9 Points......LIAR!

Know what's a bummer?  When you find out your 9-point lunch on Tuesday was indeed NOT a 9-point lunch but a 20-point lunch.  I looked up what I was going to eat before I got to the restaurant (Red Robin), and so I had a game plan that I was happy with before I even walked in the door.  But today I discovered that the menu item (the chicken caesar wrap) is accidentally listed TWICE in the Weight Watchers mobile app......once as a 9-pointer and a second time as a 20-pointer.  I'm not really sure how that happened.  My mom and I used her Calorie King app to look up the nutrition info (fat, carbs, fiber and protein) to input into the Weight Watchers points calculator, and sure enough......it was 20 points.

It's not that big a deal.  I didn't gain any weight this week due to my 20-point lunch (which took me over my daily value by at least 11 points), but it's just a bummer that I didn't do as well as I thought I did that day!  I've been doing REALLY well at staying within or just a few points above my daily limit.  It's also a bummer that if I were to go back and edit my tracking info for that day, it would put a dramatic dent in the bonus points that I've been saving up for the weekend.

So guess what?  I'm going to pretend like those extra 11 points never happened.  :)

That's right, Obama.  We're going to just throw those 11 points away with the garbage.  Bye bye, points.  You never existed.

Another thing that happened today was that I mildly crashed and burned between about 3:00pm and 6:00pm.  I was suddenly starving and more "snacky" than I've been in this entire two weeks.  I drank water and ate some fruit, but it just wasn't quenching my hunger pains.  So I ended up eating a few slices of turkey deli meat (which was only about 1 point), a few pinches of shredded cheese (about 3 points) and a handful of mini marshmallows (also about 3 points).  I was still hungry, though.  I blame it on the giant bag of jellybeans I bought today......what I REALLY wanted to do was sit down on the couch with the bag and go to town!  And I'll admit......I may have eaten a couple.  Not a "serving", but a couple.

I have NOT looked this up on Snopes, so I have no idea if this is even remotely true.  Smells like BS to me.

So.....why do I have a giant bag of jellybeans as well as access to mini marshmallows at my house?  We all know that I know better.  Candy in this house doesn't have a fighting chance when I'm around.  Especially candy that I think is DELICIOUS, like Jelly Belly jellybeans in all their bazillion flavors, and marshmallows (PEEPS FOREVER, Y'ALL).  Well, yesterday my 2 1/2-year-old randomly asked to sit on the potty.  And then he tried really hard (grunting, groaning, red face and all) to pee while on it.  His pee attempt was a fail (because he didn't have to pee), but I was so like YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY just that he even tried that I immediately jumped on the candy incentive bandwagon to keep that train in motion.  Jelly beans and mini marshmallows are two of his favorite things.  My mom introduced Delano to mini marshmallows at her house a long time ago, and he became hooked.  He pretends that he has marshmallows in his pockets constantly.  Then Lucas and I bought a small single-serve box of jelly beans for his Easter basket this year, allowing him 5 jelly beans each night if he ate his dinner, and he got hooked.  His favorite thing is learning what the flavors are and deciding if he thinks they taste like their designated flavor (even though he actually has no idea if a cotton candy jellybean really tastes like the real thing).  So after yesterday's Almost-Peefest, I promised Delano that anytime he sat on the potty and tried to go, he would get either a jellybean or a marshmallow (his choice).  And that if he peed on the potty he would get FIVE jellybeans or marshmallows.  And that if he pooped on the potty, he would get BOTH jellybeans AND marshmallows - lots of them.

There they are.....the jars of incentive in all of their bathroom glory.

Today, Delano sat on the potty twice - the first time because he was trying to pee, the second time because he claimed he was going to poop.  Neither happened, but he did earn himself several high fives, a jellybean and a marshmallow in the process.  Then Lucy decided she needed to earn marshmallows, so she ALSO sat on the potty twice.  Though the second time, the moment she was on the potty she pointed to the jar of marshmallows, held out her hand and said "hand" (as in she wanted me to put one in her hand) so I'm not so sure she's in it for the pee or poop.  She's just simply decided she's smarter than we are.  Sitting on the potty = a marshmallow.  WIN.

Lucy is consistently Charlie Sheen.  It's kind of disturbing.  She's going to leave us dumb and confused by the time she's in kindergarten, and we're going to be left wondering what the hell happened.

On the plus side to my surplus points disappointment, I did manage to get 2 treadmill runs in this week so far!  One on Tuesday (2.5 miles) and one on Wednesday (3.1 miles).  I won't have time to get a run in on Friday, but I can squeeze one in on Saturday morning for sure.  I was supposed to run up in Nashville this past Monday morning, but it was raining, so that plan was foiled.

Stop making me look like a wus, Joel.

I was supposed to get in a couple of outdoor double jogger runs this week, but it's been raining since Monday.  That's actually no excuse.....the rain has been sporadically off and on and my double jogger BFF Stacie (she's actually my ONLY double jogger runner friend, unless my other runner friend Angie has a double) has gone running EVERY DAY this week without getting wet.  So my rain excuse is total BS because of her.  The intimidation factor is definitely because of her, though.  The girl can run 5 miles pushing a double jogger - hills and all - and she's building up to running farther than that as her stamina builds.  And she wants me to run with her.  Which is great incentive to get out there and do it (because I WANT to be able to do that, plus I love Stacie and would love to squeeze in the girl time as often as possible) but yet I know I would be the ole' ball and chain during the whole experience.......as in I MIGHT make it a mile pushing a double jogger before I would need to stop running while pushing a double jogger.  Because I haven't pushed my double jogger during a run in AGES.  That shit is hard.  Not only am I running, but I'm running while pushing approximately 55 lbs.  An uneven 55 lbs at that......35 lbs on one side, 20 lbs on the other (though that "fact" is probably not even remotely accurate, since the stroller likely distributes the weight evenly).  Regardless, that's 55 lbs during a run that I'm not used to dealing with.  But I need to GET used to dealing with it.  So I just need to suck it up and get my ass out there.  Right, Stacie?

Time to go.....it's late and I've got a few more things I need to do before heading to bed.  As the Shape Bandit would say......"toodle-de-doo!" (You just blinked in confusion while my kids just cracked up.)

Two Weeks on Weight Watchers.

It's been almost two weeks on Weight Watchers, and I'm down 7 pounds from where I started right after vacation.

Now let's see if I can keep this momentum going.  I don't expect to keep losing weight like I have these first two weeks, since the healthy average for weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week (and not 3-4).  Plus, I'm nearing my typical plateau.....the weight range that I have a hard time surpassing.  But if I can just keep on sticking to the plan, then I can do it!

People have asked me what I've missed the most while being on Weight Watchers, and I've had to think about it because I didn't have an immediate answer.  Since nothing is essentially eliminated......I can eat chocolate or a piece of pie or drink a beer or two, I just have to account for it in my daily points value.....it's not like I crave what I'm not allowed to have.  But I do miss eating with abandon.  I get really "snacky" in the afternoons, and I could eat everything under the sun if it didn't matter.  But it does matter, and I am definitely working on losing weight and not gaining it.  So I try to stick to the Power Foods List (foods with super low or zero points value) or eat just a portion of a serving of something more sinful to quench that sweet tooth.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.......ok, so maybe that would be a bad idea.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.......also probably a bad idea.

I really should stop......I'm getting hungry!

I cooked a Weight Watchers recipe tonight for dinner - Mexican Casserole.  It was pretty good!  It was supposed to have canned jalapenos in it, but I forgot to buy some.  I do think some jalapenos would have given it a kick it needed (or at least the added jalapeno flavor), but it was still good, especially topped with some fresh salsa.  The hubs was NOT excited that I was using fat free sour cream in the recipe (which is what it called for), but I think it worked out alright.  I don't think anyone could tell a difference given that the sour cream was cooked into the casserole, though I think the hubs would disagree simply out of spite of his hatred for "fat free".  The best part?  A BIG slice of casserole was only 9 points!  So I ate my big chunk along with a side of cantaloupe and had a nice, filling dinner.

My Mexican casserole!  Looks delish, doesn't it?

I've been focusing on Weight Watchers recipes the past two weeks, so I've definitely been taking advantage of their meal ideas.  I've also been taking advantage of the "restaurant" tab during my food searches, choosing what I'm going to eat before I even get to a restaurant.  Which is so not how I would normally live my life, but it's how I'm living it now to lose weight.  And in 2 1/2 months when I'm done with my Weight Watchers coaching and I'm down to my goal weight, I will have done Weight Watchers long enough that I'll probably automatically know how many points are in things......which could be a bad thing!

O'Charley's Southern Fried Chicken Salad.......129 points.  A HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE POINTS.  And that likely doesn't include any salad dressing.  I'm allowed 26 points per day, with 49 extra bonus points per week (plus I earn more bonus points when I run/work out).  So if I had this salad for a single meal, it would cost me almost 5 full days of points.  Or 3 full days and ALL of my bonus points.  There would be NO losing weight that week, all because of a single salad!

I signed up for the 3-month Weight Watchers package, the one with the personal coach.  Have I talked about my personal coach yet?  I don't think so.  Her name is Gina, and she's AWESOME.  When you sign up for personal coaching with Weight Watchers, you get to pick your own coach based on short blurbs they post about themselves.  I chose Gina because she seemed to be around my age, mentioned having young children, mentioned being a SAHM, and mentioned being a runner.  And after the initial half-hour conversation with her, I also discovered that she loves wine and saves her bonus points for wine on the weekends. 

INSTANT BFFs. 

(I tried to pull up Gina's Weight Watchers profile pic to save and post right here to show her off, but it won't let me enlarge it beyond a tiny thumbnail.  So here's a screenshot of her tiny face from my home page.  I'm sure you can't tell a darn thing, but she's there.)

With coaching, you can change your coach at any time.  Actually, every time you schedule a coaching session, it prompts you to pick a coach.  Probably because it takes some people a while to mesh with a coach.  But I plan to stick with Gina the entire 3 months.  She's an awesome motivator and we can relate on several levels when it comes to life and weight loss. 

After my 3-month package deal is up, Weight Watchers will automatically start charging me month-to-month unless I cancel.  I do plan on cancelling - at least the personal coaching option - after 3 months, as long as I've reached my goal weight by then.  I'll miss Gina, but if I've hit my goal weight and am in "maintaining" mode by then, I won't need to be paying $55/month for a personal coach to tell me what I already know unless I feel I just really need the motivation.  I paid $139 for 3 months this time around, with the guarantee that I would earn 2/3 of that fee back if I lose 10 pounds in the first 2 months (and can prove it with tracking).  With 7 lbs in the bag so far, I'm pretty sure I can lose another 3+ lbs in the next 6 weeks and keep it off. 

At this point I have 14 lbs left to go to reach my ultimate goal.  If I lost one pound a week from now until my goal weight, it would take me 3 1/2 more months.  So 4 months total.  And I would pay for coaching until I hit that goal weight, since those last few pounds will likely be the hardest.  But if I can lose TWO pounds per week, it will only take me 7 more weeks!  So let's meet in the middle and assume that it will take me 10-11 weeks to lose those 14 pounds.  That seems SO LONG when I write it down, but in reality it's not that long at all.  If it all works out, I'll be one hot mama by Delano's 3rd birthday!

Not AT ALL what I expected while looking for a "hot mama" image.  WEIRD.

Of course, I had hoped I would be down to my goal weight by the START of summer and not the END of summer, but it is what it is.  I thought I could lose the weight on my own without any help, and I was wrong.  I'm looking forward to my personal rewards for losing weight, though!  Those include:

1. A hair cut and color
2. New bras (I've gotta get out of these old, ratty nursing bras, especially since I haven't nursed in months)
3. New underwear (my Hanes are comfy but I'd like something a bit cuter)
4. New clothes

The fourth reward is a given.  But not only will I need new clothes, I'm hoping to buy some things that are a bit more stylish than what's in my closet now.  The whole "college student" look (jeans, t-shirt and a ponytail) is my signature look and is easy to maintain (especially with a drawer full of race t-shirts), but not what I want to always be wearing if I can help it.

Well that's a whole new take on ruffle pants.....

There we go....still casual and comfortable and mom doable, but a bit more stylish than jeans and a t-shirt.

It will be so much more fun to write about new clothes and new hair and a happier self image and flip this blog around from being about weight loss to being about just life in general.  I'm tired of moaning and groaning about weight loss, which is what I've done for MONTHS. 

So let's all cross our fingers that Weight Watchers keeps on working!!

Memorial Day Weekend

We're in Nashville this weekend, visiting the in-laws.  I ran The Color Run 5k yesterday morning, which was fine.  The run itself was nice and the weather was fantastic.  It just would have been more fun if I hadn't been running it by myself!

My before pic.

My after pic.  The camera doesn't portray just how much silver glitter I was covered in.  You can see a little on my forehead!

I had a nice run, I got a cool T-shirt (not the one in the pic - that's my old one), a fun headband and an unexpected medal (the last time I ran this race there wasn't a medal at the finish line!).  The glitter was also unexpected.....a new addition since last time!

I'm planning on hitting the pavement again tomorrow morning for a few miles.  It's supposed to rain, but hopefully it will hold off until later in the day.  The last time I ran around Nashville, I ran from Lucas's parents' house down to the Cumberland River and back.  I had wanted it to be at least 5 miles but I think it ended up being just short of 4 miles.  I'll probably do that again tomorrow, though I may run around the Shelby Park a little more to tack on some mileage.  We'll see......it's hilly, so it will just depend on how I'm feeling.  But I should definitely take advantage of longer outdoor runs any time I get the chance.

East Nashville, from the in-laws' house to the river.

I've been doing pretty well with my Weight Watchers plan while out of town as well!  I've definitely eaten up more points during my meals than I would if I were at home, but I also had almost all of my extra points saved up for the weekend and I earned a few more extra points with my runs this week.  So even with the wine I've had over the past 2 days and the 2 slices of pizza I had last night, I should still be perfectly fine for the week!  The weekly bonus points start over tomorrow, so I just have to make it through today.  ;)

I can't weigh in tomorrow since we won't be home until later in the day, so I'll have to do my weekly weigh-in on Tuesday morning.  Then on Tuesday I'll be back to the usual daily grind!

Next weekend I work three nights in a row - Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  That means three nights of trying to be good but still eating a little bit of catered food because after a 5/6/7-hour shift, it happens.  So I'll just have to be more conscious of how many bites I take and what bites those are.

Mmmmmmmm........food galore!

I still haven't picked a race for June.  Maybe I'll do that now!  :)

Post-Vacation Health O'Meter

Hey kids!  Last time we talked, I was fat and happy (minus heartburn and RLS) and on vacation.  That was a week ago.  Now that I'm back, I'm a tad bit skinnier!

We got back into town last Tuesday night, and my final hoorah was chips and salsa, a taco salad and a set of peach margaritas from Amigo.

Wednesday was a whole new day.

For starters, I signed up for Weight Watchers.  And not only did I sign up for Weight Watchers, but I signed up for a Personal Coach......so I signed with the big leagues.  I AM IN IT TO WIN IT.

I don't have nearly as much weight to lose, but I want to feel like THAT.

I've done Weight Watchers Online before without a personal coach, and after a few weeks I fizzled out on keeping up with my points and what not.  I've only spoken to my coach once so far (we have another meeting tomorrow morning), but I can already tell that having a coach is going to make a HUGE difference.  Instead of just disappointing myself, I'd be disappointing HER if I gave up.  And that's exactly what has kept me motivated the past week - being able to report positive feedback to my coach.

Not that I can't talk to my coach anytime I want to, but the "norm" is once a week unless you just really need a pep talk or kick in the ass.  She's kind of like my sponsor.

For in times like this.........

So far, I've lost 5 lbs!!  Of course, my weight loss also had a bit of a kick start this past Sunday with a bout of a stomach bug......one that stuck around for 3 days.  I'm on the mend today, but I still haven't been able to eat all that much yet.  I also haven't been able to run, which was a part of my plan (of course).  I attempted to run on Monday when I thought I was on the mend, but I only made it half a mile before I thought I was going to throw up.  So I wrapped that idea up real quick and called it a day.

This weekend I'm running the Color Run 5k in Nashville, so hopefully I'll be fully recovered from this sick crap and ready to run!  I hate being sick.  I very rarely get sick (I don't even normally suffer from allergies) so when I do it super stinks because I'm never prepared for it.  Plus, being sick with kids is a whole new ballgame from being sick pre-kids.

My Saturday to come.

I still haven't registered for any races in June.  I'd better get on that if I plan to get in at least one race a month this year!  I had thought about doing the BlueCross Riverbend Run 10k on June 6th, but now that the hubs is going out of town that weekend, it's not exactly feasible.  I could do the 5k and take the kiddos, but I'd like to do something a little longer than a 5k.  So maybe I'll shop around on Active.com and see what's out there.

Especially when I'm actually in shape!

I'm excited to be back on the wagon.  A wagon with a plan.  Now, instead of logging food into blog posts, I'm logging food into my Weight Watchers app and will just report my successes (and failures) to my coach (and you guys) to keep myself accountable.  Hopefully I can keep up this momentum for more than just the first week or two, when everything's still kind of new and exciting.  I want to carry this momentum through the summer and shed these pounds.  By the end of the summer, I want to have all of my fat clothes packed away and out of sight!

The End of Vacation, The End of Fried Food.

My body has been protesting against my vacation diet.  I've had heartburn and restless leg syndrome, two things that I used to have regularly but haven't had at all since I started running and losing weight 4 years ago (not counting while pregnant).  So we can definitely conclude that my body is NOT HAPPY with my food choices lately!

We leave Savannah Tuesday, so Wednesday will be "back to real life" day.  The day that I go back to salads and veggies and healthy proteins and cut out the excessive carbs and the fried food and the junk and the copious amounts of sugar.  I might even get a run in on Wednesday.  Though if I do, I anticipate that it will be a short one.  But it will be a start towards building my body's stamina back up.

Oh wait......I have to pick up the dogs on Wednesday.  So maybe I'll get a treadmill run in there somewhere instead.  Doesn't matter!  ANY running will be good!

I'm sure my body's going to protest the detox from all the crap I've been eating, even though it's been protesting the "crap" all week.  I'm sure I'll crave everything I cut out....you know, the stuff I don't even normally eat!  What I will really miss, though, is the seafood.  We've had fresh shrimp and mussels and crawfish and crab and fish galore.  It's been DELISH.  And I can certainly eat seafood at home.....it's just not the same.

Disclaimer: That's not us, though they are a good-looking duo.  But we did indeed eat THAT.

A MUST when you visit Tybee Island.

I'm bummed that our vacation is soon-to-be over.  I wish we could stay and not have to worry about reality for a little while longer.  But it will also be good to get home and in our own place and not be living out of suitcases.  I would also say it will be good to sleep in my own bed, but this bed here is really comfortable so I've had no complaints about that!  What's going to stink is spending 6ish hours in the car completely sunburned.  Yep, both Lucas and I got TOASTED yesterday at the beach.  We managed to fully slather the kiddos in sunscreen, but we didn't fully slather ourselves.  We also didn't expect to be at the beach for as long as we were (the kiddos weren't so keen on it the first day we went).  So now we're covered in AfterBurn gel and are avoiding touching things.  Falling asleep last night was a challenge!

Besides having to go back to work (I bartend both Friday and Sunday night, and I go in for about an hour or two on Thursday night as well), I've got a "To Do" list to attack.  I won't have to worry about laundry (we washed all of our dirties here yesterday so we could go home with clean clothes) but the bathrooms need attention, and so do all of the floors.  I also have a ton of emails to sort through (and emails to send), and we'll need to hit up the grocery store for sure.  I need to balance my checkbook and figure out my budget for the next few weeks......I haven't had an environmental project in quite a while so my personal bank account is feeling the squeeze.  I've also got projects that I've started and projects that I've wanted to start over the summer.  And given that it's almost June, it's definitely summer!

Time to wrap this up.  The whole crew is now awake and so I guess I should snag a bowl of cereal and then start packing!

Always Eat ALL THE FOOD While On Vacation.

Know what I'm doing right now?  GETTING FAT.

Oh......I'm totally sure of what's happening.

I was supposed to lose about 14 lbs by vacation time.  A vacation that was 100+ days away from my starting point.  You all witnessed me logging food and exercise for months.....almost the entire 100+ days.  It wasn't a perfect weight loss plan by any means.  I had big setbacks (usually during weekends) and my scale was often all over the road.  And my exercise wasn't nearly as vigorous as I had hoped or planned. 

Well, all that wishy-washy diet and exercise led up to a TOTAL FAIL.  A few days before our vacation started, I had lost about 3-4 lbs.  Nothing to write home about.  So given that my vacation was only a few days away, I basically just gave up completely.

I had zero plans to eat healthy during our vacation.  I fully intended to eat whatever I wanted, which is one of the reasons I wanted to be in better shape - I wanted that wiggle room to be able to do just that. And of course feel better in summer clothes and a bathing suit.

We've been on vacation 3 days now (it's actually now the morning of Day 4....EARLY in the morning because Delano was awake by 6:30) and I have certainly eaten whatever I've wanted.  I've had fried pickles and french fries and burgers piled high on thick buns.  I've had sugary cereal and chocolate and stout beer galore.  I've had creamy mashed potatoes and fish & chips and cream cheese blue crab dip.  It's been a great vacation in the food department so far. 

HOW DID THEY GET A PICTURE OF ME WHILE ON VACATION???

We still have 4 days left of vacation, with lots to do and a list of restaurants to hit up before we go.  My clothes are getting tighter and I certainly don't want a single photo of me in my swimsuit posted anywhere.  I plan to continue to enjoy my vacation without any limitations, as a vacation should be enjoyed.

But when I get back into town, I'm going to focus once again on losing this weight (after my body gets over being in shock from vacation detox).  And I need to think about what I'm going to do differently.  I need to be more committed and less wishy-washy.  A stricter plan, whatever plan I decide on.  And I certainly need to run more.  And not just on the treadmill.  I need to be doing longer runs outside.  So I guess I need to start breaking out the double jogger.  Talk about burning calories!

Well the rest of the house is starting to stir, so I'd better get back to vacation time!