Results Thursday

Yesterday when I went into my Weight Watchers meeting I was not really expecting much of a loss. As I mentioned yesterday, I didn't do very well with following the plan over the past week, so I didn't think there would be a positive result. Boy, was I wrong! After I stepped on the scale I was told that I lost 0.8lb. According to the the program you should lose between 0.5 and 2lbs per week if you follow it correctly. I didn't exactly follow it correctly, but I still had a decent loss. I think the thing that put me over the top is that I got a lot of exercise.

On the way home, I stopped by the grocery store and instead of buying my usual Skinny Cow ice cream cups, I decided to buy the little Ben & Jerry's and Haagen Dazs cups instead. After my evening meal, I had one of the Ben & Jerry's cups for dessert. It was Chocolate Fudge Brownie and I savored it much more than I ever savored the Skinny Cow ice cream cups. Normally, I'll have one of the Skinny Cow cups and then go have some cookies, and then maybe another Skinny Cow cup after I'm finished with the cookies. After the Ben & Jerry's cup, I felt completely satisfied; not only physically, but mentally. For those of us who tend to overeat, hunger definitely has a mental aspect.

Weigh-in Wednesday

Yesterday was the first dayof summer, and it was absolutely perfect weather. Today? Meh, not so much. It's rainy and gloomy, which makes me wanna go straight home after weigh-in instead of staying for my Weight Watchers meeting. Whether I stay for the meeting or not, here's hoping I lose something, even if it's 0.1lb. I didn't do as well with following the plan as I would've liked, but I did exercise a lot. Cross your fingers for me!

Putting Pen to Paper

From about the age of 13 or so to the age of 28 I kept a journal. Of course it wasn't the same journal for 15 years, but a collection of blank books I filled. Whenever I went to a Hallmark store I'd pick up a new one because I knew it was only a matter of time before I filled one up and would need another. Over the past seven years my journalling has been very sporadic. Yesterday I decided that it was time for me to start committing my thoughts to paper on a regular basis again. I've always been a very introspective person, so I think that this will be very helpful to me with regard to working through my feelings as I continue my weight-loss journey and continue to rebuild my life.

Results Thursday

So yeah, those cookies and that ice cream stuck with me to the tune of 1.8lbs. I don't even know why I bother with my scale at home. It's correct that I'm up or down, but the numbers are never right. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Yesterday the slate got wiped clean, so we'll see what I can do. Do you think I can lose 18lbs by September 24th? That's my 36th birthday. I'd like to be at my goal by then. I was hoping to be there by my last birthday, but the universe conspired against me. To tell the truth, I conspired against me. Such is life.

Weigh-in Wednesday

Well last week my intentions were so good with regard to following the plan and tracking my food, but as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It doesn't matter how good your intentions are if your actions don't produce positive results. That being said, my actions over the past week, with regard to weight-loss, more than likely haven't produced positive results. Last Wednesday evening when I got home after weigh-in, I partook of WAY too many cookies. One day of doing that is fine and can usually be counter-balanced with exercise as long as I stick to the plan for the rest of the week. On Thursday and Friday I ate WAY too much ice cream. What can I say? It tasted so freakin' good! Of course I wasn't physically hungry for all of those cookies and all of that ice cream. They were just a filler for the emotional void that I was feeling on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. You don't go from living with someone for almost five years to just living with your cat again without stumbling while walking along your chosen path. I recognize that, but now I need to do something about it.

Monday Musings

Right now I'm in a rebuilding phase of my life. Next month it will be a year since my ex-boyfriend broke up with me. I wasn't able to completely cut ties with him until I moved out of the place that we shared in March. Once he lost his job, living with him ate up a lot of my money. Before when I lived alone I had enough money to pay my bills and still do the things I wanted to do, like take the occasional trip, but right now my finances are in a shambles because of moving expenses. I'm sure that by this time next year I'll be back in a groove, but until then it'll be a bit of a struggle. A good bit of my life has been a struggle, so I'm used to it. Just because I'm used to it doesn't mean I have to like it.

Results Thursday

So last night I weighed in at Weight Watchers for the first time in two weeks. Last week I didn't weigh in because I didn't want to go back out in the potentially treacherous weather. The previous week I didn't go because I was at Hard Rock Cafe listening to my boy Gavin DeGraw perform his new single, as well as a few other ditties. Usually if I'm away for that long I end up gaining a pound or two. You may not believe it, but meetings are a crucial part of the weight loss journey. The support and sense of camaraderie is essential to making progress. If you just go to a meeting to weigh in and you don't actually stay for the meeting itself, you're really missing out. If you're having a tough time, you can look to your fellow members to see how they cope with the same or similar situations. After a two-week hiatus it felt good to be back in the fold.

Yesterday I wrote my scale at home said I had lost a bit, which is true. It was a tiny bit (0.2), but it was a loss nonetheless. More importantly, I think I may have lost an inch or two in various areas because my pants fit a little differently. Not half bad considering I wasn't as "on plan" as I would've like to have been :-). I'll chalk up yesterday's weigh-in in the "victory" column and hope for even better results next week.

Weigh-In Wednesday

Another weigh in day is upon me. At this time last week we were about to be under a tornado warning. Today we're experiencing the beginning of a heatwave. The climate is changing worldwide. Unless the heat is so deadly that I can't remain conscious, I'll be going to weigh in today ;-). According to my scale at home I lost a bit, how much is yet to be determined. Although I didn't eat as well as I could have this week, I got in some really good exercise. Going back to yoga on Monday gave me a much-needed boost in the motivation department. Working through my drop in motivation will help me in the coming years as I'm maintaining my weight loss. I won't always be counting points per se, but I will do my best to stick to the guidelines and habits that I've been utilizing in order to get to this point. Keeping weight off is much harder than losing it, and I wanna try my best not to tip the scale at 220lbs again.

Finding My Way Back to the Mat

Last night I went to yoga class for the first time in months. I've been telling myself week after week that I'll go, but when push came to shove, I would punk out and find some excuse for not going. Yesterday I realized that I finally needed to cut the bullshit and just do it. I've been feeling uncentered and I know that when I practiced yoga regularly I felt much more relaxed and open. To say that the instructor was glad to see me is an understatement. Her first words were "Is it really you?!" Followed by "Can I pinch you?!" Yeah, I've been gone for that long, hahaha!!!!

Anyway, as soon as we got started my body just automatically popped right back into place. I couldn't hold plank for as long as I would've liked, and downward facing dog was killing my triceps, but all in all I did very well. That same instructor teaches a class on Saturdays, too, so hopefully I can get off my duff and go practice with her this weekend :-).

Slow Friday Afternoon

After Memorial Day it unofficially becomes summer. For me that means long days at the office with not much going on. Fridays are the worst day of the week because people scoot out early, making it even quieter than it already is. Next week I start my half-day Fridays. The office manager and I trade-off Fridays of leaving at noon until after Labor Day. The Fridays that I don't get to leave early wouldn't be so bad if our IT department hadn't blocked all of the games on Facebook. Tending (virtual) crops and cooking (virtual) food would really help the time pass more quickly. Although it's bad enough that the FB games got blocked, all other game sites are blocked, too! I know work is for working, but damn, when there ain't no work to be done I need something to occupy my time.

That is all.

Results Thursday

This week's Results Thursday isn't what one might expect. We had some bad weather come through Massachusetts late yesterday afternoon into the evening. There were tornado warnings and watches for pretty much the entire state. I got to leave work about 15 minutes early, so I decided to go home and close the windows in my apartment because I had left them open. Earlier that day there had been a quick moving thunderstorm so I didn't want things to get any wetter than they might already be. I'm sure you're wondering why I left my windows open in the first place. Well, it's been really hot lately, so I leave the windows open for my cat Topaz.

So, I go home after work to close the windows, and when I get there I turn on the Weather Channel. It was just after 5:00 and they were showing footage from Springfield where a tornado touched down. Meanwhile I could see that it was starting to get dark outside and that the wind was picking up. I decided right then and there that I was not going to get on the subway to go to Weight Watchers to weigh in. I figured I'd be much safer staying home.

Luckily, the area where I live only got thunderstorms. I'm very grateful that a tornado didn't touch down near me, but of course that means that you'll have to wait until next week to see if I've lost or gained. Stay tuned :-).

Weigh-In Wednesday

As a member of Weight Watchers I'm required to weigh in every week. My weigh-in day (as you can tell from the title) is Wednesday. Last Wednesday I didn't weigh in because I was at the Hard Rock Cafe seeing my boy Gavin DeGraw perform :-). When I stepped on my scale at home last Wednesday it said my weight stayed the same. This morning when I stepped on it, the scale said I was down just a bit. Of course I'm always lighter on my scale at home than I am on the Weight Watchers scale. I wonder why that is? Anyway, I'm hoping for good news this evening at my weigh-in. From now until I reach my goal I'll be writing a Weigh-In Wednesday blog entry, followed by Results Thursday (which of course will be on Thursday). In the results entry, I will actually tell you how much I gained or lost. Since this is a lifetime commitment for me, I want to get more comfortable with the highs and lows that come with weight-loss and maintaining that loss. I think that two entries per week on that subject will help me do so.

Also, I'm in the process of tweaking this blog. I felt like it needed a change because I've changed a lot since I started it. I know that the new background color makes some of the older entries harder to read so I'll be going through them and changing the color of the font to make it easier. In addition, if any of my readers have a subject that they'd like me to address, feel free to leave a comment and I'll do my best to write something vaguely coherent. Thanks for reading!