Mondays Are Good Things

Now matter how many side trips I take on the weekend or holidays on my journey to 135, I can always count on starting over on Mondays.

I got on the scale sometime during the weekend, and I weighed 240! Dang! That's just 2.4 lbs less than when I started Dec. 22, 2009! The good thing is -- it's not more ;O).

When I weighed this morning, I was back to 235, which is still more than when I weighed in Nov. 10.

I started celebrating Thanksgiving a week early with the "turkey & dressing and all the trimmings" meal here at work. It wasn't all that good, but I ate nearly every bite. I'm particularly disappointed in myself for eating every crumb of a terrible cherry pie. The crust tasted like cardboard, yet I ate it all. What motivates someone to do these things? Why do I go into auto pilot and eat things whether they're good or not? I guess if I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't be in this situation.

As usual, I started out on plan this morning, sort of. I had a sausage link. While I made breakfast and drank my coffee, I baked a potato with a tbsp of Brummel & Brown margarine for lunch and made a sandwich with double fiber whole wheat bread, 2 slices of fat-free cheese and a tsp of low-fat mayo. Before I ate the sandwich, I added a big, thick tomato slice.

That and the 2/3 baked potato that I ate filled me for sure. I have an orange for my 3:00 snack.

I'm in my usual every third payday situation. I still have month left at the end of my money and no fruits or veggies. Yesterday I made whole-wheat angel hair pasta with tomato sauce that I made from scratch, and a grilled cheese sandwich. My son treated me to a Hershey bar, which is 6 points. His Three Muskateers bar was 5 points. But it was a 2-serving bar for a total of 10 pts!

I'm still searching for that little key change in my eating and lifestyle that will result in satisfaction with weight loss and optimum health. I don't want to do anything drastic. I've done drastic before -- Nutri-Systems, Medical Center Weight Loss, and the Atkins plan. I just want to make the right changes to be beautiful and shapely. Is that too much to ask?

I'll probably make tuna salad tonight. I have lots of oatmeal for someting sweet later. And I have minimarshmallows. Yum!

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

I was wondering if I'd have the energy or gumption to actually drag out the decorations and tree to decorate this weekend. We've decorated the tree on Thanksgiving weekend as long as I can remember. But, for some reason, I wasn't in the mood.

Then I had the unexpected opportunity to spend some time with my granddaughter, and we decorated the tree together. It was fun. She's nine and very smart and very helpful. The tree looks like it did last year, white with butterflies and stars. It's not quite finished yet. We got hungry and quit right before it the final finishing touches.

We went to Alamo Cafe for dinner, and I got the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes/gravy and broccoli. I shared some of the steak with Katie because she got the child's nachos, which wasn't enough to satisfy a nine-year-old girl. She and my son ate several tortillas, and I ate lots of tortilla chips and salsa. I've discovered that tortilla chips and salsa aren't allergens, so I indulge. I shouldn't. BUT, when I felt satisfied (actually, full, not stuffed), I stopped and took the leftovers home.

It dawned on me this morning that I should have had the waitress bring a to-go container with the meal so I could put half in the box before I started. I know they preach that at WW meetings all the time, but it's not a good idea until it's your idea. Right?

I'm excited because my walking buddy is considering joining Spectrum. She belongs to a women's club right now, and it doesn't have half the amenities Spectrum has. The hours are not as convenient, the staff isn't as helpful, they don't furnish towels, and the one in our neighborhood doesn't have a pool. But Spectrum does. The pool is my favorite part.

I don't know what I'm going to do today. I'd like to rearrange the garage and bring some of the books I have out there into the library. Maybe I'll just veg.

Three Days in a Row

We went to the gym today -- 3 days in a row! I went to the waterworks class at 10:00 and Andy followed later and worked out on the treadmill. I started with the waterbells (styrofoam dumbbells) until I was exhausted. Then I did all the rest of the exercises with just my hands and legs. I kept moving the entire hour. It was GREAT. I feel like I got a good cardio workout.

Then we went to Subway and got a big Philly Cheese sandwich. I got it on 9-grain bread with lite mayo and jalapenos, tomatoes & black olives. YUM!! I really considered sneaking in a cookie, but it wouldn't have been a sneak. I would have seen it eventually.

The Weight Watchers Simply Filling Plan

Once I found that I was allergic to half my favorite foods, I made a list of the foods I can eat through the Weight Watchers Simply Filling plan. This plan doesn't include counting points, which I hate! The list is filled with foods I like, and I can eat until I'm satisfied.

That's going to be a lesson I'll have to learn -- to stop when I'm satisfied. I remember at a Weight Watchers meeting when the leader asked how much we should eat, and I blurted out "Until we're full!" Well, that wasn't the answer. It was supposed to be until we're satisfied. For some reason, I go into automatic pilot and eat until there's no food left or until I'm full. See my blog about Thanksgiving.

Today I picked at my dressing for breakfast. Then after our workout, I ate turkey, dressing, and salad. Half of the plate was salad., 1/4 was dressing, and 1/4 was turkey. The dressing was made of whole wheat, double fiber bread, celery, and broth I made with skinless chicken thighs. The salad was mainly food on the list except the bacon, fat-free mayonnaise, fat-free cheddar cheese, and the 2 tbsp of sugar. Everything else is on the list. It's delicious!

For dinner, I made chicken with whole-wheat noodles. Although it needed salt, it was delicious too. I'm becoming quite the from-scratch cook.

Exercising a Woman's Perogative

Once again, I'm changing what this blog is about. The Grandparent's Legacy was too private to put online. Not for me, but for anyone I might mention. Lots of people have problems with putting themselves "out there." I don't. Maybe I have the need to be recognized or to have someone pay attention to me.

Anyway, I'm back on the journey to 135! I joined a gym (Spectrum) in September, but I only went sporadically. I discovered the waterworks class and thoroughly enjoyed it. But, before I knew it, I was watching TV and wasting my time again. Jim Rohn said that watching TV costs $40,000 a year. Even though that number is high, it's an eye opener. It doesn't cost just the amount you pay for a TV and the cable bill, it costs in the lost time. If you make $20 an hour and sit in front of the TV for 4 hours a night, it costs $29,200 a year. What an eye opener! So, I talked my son into joining the gym too. I'm hoping we'll go together. I plan to go every day except Thursday and Friday.

I went yesterday (Thanksgiving) and worked out in the pool for a hour. I used the boogie board and dumb bells following some of the exercises I learned in the waterworks class. Then I'd swim a roundtrip lap and get back into swimming. It was fun. I'm a little sore today. That means I did some good. I can't wait to go back today.

I read lots of Weight Watchers tips about how to handle the food for Thanksgiving. I was prepared. I planned to use a small plate and fill it with vegetables first and only the good things that I can't have regularly.

Well, it didn't happen that way. I sat down to a table already set with paper plates, and the table was so full of food that we just started dishing it out to each other and passing what we could. Before I knew it, I was stuffed and that's when I realized I'd filled and eaten every thing on my large plate. Bad time to remember that I was going to start small.

The good thing is I didn't eat the sweet potatoes, only because they were never passed around. I didn't eat things I'm allergic to like the green bean casserole or the corn. I did eat the 9-Layer salad I made with cabbage and fresh vegetables and the dressing I made with whole wheat double fiber bread. My brother-in-law puts an apple in both ends of the turkey while he roasts it, and I ate the baked apples. So I had those 2 fruits. I had a small slice of the pecan pie, 2 mini cupcakes, and a slice of a carrot roll (sort of a log with carrot cake and cream cheese filling -- yum). I brought some turkey and pumpkin pie home with our leftovers. Then later last night I ate a small slice of apple pie and 3 helpings of the salad. The good news is that I didn't gain weight yesterday.

Today I've been picking at the dressing, and I had a small slice of pumpkin pie along with several cups of coffee. I'm in my waterworks clothes, smelling the chlorine, ready to go. My son didn't sleep well Wednesday night, so he's making up for it today. I may not wait much longer for him to go to the gym. Now that I think of it, there's a class at 10:30 during the week, so I'll either have to hall buns to join the class or wait until after to do it on my own. I'm watching a movie about Barbara Mandrell.

My son and I went to the gym and I worked out in the pool for an hour again. I really work my arms, holding in my tummy. I can feel I'm working out my abs and obliques. They need the work as much as anything.

I'll also be blogging in my Personal Development blog as I start the Jim Rohn One-Year Personal Development Program again. Please join me there.