Ending 2012 on a high note!

2012 isn't over yet, but I can't wait to say what a great year it has been! I'm 43 lbs lighter than my heaviest weight. Life is easier, happier, healthier, and richer than ever.

This is the year I realized that, after 3-1/2 to 4 years, I can walk and do just about anything without pain. Once we discovered that my ankle pain was caused by gout, I took a med that alleviated the pain, and my new eating plan even allowed me to stop taking the med. It's taken a while to shift my thinking from blaming my family for my weight problem and finding a weight loss plan that works for me. But once I did, I've embraced it wholeheartedly.

I've spent countless days and hours over the past 24 years walking and exercising and not losing weight. I have managed to lose this weight without exercising. I plan to add exercise soon. I'm just afraid it'll end my weight loss progress. I saw a sign a few minutes ago that said "I'm on a 30-day diet. So far I've lost 10 days!" That was my old weight loss plan. I'm just so grateful for Perfect Solutions.

I'm back where I was the last time I went to Perfect Solutions to weigh in before Christmas. I got right back on track. The first thing Cecelia told me last week (Was it only last week? It seems like a month.) was Christmas eating is a meal, not a week. I managed to survive 2 such meals. I've been happily following the original plan since. Happily because I'm seeing progress. I'm seeing weight loss for my efforts. I even managed to get my son to eat broiled fish and salad this evening for dinner. Yea!

He's only going to be here another month (sooner if he can sell his Explorer), and I'd like to get him started on a healthier eating plan before he leaves. I'll have to find ways to cook fish so he'll enjoy the plan I'm on.

My daughter and I were talking about how I'll have to consider this my way of eating the rest of my life. If I go back to my old way, I'll be like my old me.

I'm so grateful for my friends and family and how supportive they are being. I am even starting to get compliments

2012 was just the beginning - 2013 will be even better!

I can feel my hip bones!

I was so excited the other day when I realized I can feel my hip bones. And, I showed my daughter that I can cross my legs!

There are so many small pleasures in losing weight! I look better, feel better, and my clothes fit better. I can wear almost anything in my closet. It's such a joy to be able to take ANYTHING out of my closet and just put it on. I don't have to tug to stretch it or check all angles to make sure I don't embarrass myself. I can even put many pieces in the dryer without fear that I won't be able to wear them again. Luckily, I have some clothes put away that are still too small, so I don't HAVE to buy anything to wear yet. I have 2 pairs of slacks, a pair of jeans, 3 blouses, t-shirts I bought when on the cruise in 2008, and 4 jackets that are still a bit too snug. Hopefully I'll be in them before it gets too warm to wear them.

The blouse I wore Christmas Eve was something I bought with the Dress Barn gift card I received for Christmas 2011. It fit then, but I wasn't comfortable in it. I only wore it one time for Pentecost because it's red and black. Now it is too big and ready to be given away. The other blouse I bought with that gift card has been such a pleasure to wear. It fits well now, and I really like it.

My Mrs. Claus outfit is too big and hangs on me. I won't wear the skirt because it doesn't hang well anymore, but I did wear the jacket at our Toastmasters meeting last week. The suit is going into the give-away box. Maybe an aspiring Mrs. Claus will enjoy it.

Tough time getting back on track

Wow! I'm having such a hard time getting back on track. I started out yesterday with an omelet with mushrooms and red, yellow & orange peppers. Delicious!

Because I planned to have a fruit smoothie for dinner, I brought carrots for my snack. My lunch was the usual salad and steamed chicken. Delicious because the salad had all sorts of goodies, radishes, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, lettuce, and the usual balsamic vinegar and safflower oil. I drank about 60 ounces of water and only 3 or 4 cups of coffee

But every time I passed the coffee room, I saw a sign that said "Homemade Tamales - Heat & Eat". The tamales I could ignore, but the candy in the 2 containers next to them were too hard to resist. Remember that I'm not allergic to anything like chocolate and pretzels, and these candies were just little bite-sized deliciousness.

Then, when I got home late, I tried to just have fruit, but that didn't satisfy me. I ended up eating meatballs, 2 sticks of string cheese, a few little pieces of ham, grapes, olives - the goodies from the edible arrangement that came back home with me Christmas Eve. I never did have that smoothie. Something I ate caused my mouth to itch and swell a bit. And my hands itched like crazy this morning. I wish I knew what did that. I'll have to assume it was the food that I shouldn't have been eating in the first place, like those meatballs and the cheese and ham.

I managed to lose 2 of the 7 pounds I gained. If I continue to drink the water and start each day eating the right foods, eventually, it'll all click back into place. Luckily, I have lots of vegetables for salads and milk for smoothies.

Holiday Eating has Undone Me

Holiday eating has undone what I've worked so hard to accomplish!

I went crazy trying to recreate an edible arrangement to take to my sister's and my daughter's. I bought way too much food - about $160! I spent several hours shopping, chopping, skewering (including my thumb), arranging, and nibbling the whole time. I fixed the craziest, cutest arrangement that was colorful and delicious (of course, no photos) to take to my sister's.


We got to my sister's house late because we went to the early service and had altar guild obligations. My grandson was sick, and after church, we went to my daughter's to get their gifts for the family gift exchange. By the time we got to my sister's, they had eaten and opened gifts, and only a couple of people were interested in my contribution. I returned home with 90% of the arrangement in a bowl. So disappointing.

Making the arrangement was so much work and time consuming that I just couldn't make myself do it again. I made a relish plate, cheese and meat plate, a fruit plate, and a huge salad to take to my daughter's instead. I would have saved $100, about 1000 calories, and so much time if I'd just ordered edible arrangements instead. PLUS I wouldn't have had so much food at my disposal. I have lots of fruit and vegetables left, and I took all the food I can't eat, such as cantaloupe, honeydew melon, smokies, cheese, turkey, bananas, grapes, and Christmas cookies, to my daughter's, which is a good thing.


At my sister's, I went crazy. I ate at least 6 cookies, a tamale, chili, and chips with cheese dip. I kept eating even though I was full. And I drank sweet tea!

Everyone left about 10:00, so my son and I went back to church for the late service. We got there a few minutes late, but it was a nice musical service. NO KIDS! We cleaned up after the service and prepared for the Christmas morning service. We got home about 12:45 a.m., exhausted!

When I got on the scale this morning, it showed a 7 lb gain! OMG! I had a fruit and almond milk smoothie for breakfast.

My son-in-law prepared the most delicious prime rib, portabello mushrooms with cheese, mashed potatoes, and squash. He's a fantastic cook. Cook doesn't do him justice. He's a chef. His meals are fantastic. I took a large salad in addition to the other plates I mentioned. For dinner I baked a sweet potato and ate it with cinnamon and stevia.

I'm shocked at how easy it was to undo my hard work. I'm back on the plan 100% now. I want to end the year weighing 195. I'll have to work my hardest to make this happen. If I follow what I did the first week, I think I can do it!

Preparing for Christmas

Today is Christmas Eve. The packages are wrapped and under the tree and in the arm chair next to it. They're so pretty and festive. Decorating was difficult this year because I was out of town the week after Thanksgiving. I realized that week is the quietest and most convenient time for me to decorate. I've always spent that time fine-tuning the decorations. I missed it this year. My house only has a couple of things on the front porch, a couple of things in the living room, and a tree with nonfunctional lights. I just didn't have the time I usually do. It's nice and festive, but not like usual. The tree is a year old. We bought it last year because it was white and really pretty. This year, it's yellow and there seems to be more female ends of the light strings than males, and we couldn't figure out how to plug them in. Because we were short of time, we decided we didn't need lights after all. And, for the most part, I don't miss them. So, this tree is going on the porch with give-away things next time someone wants them.

I babysat one Friday night with my grandsons, and we decorated their tree. It was up with a few blue candy canes, and my grandson and I put the balls on it. It looked much better after we finished. Someone dug out the tree top and topped it off. When they were out of town, I put some lights on their front bushes. They were so surprised and pleased. I could only find one string, so that's what I used. I also put garland and lights on their banister, but I couldn't plug it in; I'm hoping they have an extension cord for that.

Now I'm getting ready to make my food bouquets to take to my sister's this evening and my daughter's tomorrow. They'll have broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, olives, sweet gherkins, baby corn, 2 cheeses, turkey, ham, apples, pears, cantaloupe, honeydew, kiwi, grapes, grape tomatoes, red, yellow, and orange peppers, strawberries, bananas, cucumbers. Some will be dipped in chocolate, and I'll take ranch dip and whipped cream. I hope they work. If not, I'll have lots to snack on for a while.

I snacked more than usual yesterday, so I'm definitely taking the Perfect Solutions furnished PGX pill this evening to keep the snacking down at my sister's. I'm having a beet smoothie for lunch and one for dinner tomorrow evening. Since I've been eating smoothies, I haven't lost much weight. I realized it's because I'm eating twice as much fruit. I have to be more careful about that. I'm going to incorporate them in my plan and work out snacks so they include vegetables instead of fruit - hence, the beet smoothie. I had it with just beets and a whole cucumber, and it was delicious. Either it was or I'm just getting used to them. I really like the canned beets much better. I found HEB brand with just beets and water. I love the color - bright magenta. Not too much bright magenta food in the past, but my almond milk/blueberries and cherries smoothies have been a muted purple, and now the magenta beet smoothies. Very beautiful and colorfully delicious!

Since I have Altar Guild (again) for Christmas, I'll take care of the services this evening and prepare for tomorrow morning's service. Then we'll head to my sister's for the family gathering.

I'm so glad my dad is doing so much better. We thought he wouldn't make it to Christmas because he was so sick a couple of weeks ago. We saw a miracle! He turned the corner and started improving day by day. He's even planning to move into his little house maybe this week. I'll be glad when he does that.

Anyway Merry Christmas!

I did it! I did it! I'm below 200!

I knew weigh-in was going to be good today. I got on the scale this morning, first thing, as usual, and it went straight to 200. I got off and back on just to make sure I was seeing correctly. It stayed at 200.

I couldn't wait to weigh in today.When Alyssa checked my weight and said "awesome," I knew it was good! I lost 2 pounds! I met my first big goal of being below 200! My next goal is to lose 50 lbs, so  I have 6.6 pounds to lose.

I weighed 142.4 when I joined Weight Watchers on Dec. 22, 2009. But, I soon found WW too difficult to follow. I eventually quit after gaining all but 7 pounds back. I really struggled, trying one plan after another. I decided on a high-fiber, low-fat diet, when my friend suggested Perfect Solutions. Everything changed when I walked in their door Sept. 7. I told Cecelia that I was lost, and they were exactly what I needed.

I'm so grateful for a plan that works. I like the limited food list, and when I make those difficult choices, like skipping the goodies in the break room and eating salads instead of enchiladas or chicken-fried steak, I see results. It's the most amazing thing. The best thing is I'm losing fat, and I'm healthier than I've been in years.

When I joined 16 weeks ago, my BMI was 43.1. Today it's 36.4. Other things they measure weekly include:
Weight                    235.6 lb       199.0 lb
BMI                       43.1             36.4
Body Fat %            48.1%          44.9%
Body Fat Mass       113.4 lb        89.6 lb
Fat Free Mass        122.4 lb        109.6 lb
Body Water %       38.8%           40.2%
Body Water Mass  91.4 lb           80.0 lb

These numbers inspire me to continue making those difficult choices.

It's time to add exercise to my regimen. PS has several workout videos to choose from, but I didn't have a DVD player that was easy to use. Then last week I saw an HD TV  with DVD on HSN and I ordered it - in red! It arrived this afternoon. I unpacked the box, found a table for it, put the stand on it, and set it up. And that's as far as I got. I wish my son was home. Where's a 12 year old when you need one?

Life is awesome!

Jekyll & Hyde

Friday was our Christmas luncheon at Saltgrass. I looked at the menu and almost said I didn't want to go because there wasn't anything I could eat. Cecelia at PS said not to go out to eat because we can't control what restaurants put in their food. They had 3 things I wanted - baked sweet potato (which I ordered dry; I brought cinnamon and stevia), dinner salad (with croutons & cheese; I didn't eat the croutons), and grilled asparagus. The asparagus was delicious, but it was way too spicy with salt and something that was a little hot. The salad was good with vinegar & oil. The potato came with butter at first, and I sent it back. Everyone around me commented on my choice when I could have anything on the lunch menu. I want to lose another 4 lbs this week if possible, and this lunch was a way I could do that.

After work I went to Kaycie's to babysit. Jeff fixed Roc a bowl of cereal for dinner, so I was left to fend for myself. I looked in their pantry, and all I could see was a container of Party Mix. Even though there was lots of food, I fixated on that container. I finally had a bite that turned into about 10 handfuls. Then when Roc wanted a glass of milk, I noticed a tin with 2 sugar cookies and a quarter pound of butterscotch fudge. They all looked like they'd been there a long time, so I passed. But they kept calling my name. I couldn't get them out of my mind, so I ate all but one cookie.

I wish I lost a pound for every time I heard someone say they'd start a diet after the holidays. I'd be at my goal by now. Cecelia told me that I was so far ahead of the game because if I waited until after the holidays, I'd just have more to lose. And I don't want that.

Friday night's slip was just that - a slip. I've been back on track and going full speed ahead. Well, actually, probably not. I'm still not exercising, and I still don't drink water. Imagine how much weight I'd lose if I was doing all three - eating healthy, exercising & drinking water.

The good news is I ordered a 33" flat screen HD TV with a built-in DVD player, so I'll be able to watch exercise DVDs. My TVs are too old for cable and accessories, so it's a hassle to use the DVDs. I should have it by Christmas.

Back on Track

Today's weigh-in was fantastic! I lost 4 lbs!

This has been a challenging week for sure. I spent the day Saturday at the hospital with my dad, so I didn't eat as much as I should have. I had that awful beet smoothie for breakfast, an orange and cauliflower from the cafeteria for lunch. I can't remember what I ate for dinner.

Sunday I had the beet smoothie again, but this time I peeled the beets and added cucumber and a pear instead of the spinach. It was MUCH better. I actually drank it all. As a matter of fact, I just had another. This time I made it with canned beets (beets and water). It was really good. I learned that I have to leave the blender on much longer than I normally would. Canned beets make the smoothie easier to to drink. I've been having almond milk fruit smoothies with cherries and blueberries or strawberries for dinner or breakfast the rest of the week. I love that stuff!

I don't get as hungry as I used to. I used to hate people who said things like this.

Then I had jury duty Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday.The only place to eat was a deli, and that's where 9 of the 12 of us went every day. As usual, I took my lunch. I ate my usual 1-1/2 eggs with mushrooms for breakfast and took 2 fruits for snacks. I treated myself to a sugar-free hot chocolate each day because the rooms were so cold that I even wore gloves Tuesday.

Tomorrow is our Holiday Luncheon at Saltgrass. I've never eaten there before, so I looked at the lunch menu and all I saw was steak, shrimp, and things I don't eat. I did finally see a sweet potato, but it's probably full of stuff I don't want, and a dinner salad. So that's I'll have, I'll ask for the potato dry and I'll take Stevia and cinnamon. I love it that way. If they don't have vinegar and oil, I'll eat the salad dry (maybe with salt and pepper).

I don't salt anything anymore, and I don't miss it anymore either.

I'm only 2 lbs away from my first big goal of weighing less than 200 by January 1. I'm so excited! I used to leave weigh-in at WW and immediately eat something I shouldn't. But not anymore. I'm so motivated to continue eating what I should to be healthy. I sometimes wonder who this person is in my looser-by-the-day clothing.

Well, I HAVE to get to the Friends of the Library newsletter. That's been another challenge. Usually I don't have to finish it before the last week of the month. This time, it has to be ready to print Monday. Plus I'm babysitting tomorrow night and Saturday until Noon. Yikes!

Disappointed

Yesterday I went to weigh in and fully expected a 2-lb loss - or more. Alyssa said I gained 0.6! I had to leave the room. I was so disappointed that I went into the restroom to compose myself. When I came back out, she tried to console me because I was crying. She was looking at my history and said I was consistent and that I'd be back on track soon. She said she could see my determination in the way I was consistently losing weight. Not like lots of their clients. Yesterday's weigh in showed fat lost, but not weight loss, which meant I'd show a loss next week. That's what they said last week.

I shouldn't let the scale determine my success, but after 60 years, it's a habit.

OK. I was in Chicago last week, but I ate salads all week - not my salads with only the things I should have. Maybe I should have been more discriminating by requesting them without the bacon, bleu cheese, or whatever was included that I knew I shouldn't have. I walked every day. So I thought I was walking it off. When I returned Saturday, I got back on track. I followed the plan to the letter from Saturday. I even started having almond milk fruit smoothies with blueberries and cherries for dinner. Normally, that in itself would show a weight loss. So, was the food I ate in Chicago worse than I thought?

In addition to the salads with questionable contents, there were the 3 large cookies - 1 a day - during the afternoon break. Oh, and there was that brownie, and the 2 cookies I had Tuesday after the awards ceremony. But that was all. Cecilia said we can expect to not lose weight for 3 days for every cookie. Jeez. That's means 18 days. Holy cow! No drop in weight until Dec. 15! Not so; I have a plan

Maybe I'm not eating enough. Maybe it's because I'm stressed at work. Maybe I should exercise. Maybe I should drink more water. I can fix 3 of these, so that's my plan.

I started today with a beet, spinach, and apple smoothie. YUUUUK! It smelled and tasted like dirt, and because I used a blender, it was pulpy. The pulp caught in my throat, so I'd take a couple big swigs, and wash it down with coffee. I got most of it down. Now my stomach is upset. Who can blame it?

Does a juicer leave pulp? I never thought I'd say this, but maybe I should consider getting a juicer. Are there any recommendations? Is the pulp healthier than a smooth juice?

Cecilia said she and her husband did a 5-day juice plan, and she lost the last 7 pounds that she'd been struggling to lose after having the baby, and their energy level was through the roof. After the 5 days, they decided to continue another 9 days. She said it wasn't easy because she wants to chew something, but it had amazing results. I always wonder if those results are lasting. But, I'm willing to try. My goal is to be below 200 by New Years Eve, and if juicing is the way to accomplish that, so be it. I probably won't do it for 14 days, just the 2 she recommended or until I just can't do it another day.