H is for Home Run

And that's what I hit at my weigh-in this weekend. A home run! I know the numbers listed here on my blog are what I intended to use, but the truth is, life without a scale is one worth living. I thought it would slow me down, cause me to given in, eat more. I was wrong. The ungodly fear of those numbers at Jenny Craig kept me on track. And since my numbers there have now passed what I was seeing on my home scale, I can just use those. So here's the recap: I started the Jenny Craig program on Wednesday, March 23rd. I weighed in at a whopping 214. A week later I weighed in at 210.4. On Saturday I weighed in at . . . drum roll please . . . 207.4! Whoop dee dooo!!!! Now that's a home run! And this after a beautiful night at the Twins' game at Target Field (where I had salad and 1/2 piece of cheese pizza). I kept the momentum at my black tie dinner on Saturday night, eating all of my salad and asparagus, but only taking a few bites of the steak and salmon.

Yesterday was tougher. I went out to eat with my kids. I ordered a cup of soup and egg salad on whole wheat. But guess what? When I went to check the calories online later, I found out that my little sandwich is almost 500 calories!!!!! Booooo hooooo hoooo! So sad. So I probably ended up eating 1500 calories yesterday, with no exercise since Thursday.

So it was back to work today. I skated 45 minutes -- dragging my sister along to show her how wonderful this exercise is. I'll walk a little later I think, too. Back to the grindstone. But I am good and ready. I want to be out of two-derville and back in one-derland SO bad! I was hoping by Easter, but I am not so sure it will happen.

Anyway, I'll tell you about some of my yummy foods later this week. You might just be a little jealous. Hehehe. Until then, pray for me and I'll pray for you. Have a glorious day!!!

Skating on Thin Ice

What a week I have had! Life is good. First off, I got rid of my scale. Complete withdrawals, but that is better than being irritated and depressed all day.

Also, I found a beautiful ice rink and headed there to skate twice this week. I was missing my skating buddies from the northwest, but loved being back on the ice. And I don't use fancy schmancy girls' skates with a toe pick anymore. Despite the fact that at one time I aspired to be the next Dorothy Hamel, I find that girls' skates are horribly uncomfortable and gave me big, oozing blisters. So I went out and bought a pair of used hockey skates. I love them. They're roomy and comfortable. I can't stop in them, but who cares? I get done what I need to: laps. And laps and laps and laps. I slap on my head phones and nano and off I go. I used to have skating partners, but since they are now in another city, I just sing to myself instead. Too bad for everyone around me . . . haha . . . they get a serenade!

So. Skating and walking. I ended each day with a 2 or 2.5 mile walk. VERY good way to end the day. The only downside is that my little armband doesn't accurately record the calories I burn skating. It says I only burned about 250 calories. But every other source says that even slow skating burns twice that for 50 minutes. So I guess I will have to wait until I weigh in to see how many it really burned. I can do that.

I am a teensy sore and tired today, but in a good way. I have a busy weekend ahead. Minnesota Twins game today, weigh in at Jenny Craig tomorrow, and tomorrow night is a black tie gala for Children's Hospital at the Depot in Minneapolis. Not too worried about my food. They don't usually over-fill the plates at the gala dinners. As for the Twins' game, I can just steer to salad. Not suppose to have meat today, but if it comes down to bad choices, I may eat meat anyway.

So that's the story on this beautiful Friday morning. I will let you know how the JC weigh in goes In the meantime, enjoy the weekend and God Bless.

My Roller Coaster Ride

That's my life. A giant roller coaster. It's up and then down and then up and then down. And sometimes I throw up.

My weigh-in with JC was excellent on Friday. I was down 4.5 pounds. I had a great weekend. I ate well and got in some exercise. And today, my weight was up a pound. But with all of these different numbers and weigh-ins my mind is swimming. I know I brought the confusion to my own doorstep, but that isn't any consolation. Here's what happened: I weighed myself at home two weeks ago. That was the first number. Three days later I weighed in with Jenny. I had on jeans and a sweatshirt. Full, heavy clothes. Another number. Friday I wore sweat pants. Light clothing at JC -- and the scale showed a decline in my weight and my clothes. At home on Friday, I was also down another pound. The scale showed 207.4.

I have no explanation for the rise this morning, except that I had some bread when I went out for dinner and a play last night. I guess I also had a little too much chicken or something. It doesn't really matter. The point is, I have several different numbers going every which way at the same time. I need some consistency. Plus, I am tired of that little machine wreaking havoc on my emotions. So here's my plan. I had one of my children take my scale. I will get on it again next Monday. This is the number I will use to track my weight loss from week to week. I would use the JC number, but theirs is about 3 pounds higher, and who needs that???? Notta me. So no, forget that. Mondays will be my weigh in day. This is really a news flash folks. I am a SCALE JUNKIE, as you well know. It's as addictive as any drug. I am pretty sure I will even go through horrible withdrawals. So I hope I can stick to my guns.

And while I'm off the scale, I hope to kick start my body again. As usual, it is clinging desperately to the poundage I have accumulated. But one thing I know for certain: it cannot and will not hold on to it for good. I will win. It WILL come off if I continue to eat 1200 calories a day. And I will.

So that's my lovely story for today. I am staying positive. And I just keep saying my prayers, asking for help staying motivated and to help speed my results. As always, I will keep you posted on how we go. God Bless you all real good! :)

Satan is Hiding in My Scale

That's what my mother said. The scale is Satan all dressed up in shiny metal and plastic. The scale lulls you into the bathroom, sweetly calls out to you, tempts you with hope and desire, asks you to dance . . . and then WHAM!!! Your spirit is sucked right out through your toes, your hopes dashed and your day destroyed. And for what? Three tiny little digits (and I don't mean toes). But I think she might be right. So, I am avoiding the scale until I weigh in with Jenny tomorrow.

It's an odd feeling to go off and weigh myself on someone else's scale. It's even stranger to be buying prepared food and bringing it home. I know what food works and what doesn't. I know what foods to avoid. I have read all the diet books and blogs and blah, blah, blah that's out there. At this point, reading new information might just be a supernatural event in my life. And I already know that I plan to balance Jenny and my other weight loss methods. So here's the bottom line:

IF THE PROGRAM WORKS, STICK WITH IT.

Some people do Weight Watchers, some Adkins or South Beach, some eat what they want and limit portions, some don't change their eating habits but start exercising. There are a lot of different ways to approach weight loss. And as long as the method is healthy, I say GO FOR IT!

For me, it's all about the calories in and out. 1200 calories a day may seem low, and even dangerous, to some people out there. But it's a necessary number for my body. It works for my body. I'm not starving. Not in the least. And truthfully, experiencing the sensation of hunger is definitely not the worst thing I can to do my body. The sensation of being overstuffed and bloated? That comes with the extra bonus of depression, self-deprecation and loathing. Yeah. Gotta love that. No thank you.

There is a lot of inspiration out there if you want to tap into it. A great many success stories. I want to be one of them. I may not like that I took over a year to get back to this, but I am, in fact, back to this. This weight has got to go! I am keeping both of my chins up and heading to my weigh in tomorrow with great hope. And you will be the first to hear about it. Okay, well maybe not the first, but I will let you know the results. While you are waiting, have a glorious evening. Toodles.

Waiting To See

Chello all! What a busy couple of days this has been! I have stayed on track for a full week. I started blogging again after the start, but I have had so many false starts over the last year or so that I had make sure it was real. And it is. I am back in rare form.

So one week ago, on March 21, was my official "restart" -- motivated in part by my sister's 12 pound loss over the course of a month that included a vacation in AZ. Can you say jealous? Well I can. And I was. And then she told me she called Jenny. As in, Jenny Craig. She joined to make herself accountable. It was a bit pricey, but she thought it was worth it. And then she showed me the little 'extra' they give to their enrollees. It's called BodyMedia. It's a little unit that you wear in an armband on your upper left arm. It tracks the calories you burn, your levels of activity, the time of activity, the efficiency of your sleep and the number of your steps. You sync it online and enter the foods and calories you consume during the course of the day. NOW I was jealous. I wanted one. BAD. And here's the clincher: if I join because of my sis, my cost is 1/2 price. The unit sells retail for $275+, and then you pay a subscription fee. With Jenny, I could have the unit, free subscription, a week's worth of food and accountability for price of the unit. Still super expensive, but I was in.

So off we went to Jenny to get my BodyMedia.... I mean, sign me up. Honestly, I was not interested in the food part of it. I don't want to buy 21 meals and 21 snacks every week. Just give me the little armband thingy and I am fine. Off I go.

And then something interesting happened. I thought it might be good for me to weigh in every week. And then I started to think that since the food for the first week was included, I might try that too. And guess what? The food is really good. It's not Nutrisystems. I have tried that. And there are definitely items I don't like. But there are more that I do. And more than once over the past week I have been starving when I got home, and was thrilled to know that my very low calorie meal was only 4 minutes away. I could get used to that

But I also made one of my Herbalife protein shakes during the week, and realized how much I missed them. YUM! So perhaps I will balance the two, giving in to my need for Jenny Craig Macaroni and Cheese but also indulging in the shakes I love so much. Either way, I am back at 12oo calories.

OH!!!! And my scale ran out of battery. I have rectified that situation, so I'll give you my weight after I get on tomorrow. Busy. Wow, wow, wow. So I'll let you know about my exercise when I come back too.

In the meantime -- notice the email enrollment up in the corner? You can have my blog sent to your email address if you want. Cool beans. God Bless y'all! Sleep tight.

208.8

I know. You thought I died. And there have been days over the last year that it would have been easier to have landed that fate, frankly. But alas! I am alive and still very overweight.

It has been almost a full year since I last logged on. I gained back another 12 pounds after that last post, too. But I have made many changes and I am ready to get moving again. I will tell you that it probably wouldn't have been a fun journey during the time I was absent anyway. During that time I hosted a graduation party, we had our famous 4th of July breakfast on the beach (my fave you know), my kids and I moved 250 miles to a new city . . . the list goes on and on. LOTS of big changes. But I am settled again. Mentally for sure. And I'm ready. I am really ready to get busy. My sister was instrumental in my turn-around, as she too is needing to "get going." Not that she's a fatty. Let's just say that people often think we are twins -- something that never happened when I was 135 pounds. So while we are not doing it together, we are sort of doing it together. You with me? I know you get it.

Anyway, I am going to go back through some of my older posts. I want to know where my motivation came from. What kept me on track? What stopped me dead? I was so driven for months. And then it all came apart, but I have never understood why. I have never understood why I wasn't able to hold it together. So that's my goal. To try and figure it out. I let you know what I know.

So . . . . here we go. I'll be back. :)

199

No, I am not kidding. I am STILL 199 pounds. Oh. My. Goodness. I am so siiiiccckkkk of that number! And on Friday I popped down to 198.6. Then up again. And today . . . today was the annual Easter Family Bake-Off. Yes. The contest in which everyone creates delectable desserts and puts them out to be judged for both presentation and taste.

I didn't have an entry. But there were some dooooozies! Like a giant chocolate cupcake with big, pink, puffy frosting. There was a frozen peanut butter pie with candied bacon (yes, bacon). There was banana cream bars, key lime pie, carrot cookies with cream cheese frosting and raspberry tarts. Marvelous.

And I took one small bite of each. No more. A minuscule amount in order to decide which to vote for and that's it. And my brunch choices were fabulous too. I had an omelet with some fruit and a couple of pieces of bacon. All in all a great day. Until I ate a cheeseburger anyway. Ugh! All day resisting temptation, and I give in when we hit the golden arches. And I don't even LIKE Mickey D's! Dumb.

So I am hoping the damage is minimal tomorrow. I don't want to go up. I have been at this same weight too long, and it's time to go. I'm ready, willing and able to do it. Holiday today was a killer, but I think I'll be okay. I'll let you know tomorrow or the next day. Say a little prayer for me though, okay?

I'm off. I wanted to touch base. Planning to get outside training this week, so I'll keep you tabbed on that too. Take care y'all! I'll try to come back before the end of the week. Sayonara.