1422 cal, 33g fat, 201g carb, 97g protein, 24g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites, 3 mini cucumbers
S: 5oz mango, 1 serving Quaker mini rice cakes, 5 almonds
D: 2 servings Mini Wheats w/skim milk, 16 M&M's

E: 45min stair climber/elliptical machine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, there is no such thing as relaxation in the evenings... I work all day, come home and am on my feet until about 7:30-8pm every night (helping with homework, prepping lunches for the following day, making dinner, cleaning up dinner...). I'm not complaining, it's just non-stop action. Guess I'm used to it.

Amy, DS did a good job cleaning the garage! But, as I suspected he would, he hosed it out. I'm sure I will discover some things that have water marks that shouldn't... Funny you mention India, that is what is causing all my work woes this week!

Julie, today is going much better (so far), thanks!

[toystoryduo]

Hi Amy,

I'm glad to hear that you moved your workout to Saturday so you could sleep in this morning. I bet you needed the extra rest, especially considering how busy work has been.:goodvibes

Great job on your food yesterday! :thumbsup2

I hope you have a nice evening! :hug:

[traceycooper]

Hi Amy - i feel tired just reading how busy you are!!!
i think it was a good idea to rest!
Have a great weekend :)

[lovinaz]

Weight this morning was a mind blowing 138!!!!! That is a 4lb loss from last week! :eek:Don't get me wrong, I am totally excited about it, but at the same time I am wondering WTH is going on... How can I go for 2.5 months and lose only 1 lb to losing 4 lbs in a week? Without changing anything?? Do I have a tapeworm or something? :confused3 Another weird thing - TOM never showed up this month, it's usually every 3 weeks like clockwork (it's been 6 weeks). That is yet another reason to celebrate, but I am worried about that, since I had the abnormal pap and had to reschedule my re-test (was March 18, it's now April 8). But physically I feel GREAT, it's almost as if 3 years worth of water retention has finally gone away. :woohoo: I'd like to think my body is finally getting the hint and responding to all my workouts, but I am still nervous about it. But determined to enjoy it! :goodvibes

For Thursday:
1311 cal, 45g fat, 128g carb, 113g protein, 31g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread w/turkey, spinach, mustard, 1 slice provolone
S: 3 egg whites, 5 baby carrots, 2 mini cucumbers
S: celery-n-hummus; mango; 12 M&M's (I gotta lay off those things!)
D: taco salad (turkey meat, spinach, shredded LF cheese, hot sauce); HC fudge bar

E: none
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, it was really nice to sleep in! I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow, although last weekend I was up by 6:30am. But that is sleeping in for me, considering I wake up at 4:30am during the week. I try to make myself sleep in until 7:30-8, but sometimes it just doesn't work. ;)

[toystoryduo]

Congrats on the weight loss, Amy!!! Your hard work is paying off!:cheer2:Great job!!!!:thumbsup2

I hope you have a great weekend ahead!:hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Congrats on the weight loss Amy! That is awesome so enjoy it. Maybe your body finally did figure out to let the water go!

I hope you close today and can get started on the house, you must be anxious.

Glad the vomit was cleaned up nicely!;):rotfl::scared1:

Have a great weekend and have fun tonight!

[lovinaz]

DH and I went out to dinner last night after dropping the kids off at their dad's. Then of course I had to get ice cream. :rolleyes1 Scale was still at 138, which really surprises me, because normally a night out results in an instant 2-3lb overnight gain. I need to stop worrying about it!

My TurboJam set should be arriving any day now. They have a 10 day program that is supposed to let you lose 10 inches or 10lbs. I will have to see exactly what it entails, that claim sounds a little extreme to me!

It is after 9am and I am still in my pj's! DH is at work, kids are gone... I need to get my workout done, then I really should clean the house. DEEP clean! Hopefully I'll get into the groove, because there is just no stopping me when I'm in the cleaning frame of mind! ;)

For Friday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 3 egg whites, 2 mini cucumbers, 6 baby carrots
S: celery-n-hummus, 6 M&M's
D: marinated grilled chicken breast, small greek salad, hummus w/wheat pita, tabboule, grapefruit martini
S: 1 scoop strawberry cheesecake ice cream in cup :cloud9:

E: 45min treadmill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, thanks, I need to re-train my mind to accept the fact that maybe, just maybe, the loss is due to my hard work and not some medical issue!

Amy, we didn't close on the house :sad2:. It will most likely close on Tuesday, which is fine, but that is a whole weekend we could have been cleaning/painting, etc! Looks like our friend is going to move in in May, how perfect is that? :goodvibes

[Zela]

Great job at the ice cream place.....only getting one scoop.....I like to get things mixed into my ice cream so it takes a lot of self control for me to tell the teenager behind the counter that I want a plain kiddie size (1/2c.) portion with nothing else. Kudo's to you !:banana:

[traceycooper]

great news on the loss Amy :cool1:

[lovinaz]

My legs are SORE from yesterday's workout! It always amazes me that I do the same workout DVDs and sometimes I get sore and sometimes I don't... :confused3 But at least I did the workout!! I spent over 4 hours researching transportation/ticket prices, etc for our vacation. I think I have everything figured out (which passes to get, how to get to all the places we are going to go, etc). The Germany leg of the trip is a lot more laid back since we will be visiting my dad, have a car, and can move at a slower pace.

Went out to eat last night again (Outback Steakhouse)! I usually don't like going out 2 nights in a row, but DH was paying, so who am I to argue? :rolleyes1 I did not do well... I was so stuffed when we left, and we shared a meal! It was soooo good though! So today I think I need to clean, since sitting on the computer for 4+ hours kinda prevented me from cleaning yesterday! ;)

For Saturday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread w/turkey, spinach, mustard, 1 slice provolone
S: S'mores 100 cal pack
D: 2 small pieces bread w/butter, less than 1/2 of 11oz steak, vegetables, 1/2 sweet potato, 2 strawberry passion martinis, more than 1/2 of a dessert sampler (brownie w/ice cream & whipped cream, cheesecake :cloud9:, peanut butter pie :cloud9:)

E: 55min Pilates Sculpt DVD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zela, thanks for stopping by! Ice cream is hard to resist, isn't it?? That is why I rarely have it in the house - who in their right mind can only eat 1/2 cup serving? :rotfl:

Tracey, thanks! I am really happy that I met my goal of being under 140 by Easter way earlier than I hoped. I hope I don't have to wait another 2.5 months to see another loss... :)

[lovinaz]

I had a little bit of a setback yesterday... :rolleyes1 I don't know why, but I was an eating machine from about 4-9pm! I did perfectly all morning and afternoon, then just lost it. And the scale showed it this morning. :guilty: So, I need to be on track 100% to try to get back to where I was by next Friday's WI!

Today at work someone brought donuts. Usually I can pass, but there are creme filled ones, which are my absolute fave! But after yesterday's behavior I am not even tempted to have one. I feel too guilty!

DH's b-day is on Thursday, so there will be cake to deal with. Guess I'll have to figure out the calories and plan accordingly. We get the keys to the rental place tomorrow and I hope to get a lot done on it this weekend. During the week is tough, but I am guessing DH will be spending a lot of time over there while I deal with the daily doldrums at home.

I super-cleaned the master bathroom yesterday. I mean EVERYTHING! baseboards are shiny and I seriously thought about serving dinner on the floor last night. :lmao:Now I just need to do that to every other room in the house, in my copius spare time! ;)

For Sunday:
B: chocolate oatmeal, Starbucks grande NF chai latte
L: FlatOut bread w/turkey, spinach, mustard, 1 slice provolone
S: celery-n-hummus (way more than 1 serving!)
D: homemade chicken stir-fry, brown rice

Snackfest: 2-3 servings Cheez-Its, handful animal crackers, probably 1 serving M&M's, handful pina colada gummies, 2 graham crackers :sad2:

E: none

[toystoryduo]

Great job on the workout, on the vacation planning, and on getting your master bedroom spotless!:thumbsup2

I hope you have a great day ahead! :hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, great job getting back on track and resisting a donut! Cream filled donuts must be an "Amy" thing, I love em too! And well done on getting the master deep cleaned, I love that feeling. So glad you got your trip details worked out!

Keep up the good work!

Did you close today? That is PERFECT your friend will be renting the new house. :thumbsup2

[traceycooper]

do you want to come over & do my bathroom?? ;)
happy birthday to DH for tomorrow :)
i'm sure you'll be back on track now - remember how great it felt when you hit 138 - heres to getting it back on friday & a few more off aswell :)

[lovinaz]

The last couple days have been a blur! Quick recap (the good) - closed on the rental house!:cool1: Got my TurboJam DVDs! :banana: Food was great on Monday!! :yay:

Now for the bad... Gained back 3 lbs overnight :sad2: Tuesday's food was a total train wreck. We're talking binge-city! :guilty: I had 2 days straight of all-day meetings, with food. I avoided the pastries at breakfast, but things started going downhill with lunch (pizza and a brownie) and got worse after I got home. :sad1:

So far so good today, but I was really disgusted with myself yesterday. Today I resisted bagels, deli sandwiches and cookies the size of dinner plates. I ate my salad I brought instead, then later ate my carrots and egg whites. I HAVE to get a grip mentally if I am ever going to succeed!

So, I'm not sure what the scale will say on Friday, but there is not much I can do about it now, so the only thing I can do is THINK about what I put in my mouth from now on and start winning these mind games I play with myself!

Monday food was great, exercise was 45min treadmill
Tuesday was a disaster and no exercise (funny how that works!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, thanks, I should spend more time cleaning and less time eating apple butter straight out of the jar...:rolleyes1

Amy, I probably should have eaten that *&#$*& donut! Maybe then I could have staved off Tuesday's meltdown...

Tracey, at this point as long as I see something less than the dreaded 143 on Friday, I will be happy. B-day cake is being made tonight, heaven help me avoid going overboard with that! :eek:

[Amy&Dan]

Amy, don't despair, that three pounds is probably just water. You are probably stressed to the max now that you have closed and have this work ahead with the rental and when you add in work meetings/food, that's tough. You did well today and good job resisting those big cookies and eating your own healthy food instead. I am keeping my fingers crossed for your weigh in. Hang in there!

[toystoryduo]

Congrats on closing the rental house and on getting the Turbo Jam DVDs!!:cheer2: Did you try a workout yet?

I agree with Amy. I bet that gain is water weight. Drink plenty of water and it should just float away. (pun intended ;) )

I hope you have a great day!:hug:

[lovinaz]

Yesterday turned out good foodwise. I avoided all the junk at work, plus at home. Today so far I have done so-so, I ate my wrap for lunch, but couldn't resist the brownies...:confused3 But the key is to have 1 brownie and move on, without going off the deep end for the rest of the day. And that is exactly what I plan on doing!:goodvibes

Tonight we will have cake for DH's b-day, and I will probably take him out to dinner. Right before weigh-in, great... TOM decided to show up today, 7 weeks after the last one! That is a record for me. Plus, I didn't have a single PMS symptom (except for the horrible carb cravings!). I guess I am just getting to that age where I will have to get used to the inconsistencies.

For Wednesday:
1260 cal, 51g fat, 97g carb, 102g protein, 25g fiber
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: spinach salad w/chicken, cheese, LF dressing
S: 2 egg whites, 10 baby carrots
S: celery-n-hummus (2tbsp), 4 M&M's
D: crockpot beef roast, rutabaga, onion, carrots; HC fudge bar

E: 45min elliptical
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy, I think my main problem is not letting one bad meal ruin my whole day. I should have eaten the pizza and brownie for lunch, enjoyed it, then behaved the rest of the day instead of having the "well, I already went over on calories, I might as well eat whatever I want and get back on track tomorrow" mindset.

Tracy, I did the TurboSculpt workout this morning. It was different, not as challenging as I thought (but I'll let you know tomorrow, maybe I won't be able to move my arms and legs!). I think the real benefit of the series will be the cardio workouts, which I haven't tried yet.

[Amy&Dan]

I guess I am just getting to that age where I will have to get used to the inconsistencies.


Ahhh Amy, welcome to the club!! For years I was 28 days on the dot, never missed or was late unless I was pregnant. Then I hit my late 30's and now I literally never know when it will hit. I get pms but it lasts for weeks on end, often with no TOM to follow. Hopefully this was a fluke with you for at least a few more years!

Great job with food and exercise today. I think I can safely say all of us struggle with not letting a small splurge turn into an all out food fest! Its good you at least recognize you have that tendancy, that's half the battle right there!

I have a friend who is thinking about a beagle puppy, she wants a male and wants a "B" name so I told her to go with Buckley!! I still wish I would have named Daisy, Bailey. If only I had read your idea before I let the kids name her!;)

[toystoryduo]

Happy Birthday to your DH!:goodvibes Where did you go out to eat for his birthday last night?

I can't wait to hear more about the Turbo Jam!:thumbsup2 I definitely need to start getting workouts back into my daily routine and this sounds like a good one.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!:hug:

[lovinaz]

Weight this morning was 141. And given all the garbage I've eaten this week, I am totally OK with it! I've been tracking my weight on FitDay and at least the overall trend is downward, even if there are little peaks here and there. That's to be expected... My body is so wacked anyway: Two weeks ago I was 142 on Fri, then 139 on Sat-Thu, then 138 last Fri-Sun, then 141 Mon-Tue, 142 on Wed and 141 on Thu and today. :confused3

This weekend will be hectic! We are having a little get-together tomorrow to celebrate DH's, his sister's and his mother's b-days (they are all in April). And the rest of the weekend will most likely be spent painting the rental house and possibly upgrading one if its bathrooms (the other one just needs paint and a new light fixture. Next weekend we are taking Fri off work (kids don't have school) and going up to our property for the weekend. Yes, that is a whole weekend we should be working on the rental, but OH WELL, we need a break! I have 2 UK trips coming up, I don't plan on visiting my dad in Germany since we will be there in June, but I might change my mind, depending on how much we can get done on the rental bewteen now and then!

I don't have any totals for yesterday, another day of not-so-great choices, but I should be back on track today. I NEED to be back on track today!

For Thursday:
B: chocolate oatmeal
L: FlatOut bread w/chicken lunchmeat, spinach, provolone, mustard; brownie
S: 5 pretzels; 6 M&M's
D: chips-n-salsa, 1 shrimp taco, 1 salmon taco
S: 2 pieces b-day cake (DD didn't finish hers, so I did... :rolleyes1)

E: 40min TurboSculpt DVD
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Amy, geez, thanks for that ray of sunshine! That's all I need - a couple weeks of bloating with no end in sight. That would be great if your friend got a beagle! Why does she want a male? If I ever got another one, it would definitely be a female. We only got Buckley because his litter only had 1 tri-color female and she was already gone! We also like the name Baxter and DD likes Biscuit. ;)

Tracy, I am not even sore from the TurboSculpt workout yesterday! Guess I need to use heavier weights... I might do the TurboJam CardioParty tomorrow (gotta work out 1 more time to get my 5x in this week!) and I'll let you know how it goes. We went to a local restaurant called Tia Rosa for dinner. It's one of our favorites! Baja Mexican, mmmmm :goodvibes