Getting Caught Up

It's been 3 weeks since I've been here. I got caught up in the Holiday preparations and trying to workout while working and trying to spend time with my grandson. Add to that, the usual shopping, wrapping, fretting that I didn't get enough, trying to take some time off work without feeling guilty. The result is: I neglected this blog. I did continue to work out sporadically, and stayed within my points for the most part.

After I lost the 2.2 lbs, I gained .2, then I lost 3 lbs. I basically stopped eating when I was satisfied, and it worked. I went to a Christmas party at a high school friend's house last Friday, and I avoided anything that might have been an allergen then I sat down at the table and started chowing down on the guacamole. It was sooooo good. Of course, guacamole has onions, so I itched all the way home.

Christmas Eve, I went to my sister's house and basically followed the Weight Watcher plan. Christmas day I made vegetable soup and ate fruit most of the day, the same with the next day.

Yesterday I continued that trend and when I got home, I was so hungry my stomach hurt. After I ate everything in sight, I was finally satisfied. Today I ate fruit and vegetable soup again. But this time, I was prepared with a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. My grandson and I went to McDonald's and had happy meals. I was surprised that I was satisfied. But I had so many points left. When I got home, there was pizza. I ate 2 slices -- delicious. Now I'm itching like crazy. I guess my son forgot to tell them no garlic. So, no more pizza for me!

I weigh in tomorrow. I'll have to go to a Weight Watchers center because we don't have Weight Watchers at work for a while. I'm hoping I lost weight.

OH, By the way, the 60-minute massage got rid of the sciatica!!! It was tender to the touch for almost a week, but n'ery a twinge. Awesome!!!

OK, so now I've given a run-through of my holiday eating. How about the other part of the holiday? I had a blast with my high school friends. Christmas Eve was good too. I started the day by going to Waterworks, then shopping, then wrapping, then going to my ex's to see my grandkids, then to my sister's for the rest of the family, including my dad, then to church for the late service. I finally got home about 12:30 and crashed.

Christmas Day I puttered and cleared off shelves and tried to find things to sell online. I figured that I have too many knick-knacks, and they are just cluttering up my life

I Lost 2.2 lbs!

I'm very happy that I lost 2.2 lbs! Of course, I wanted to lose more, but I'm happy with 2.2. My buddies lost 5.6 and 2.5. The one who lost 5.6 hit the gym with a vengeance. I want to, but sciatica is plaguing me.

This sciatica has been around since June. I managed to get rid of it for a couple of weeks, but it's back. I'm working out in the pool at the gym at least 3 times a week, but I think it might be making it worse. I've made an appointment for a massage Thursday. Hopefully this will make a difference. The massage therapist said I should notice a difference after the first session. I may need more than 1 session. I'm willing to try just about anything. If I don't feel any relief by January, I'm going to a different Chiropractor. If all else fails, my doctor gave me the paperwork to go for an MRI.

I Have to Brag

I had a rough afternoon/night WW wise on Tuesday.

I went to a meeting that had corn chips (I had 2 -- allergen), thin gingerbread-y cookies, (I had 4 or so), tamales (which I couldn’t eat), sugared/cinnamon walnuts (which I ate my weight in) and grape tomatoes with ranch dip (I must have eaten 25 tomatoes).

Then I went home (not hungry) and made a 5-oz ground turkey burger with 1/2 oz of fat-free cheese, a slice of pumpkin pie, and 2 cups of caramel popcorn (which I shouldn’t eat because it’s corn).

Then, the disappointing thing happened. I got on the scale, and I had gained all the weight back! What!? I'm supposed to be able to splurge a little as long as I stay within my weekly points plus.

Yesterday (Wednesday), I had a piece of pumpkin pie (9 pts) for breakfast, a large baked potato with Brummel & Brown margarine (6 pts), and a fat-free cheese sandwich made with fat-free mayo and 2 slices of double fiber bread (5 pts).

We had our office Christmas tree decorating party with assorted pies--pecan, pumpkin, coconut cream, chocolate cream, lemon meringue--a huge tray of various cheesecakes – all from Marie Callender's and 2 large bowls of fruit. I ate 3 cups of fruit and that was all! Believe me, if I had known the pies were from Marie Callendar’s I might not have been so good ;O).

I had 1-1/2 scrambled eggs and a grilled fat-free cheese sandwich on double fiber bread for dinner. (6 pts)

If I don’t see a loss tomorrow, I’ll know I can’t afford the weekly points.

I couldn’t find my tracker Tuesday night or last night, but I've been writing down what I ate with the points. I hope it's at the office; I don't want to lose the habit of tracking.

I really want to make this a success. I've never hung in there long enough to reach goal, and I hope I do it this time. After I reach goal, I can apply to be a leader. I've wanted to be a leader since I first joined WW in 1982 or so. But, the first thing you have to do is be a successful loser of weight and reacher of your goal weight. Another reason to do it!

Day 3 - On Plan

I awoke early enough to have a cup of coffee and dress for the Waterworks class. I really give it the ole college try in that class. I want it to make a difference in my body and health. The frustrating thing about the class is the ladies who float around and visit during the class. The pool area is closed to those not in the class, so they think that if they move while in the pool, they're considered in the class.

They get in the way and it's hard to work around them. I either end up in water that's too deep or too shallow. I might have to mention it to the instructor or front desk tomorrow.

Anyway, enough gritching. I had a good 1-hour workout, then I had brunch: a sandwich with double-fiber bread, fat-free mayo, 2 oz of rotisserie chicken - 7 pts. I followed that with a cup of grapes - 0 pts.

I had a cup of grapes later for a snack after I mowed the front and side lawns. The exciting thing about my lawn is the side has lots of Bermuda and some St. Augustine coming back after the drought. If I water and mow, I think I can bring it back. The front lawn definitely needs to be hit with a weed killer. It's full of really tough weeds, like stick-ups that grow a foot overnight, and something tha's a bit woody similar to milkweed. This one covers about 1/2 the lawn.

So, I have lots of activity points for today.

Once I recovered from mowing the lawn, I made spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner. The spaghetti was whole wheat, the sauce was homemade with tomato paste and ground turkey, with fat-free mozzarella and parmesan. Yummm! I'm starting to make the sauce taste really good. Since I can't use garlic or onions, the sauce has only salt, pepper, and oregano. I had 2 helpings for a total of 14 pts. Then I had 2/3 cup of minimarshallows for 3 pts.

I made enough for 4 servings, so I offered some to my son. I told him it tasted like he was losing weight. I really liked it. I'm getting accustomed to the flavor of fat-free foods and the substitutes for foods that are allergens for me. So far, no new hives. Some itching on my legs though. But I'm thinking that was caused by mowing the lawn.

I don't think I mentioned before that I found out that if I have a prescription from my doctor to join a gym, I can be reimbursed for the monthly fee. That's a before-tax deduction from my pay check. I verified this information and had more taken from my check. I have to be careful because I've increased my contribution to United Way, my church, and the Section 125 reimbursement account. Plus I'm paying $52.98 for my membership to the gym. This will definitely make a difference in my take-home pay.

No More Butter Beans

I had 2 servings of Oatmeal again yesterday. That really stays with me. We got several boxes of Oat Revolution Apples & Cinnamon when we bought AngelFood, and the day before yesterday was the first time I tried it. It was good - 3 pts a serving. But one serving isn't enough for me.

We didn't have any fresh food in the house, so I took a can of butter beans and a can of chicken for lunch yesterday. I love any kind of beans, butter beans, lima beans, green beans, pinto beans. The butter beans would have been 7 pts if I had eaten the whole can, but I only ate 2/3 of a can and the can of chicken (4 pts); I had 14 points left for dinner.

That was the last serving of butter beans that I'll have for a long time. I started breaking out in hives about 3:30 and by the time I got home from the store, I had a full-blown case of angry hives on the back of my forearms, and . I don't think I've had anything like it before. It almost looked like I had developed scoriasis. But they're practically gone now.

I went to the store on the way home - hungry - and $138 dollars later, I headed home. I got 2 lbs of grapes, 5 bananas, lots of meat (chicken thighs, shoulder roast, lunch meat, hamburger meat, and a package of ground turkey. I didn't do as well in the vegetable isle. I'm allergic to lettuce, spinach, peaches, onions, bell peppers, garlic, so I got 2 large tomatoes. I do still have celery and potatoes at home. I bought 2 cans of sweet potatoes and 2 cans of pumpkin pie filling and 2 pie crusts, 2 boxes of quick bread (banana, pumpkin), and of course, the usual stuff, including a rotisserie chicken.

This is where I start getting uncomfortable with weight watchers points. I had 1 chicken leg and one leg quarter without the skin, and probably a pound of grapes. I'll count 2 points for the grapes even though that was my only fruit/vegetable for the day. That leaves 12 points. I hope the chicken didn't put me over points wise.

So this is where I start getting off track. I ate the chicken, and I have no way of figuring out how many points it is. The chicken label says each serving is 3 oz, and I didn't weigh the chicken, so I have no idea how much I ate. THAT's the key! I didn't weigh. I was just talking to my son about this problem, and it's like what Jim Rohn said: I had 3 numbers dialed in the lock, and I just figured out the last number to unlock the lock. If I continue to do what I've always done and expect different results, I'm insane.

OK, now I'm getting it!

I don't just grab the food and hope for the best. I have to plan - at least enough to measure the food. If I plan to eat more than a serving, I have to at least know how much I ate. That's the ticket. I have to measure the grapes so if I get more than a serving, I can account for the extra points. I have to weigh the chicken. I was confused by the list in the WW Food Companion because for chicken drumstick, it lists:
cooked, with skin and bone, 1 - 2
cooked, with skin, without bone, 1 - 2
cooked, without skin and bone, 1 - 1
cooked, without skin, wih bone, 1 - 1

I figure out that was how it was cooked and eaten. If I at least weigh and measure, I would have some idea of how many points I consume. So, for the chicken I ate last night, I'm counting 6 oz for 12 pts. Plus 2 pts for the grapes, and 3 points for some minimarshmallows. That's 17 points, which means I used 3 points of my Weekly allowance.

Now, I'm off to the water exercise class!

OK -- I'm Doing It This Time

As usual, I started out on plan. I had 2 servings of oatmeal for 6 pts.

I went to my Weight Watchers meeting, and the leader kept asking questions that could only be answered if we were actually doing the plan. I was so uncomfortable there. I realized I've been treading water, and wasting time and money. I don't want to count points, but I want to lose weight. I have to admit that the only way I can lose weight is if I follow the plan that many doctors and researchers have developed. I'm not the authority. I go to the meetings so I'll learn the right way to live and eat for my health and happiness. I seriously thought about heading to somewhere for a bad lunch. Then I remembered about the can of chicken and can of carrots that I packed for lunch, and I had a can of chicken for lunch for 4 pts.

OK that left 19 pts for dinner. I wanted to go to the gym for the water exercise class, so I planned to have a Sonic burger afterward. I pulled out my Dining Out Companion and found the Sonic burger with mustard is 15 Since I'm allergic to mustard, I ordered mine with tomatoes only and a wheat bun. I brought it home and put fat-free mayo on it, and I savored every bite. I had an apple with their fat-free caramel sauce (3 pts) and I saw that their Vanilla is 1 pt, so that in my Diet Coke brought me to 29 points!! I actually gained 6 pts for the water exercises. But, like someone in the meeting today said, I do it so I can lose weight faster. I hope to show a 4-lb loss next week.

I actually feel really good that I managed to track the whole day.