Amy's Journal: Comments Welcome!

[Amy&Dan]

Did manage to eat my dinner as earlier posted so that was good. I also have spent about an hour juggling things so that I can go the rec center and walk, have something to do with dd (open swim doesn't open in time for our plans tomorrow so she can' t go with me) while I walk and got on Dottie's site and figured out what I will eat at the three places I am letting dd and her friend choose from for lunch tomorrow. I also need to pop my own popcorn for the movie and take a Fiber One Bar to avoid movie snacks. This is all fine and good and has been a total pain the butt to do. I have literally spent the last hour getting this all settled. Which brings up the point: Why don't I just walk on my basement treadmill so I don't have to do this juggling with dd to make it possible for me to go to the rec center? Um, because I hate the treadmill and know I won't do that. Oh well, I made it happen and thats all that counts. Next week will be so much easier because ds at 13 is fine with staying home alone while I go to the rec center. So today ended up being a very good day overall with my plan.

Thanks for reading!

 

[pearlieq]

She had to impart the sad news that all Casual Corners went out of business years ago!

I probably wasn't supposed to laugh at that, but it gave me a good giggle! I guess you'll have to find something shiny & new now!

I'm so glad to hear continued good news about your DS! Isn't it funny how strange it feels when you get used to drama and all the sudden there is none any more? It takes a while to relax and stop waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I'll have to second the recommendation on the Lean Pockets. Their Whole Grain ones are really tasty and they come in a lot of varieties now. They make a nice hearty snack or a good start on lunch.

I am so, so proud of you today! Not only did you take good care of yourself by knowing your limits and avoiding your sister, but you came up with a great plan for tomorrow. Good for you! I hear you about the treadmill thing--there are just certain things we don't like and no matter how "good" they are or how much we "should" do them, we just hate them and won't! The older I get the more I realize that it's so much easier to work with that than against it.

Hope you have a great day tomorrow! What movie are you going to see?

 

[Amy&Dan]

I'll have to second the recommendation on the Lean Pockets.Their Whole Grain ones are really tasty and they come in a lot of varieties now. They make a nice hearty snack or a good start on lunch.


Hope you have a great day tomorrow! What movie are you going to see?

Okay, I just put the Lean Pockets on my grocery list! I have been doing very well with the Lean Cusines (the Cafe Classics or whatever they are called that have more veggies in them) but I have sort of gotten sick of them lately!

Horton Hears a Who, sounds cute but I really want to see Vantage Point. But I really don't think two 11 year old girls would find that entertaining!

 

[toystoryduo]

Hi Amy,

Sending some healing your way....I hope you are feeling better!

I am so proud of you, Amy, for not answering the phone! You drew a boundary with your sister, stuck to it, and moved on with your day. Excellent job!

I am so glad to hear that your DS is doing well at his new school.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

 

[traceycooper]

wow Amy your doing great !!!
all that exercise & you should be very proud getting to the rec 3 times a week, having a home, being a mom - its not easy to do that!!

I like the idea of hanging the swim suit out for motivation!! might try that myself!!

Your doing great with food & i know its a pain having to sort 'stuff' for the movies - but well worth it & i think the more you do that kinda thing the better organised you'll get at it

Have a great weekend

 

[Goofydiane]

Casual Corner went out of business? Wow, I never knew that. I don't go to the mall because I just can't handle shopping at Lane Bryant.

Amy sounds like you are starting to turn the corner and start having more good days than bad days. One day/One meal at a time. The stress free week for DS must have gave you a great sense of relief and satisfaction over the move. You and DS did the right thing. I hope he doesn't get sick over his spring break.

Del Taco sounds good, they don't have any around here. Congrats on the good food day.

I remember from my WW meetings, that rewards that you think of as pampering to yourself are good rewards to work towards. For example, a pedicure or a massage when you reach a goal, or a new outfit for a special occasion. If you listen to music when you workout, think about a new CD as a reward, or a new book.

Here's to a great Sunday!

 

[pearlieq]

I hope you had fun at the movie. I heard it was very good!

The chicken cheddar broccoli are my favorite whole grain Lean Pockets. If you're even in the mood to experiment with Lean Cuisines again, their spa cuisine like is pretty good. My favorite is their Peanut Chicken. So tasty and it sticks with you a long time because of the fat in the peanut butter.

I hope it has been a great weekend!!!

 

[Goofydiane]

I second the Chicken Cheddar Broccoli Lean Pocket - very good.

Hope you had a great weekend Amy and both you and your son are feeling better!

 

[MIdanceMom]

Amy,

You are Rockin! You are putting it all together. I am so proud of you!

You are getting in your exercise. Planning for movies. Great food choices. And You are avoiding triggers like your sister. Congratulations on taking care of yourself.

I read a study on how women of diets end up spending more. Apparently, we can control what we eat, or what we spend. Not both. You will look wonderful in your new clothes. You deserve to have some beautiful things.

Have an awesome week.
Beth

 

[toystoryduo]

Hi Amy,

How was your weekend? Hope it went well for you!

Have a great day!

 

[postesf]

HI Amy. Just checking in. Glad to hear things seem to be going smoothly right now. I just did a big shopping thing too! $300 at Belks! Don't tell DH! It's a secret!

I'm so glad your DS school is working out and he's made a new friend.

Great job on you eating and exercising! At least you got those 3 workouts in.

Hope you guys are feeling better soon!

Stacie

 

[Amy&Dan]

Thank you so much everyone. I have been gone all weekend (from WISH) as you have noticed! I just got extremely busy. We had company for dinner on Saturday night and I spent all of Saturday cleaning, cooking and baking. I don't usually go to that much hoopla for this group but they have been so good to us since my mom died I wanted to do something a bit more special. I made my sil's famous chicken enchilada's out of Southern Living, very complicated, I will never take those for granted when she makes them again!

My food this weekend was not stellar but I did have some successful moments. Friday night I grocery shopped and went to Sams with dh (whatever happened to dinner and a movie on a Friday night?) and then we somehow ended up at Long John Silver's. Dh's favorite. He had been hinting all week (he even made up some dumb "we shoud eat fish its Friday", um we aren't Catholic, but nice try) that's what he wanted so I relented. I ate very little but fried fish and hush puppies even in small quantities is not a good thing. The rest of the day I was perfect. I also got my walk in and did very well at the movie. I did sleep through about half of it, sorry Horton, I was beat!

Saturday I was good all day but then proceeded to have three drinks and too much chips and dip when our friends arrived. I pretty much skipped dinner. Still, not a good success story that day. Stupid dip (Tracey, told you I loved dip)!

Sunday, had a light breakfast and then we had lunch out. Went out for Italian, I ate way too much bread but I did box up most (as in all but three bites) of my lunch and had about a fourth of it for dinner (dh ate the rest). So that was somewhat of a victory in that I was full from three large pieces of bread dipped in olive oil and my salad and just basically stopped there. Normally I would have still stuffed myself. And I found out you don't have to have cheesecake or canoli at an Italian restaurant!

Today was very good, ate on target and went to the gym. I will only get in three workouts this week as well. Things should be smoother on that front this next week.

I have been watching that Paul McKenna "I Can Make You Thin" show. (Thanks Amy!). I missed the first episode but caught the next two. His techniques are interesting and I have tried to institute his "eat what you want and stop when you are full". I did that at lunch yesterday. Saturday was the only disaster of the week, we'll see what the scale says at WW on Wednesday!

I plan to do the April exerise challene. I think I'l try for 1000 minutes. I havent' done this in months so hopefully that will keep me motivated to keep up my workouts!

Time to catch up with all of you, thanks for reading!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Forgot to add that I talked with stepdad today and we decided to cancel our trip to WDW in October. I am hugely relieved. I really had been stressing about all aspects of this trip, namely that our trying to recreate the trip we took with him and my mom in 2005 was not the best idea. We also have two other trips to WDW planned for this year and a third one was not at all good for the budget and dh's vacation time. He would have no time off left for Christmas and in fact was going to have to fly out later in the trip which would have left me on my own with two kids and an 84 year old. Dh and I realize, we don't really enjoy going to WDW with other family members except for my brother and his wife. Frankly, I am done with taking care of my elders and just want my vacations spent reconnecting with my husband and kids. If that sounds selfish so be it.

I feel good that I tackled this problem head on. Stepdad was not really into it anymore either. I think he was worried about money and his health and stamina for that type of trip. So I can call DVC tomorrow and get my points back into my account. Thankfully we hadn't bought airfare yet.

For the first time in my life I feel like I am handling difficult family situations with something besides food. Its been much easier to handle some of these family issues with him and my sister than I thought it would. I just go with the fact that my mom never ran from any problem and if it worked for her, well that's good enough for me. And it didn't take one trip to McDonald's or Burger King to make it happen!

 

[traceycooper]

Hi Amy
sorry about the dip situation!! come on over to the DDDD support group (Beths great idea ) & get it all out
i dont think its selfish at all to want to spend your hols conecting with DH & the kids - thats what holidays are for!!! NOT for looking after everyone else, you do that all year round!!!
you did great at the weekend you had lots of temptation there & found ways around most of it

 

[goldcupmom]

Glad you're better! How was 'Horton'? I really want to go see it(but no one else here does )

I think the cancelled WDW trip is a good thing for you right now. You definitely need your own family time!!

Shopping therapy is my kind of therapy!! My DMil used to go to WalMart, Kmart type stores (anywhere with a cart) spend hours filling her cart with lots of stuff she'd like, then carefully go & put it all back. Shopping therapy without the expense I think! I've never tried it, but it's tempting!

Hope you have a great rest of the week!

 

[toystoryduo]

For the first time in my life I feel like I am handling difficult family situations with something besides food. Its been much easier to handle some of these family issues with him and my sister than I thought it would. I just go with the fact that my mom never ran from any problem and if it worked for her, well that's good enough for me. And it didn't take one trip to McDonald's or Burger King to make it happen!

Amy, I am so proud of you!!! You are doing such a great job handling the different things that come your way. You are an amazing woman, my friend.

I know that canceling WDW was a tough thing to do, but I think you made the right decision. If things change, you can always reschedule.

Good luck with the April exercise challenge....I know you CAN do it!

Have a great Wednesday!

 

[Caitsmama]

Amy, i am SOOO proud of you!! You sound like you have gotten it together and are ready to tackle anything!!

Glad the lean pockets worked for you, can i share another secret i found?
Ok, my grocery store had these Poland Springs 1 pint 7.7 oz large water bottles on sale for 2.99 for a 6 pack, so i got those, (which about doubles a reg. size water bottle) and then i found these beauties --
Crystal Light - Live Active (for digestive health) packets in Raspberry Peach -- they have 10 cal. per packet (for one bottle of H2O ) but get this -- they have 3 grams of fiber per packet!!
So, now you can drink up more fiber to help fill you up, while getting your water in!! They are great!!!

 

[Goofydiane]

Sounds like a fun weekend. Don't worry about sleeping through part of Horton, take the rest when you can get it.

It also seems like cancelling the trip in October was the best decision and that putting family first is what is important. If you want to have the time for just family, then take it, before you know it kids grow up or get friends and don't want to spend as much time with family as they used to.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Thank you so much everyone, when you ladies say you are proud of me, it makes my day!

Today was a very good day. It started out sort of dreary, it was freezing cold and windy here this morning, woke up to 13 degrees, what's up with that, its April! Then my rec center buddy called and couldn't go and I suddenly began to make excuses not to go. I was cold, sort of depressed and just not in the mood. But I shook that and made myself go and was very glad I did. I see the classes going on, today it was Cardio Kick Boxing and think "maybe someday". For now, I am just happy with my walking. It feels good to be doing something consistently.

Food today:
Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ walnuts and skim: 5
Lunch: 3 oz. of rotissiere chicken breast and V8 Splash: 6
Snack: Fiber One Bar: 2
Dinner: Baked potato w/ chili and cheese: 12
Snack: Skim milk hot chocolate: 3
Total for the day: 28
Water: 80 oz.

I had only one fruit and two veggies, not enough. I need to bump that up, I was doing better with that a few weeks ago.

Tomrrow is weigh in at WW. I made the mistake today of weighing myself at home and the scale appears to have not budged. That was what probably got me out of the mood to work out. I really fight that urge to just give into the number. Its very discouraging to work this hard with nothing to show for it, yet my clothes fit better and I feel better. I just have to stay strong and focused. This is a long haul and the number is not what I need to be worrying about.

Diane: That was sort of my thinking, my kids are 11 and 13 and it goes so fast! I also just don't want to spend that money and in the end, stepdad would be 84 and I don't think he is up for that trip.

Stacy: I am getting me some of that Crystal Light!

Tracy: It has been so long since I did an exercise challenge, I hope I remember to keep track of my minutes like I am supposed to!

Julie: Horton was cute, it had some really funny lines. Go see it by yourself!

Tracey: Yep, the DDDD Club is definitely one I can join in on!

 

[Caitsmama]

Amy, great job going to workout!!! I find if i can get past that initial not wanting to phase, then it turns into really want to!!

Don't worry so much about the numbers, you are doing great, and being healthy and active and eating well is first, then numbers will follow.