253.4 - Should this even count??

So, I weighed in on Sunday, but wasn't able to blog about it today.  Let me catch you up on what's been happening.

THURSDAY - Great day.  We went to my parent's house, I ate whatever I wanted, because I saved all my free points for this day so I could enjoy it.  I ate turkey, I ate fresh green beans, I ate mashed potatoes, but what I realized is there were so many carb-rich foods there - foods that I would have gone back for 2nds and 3rds, that I barely finished the first helping.  I still ate approximately 55 points, but it was worth it!

FRIDAY - worked at my 2nd job, did fine until about 1:30, when I started with a stomachache.  I didn't think much of it - figured it was to coffee from this morning.  At 2:30, Dave called me, vomiting, asking me to come home early to help with the kids.  Just then, a patient signed in.  I'm schedule to leave at 3 pm anyway, and that was when I finished with that patient.  Really feeling bad when I got home, and I, too, started vomiting at about 4 pm.  Dave (lucky soul), only vomited twice and just felt bad after that.  I, however, won the grand prize and vomited every.single.hour. all night long.

SATURDAY - Still sick and vomiting,  feel like I've been smited for some reason.  In my deleriousness of dehydration and general sickiness, I managed to eat 2 pieces of dry toast, 4 oz of ginger ale, and some egg drop soup. 

SUNDAY - weight in day.  Wow - lost 4 pounds the week of Thanksgiving, huh?  Well, seeing that I really think I vomited my spleen somewhere around 2:30 Saturday morning, I'm not surprised.  I didn't even know if I should count it - but I did.

MONDAY - feeling better, but now both kids have a cold, and Mom has a version of the hell that I caught on Friday, so she can't take the kids.  I called in sick and just tried to put the house back together.  That didn't work - what was I thinking??!?  I have two 13 month old tornados!!

TUESDAY - I'm loosing it a bit.  I've either been cooped up sick, or cooped up with sick kids for 5 days.  For the first time since starting WW, I ate because of boredom.  I knew I wasn't hungry, and I knew it was a bad idea, but I ate a bunch of vanilla wafers out of pure boredom - like, 12 points worth of vanilla wafers.  I'm dissappointed in myself, but I know tomorrow is a new day.  I'm going to yoga tonight, and I have a great dinner planned - turkey enchalidas (great way to use up the turkey!)  

So, that catches you up - stuffed myself silly on Thursday, got the sickest I've been in years (that didn't include appletinis and a little B&E with a shady boss of mine) on Friday and Saturday, then trying to get back to normal on Monday and Tuesday. 

My plan is to go take an anti gravity yoga class tonight with a dear friend of mine, and swing away my problems - and my vanilla wafers!

257.4 - Not bad for the first week.

Week 1 STATS:
4 AP earned - 1 gym work out
31 Weekly Points used (18 left)
Recommended veggies eaten - 6/7 days
Recommended dairy eaten - 6/7 days
Recommended water intake - 2/7 days


Actually, pretty darn good for the first week!  I know most of it was water weight, but it's nice to think at least SOME of it was fat!

Overall, I was pretty satisfied as far as hunger goes.  There were a couple of days I was hungry, there was one night that the hunger woke me up, and this morning I was very, very hungry.  I'm trying to see if there is a pattern, like carbs the night before or something like that. 

Exercise - man, this is a hard one to get in!  Like everything else, I need to plan for it.  I had every intention of going to Church this morning (another thing I've been very slack on, but that's a different post for a different day) and then to the gym.  the YMCA has Childwatch 8:30-12:30 on Sat and Sun.  Well, the boys woke up at 5:30 this morning, very cranky.  I think James is teething - or at least I hope that's what it is.  Well, that threw off the morning, and now, at 8 AM, they're both down for a morning nap.  Hopefully they will be up in time for me to get to the gym.

I'm not making excuses for exercise - but this is the reality.  I work 3 long days a week, sometimes 4 if I'm called into my 2nd job.  My boys tend to do morning naps and not afternoon naps, and Childwatch is closed from 1:30-4 (prime time for me to go).  It doesn't make it impossible, but it definitely makes it challenging.

Water intake - I've always sucked at this.  I've never been one to drink fluids - just never felt thirsty.  Once I became a nurse, and worked in the ER, I almost never drank during my shift  - we never had time to pee, so what was the point?  Even to this day, I just forget to grab a drink during my meal.  Sometime I get home from work at 7 pm, and realized I've had 4 oz of fluid all day.  I know this isn't good.  I know this can effect metabolism, kidney function, etc. I lecture people on this all the time, but still, I have a swig or two of water, crystal light, OJ, whatever is the quickest and easiest in the morning, and that is it until I get home from work, which is anywhere from 7 pm to 9:30 pm.  This is a hard habit to break.  It's a necessary habit to break, but still hard. 

GOALS FOR THE WEEK:

1)  Get some type of exercise 2 x this week
2)  Drink at least 6 glasses of fluid, 4 of which will be water
3)  Loose 1 lb (It is Thanksgiving, after all!  I'm not expecting maricles!)

Not hungry, then absolutely starving!

I'm still in my first week of Weight Watchers, and as we all know, they change the program about once a month.  I really don't think their changes have always been for the greater good of their clients, but more for marketing.  This most recent change, however, I feel was definitely to improve the program.
I love the fact that all fruits and veggies are free.  I also love that they seem to give you enough points that I'm (usually) not hungry.  I almost don't trust it, because I'm not hungry.  I do find, however, if I wake up in the middle of the night (which happens often with 12 month olds) I realize I'm hungry then I can't fall back to sleep.  This happened alot when I was pregnant.  I would wake up, need a snack, then be able to fall back to sleep.  Wednesday night, when I was up at 2:30, I was hungry.  Hungry isn't the right word - absolutely famished is a better description.  I was so hungry I was nausous.  Now, Wednesday was my insane day where I didn't get to eat (which I think is criminal, especially in the healthcare setting, but I digress), so I chalked it up to crazy eating habits, and not eating enough veggies that day.  I still didn't get up to snack, I just laid there and tried to get my mind off of it.  I was really worried, though, that this program would be like the others - hungry all the time and obsessing about food.  Yesterday, I did take a break and ate my lunch (unfortunately make patients wait, but I'm sick of not getting the break my pay is docked for and that I deserve) and everything was fine. 
I wonder if it's because I'm a little older, a little more dedicated, a little more  used to planning everything (you have to with twins), or the changes they have made in the program - possibly a mixture of all - but I'm finding the program quite reasonable. 

UGH - What a day!

I was slammed at work today, and, once again, no lunch break (or break at all!).  I went 12 hours on a cup of tea and a coffee.  I hate when work does that to me - books me so tight, double booking, etc. that I have to work straight through.  That's not good for weight loss.  Having to eat 25 points worth of food at 8 pm can't be good.  The good thing is that I still stayed on the program.  I had to eat salty subway, but I'm still on program.

262.4 - Here we go!

So, in the past few days, I've returned to the gym, and after much contemplation, I joined Weight Watchers Online. I was originally going to try to do it on my own, but I figured I've been trying to do it on my own, and it wasn't working, I debated for a long time between WW and SBD, and I ultimately decided WW because they changed their point system. So far it's been 2 days. I know you're thinking "it's only been 2 days" but baby steps, my dears. I also went to the gym on Saturday with the babies (James loved it, Jonathan is getting some stranger anxiety, so he wasn't thrilled with the whole experience) and met a really nice woman who was a great motivator. I signed up for a 12 week program where they help you stay on track with exercise, healthy living, etc. Unfortunately, we all have colds, so I may not be going back for a few days.

I'm very serious about weight loss right now, so I'm riding out the motivation and let's see how far it takes me!

Nothing Will Change If You Change Nothing

So true!  I can't expect to do the same thing over and over and expect different outcomes. 
I'm doing okay with eating.  Today was difficult - I didn't have a lunch break, so I had to try to eat some of my lunch at my desk - between patients.  The donuts became too powerful, and I had two. 

So, tomorrow, no candy - no snacks - just what I pack for lunch

Mirror Mirror

For the longest time we only had mirrors that showed from the chest up in our house. No particular reason, other than we were too lazy/unmotivated to buy a full length mirror. Recently, in an attempt to sell our house (ha! Yeah, right!) we bought mirrored sliding closet doors. It was an eye opener to see just how big I've become. I didn't like that realization.

TGIF!!

Today, as I was feeding our babies, and searching the kitchen for something for dinner for Dave and I, I realized how happy I am about the food I make for the boys, and how little an effort I put into our meals.  I make sure the boys have organic whole milk, fruit and greek yogurt for breakfast, and protein (chicken and turkey) with veggies (carrots, green beans, broccoli) for supper.  Tonight, the boys had tortolini, carrots and green beans.  I looked over at the boys eating, and I saw James double fisting carrots, and Jonathan chewing on a green bean.  Dave and I, however, had macaroni and cheese and chicken wraps, which consisted of chicken in a tortilla with chipotle mayo and cheese.  No veggies, white pasta and cheese, cheese, cheese! 

I find I do well for breakfast (SBD oatmeal pancakes with sugar free syrup), and for lunch I  have a huge salad with mushrooms and tomatos, and either grilled chicken, or chicken salad on top.  I'll have a greek yogurt with it, but sometimes I don't eat it because I'm not hungry.  I could have more fruit or veggies for breakfast, but I'm quite pelased with my lunch.  Supper is my downfall, and I feel it has to do with lack of proper planning.  After working all day, I get home somewhere between 7-8:30 (depending on if I have to get the kids) or on Mondays, it's somewhere around 9ish.  I have no desire to start making a long involved menu at that time of night.  On the nights I don't work, I'm so busy running aorund after the kids all day, I barely have time to make dinner at all!  I love my crock pot, and I try to use it about once a week/ once every other week.  I find, however, 1) it makes meat only - no veggies, and 2) it makes so much of it, we're sick of eating it by day 4.  I have to branch out and get more recipes.

So...this just adds to my self realization of my relationship with food, my eating habits, and why what I'm doing just isn't workiny anymore.

small goals

I was at work yesterday, and we had a meeting about goal setting with our patients.  As our nutritioinist was talking, my mind wandered to how I can apply this to my weight loss goals.  The whole point was to set realistic goals that can be achieved by the next visit.  I thought this was a great way to start my weight loss.

I don't expect to loose weight this week -  I feel I"m still getting my bearings to make weight loss stick.

What is your goal?  My goal is to loose 10 lbs in by January 1st.
How are you going to achieve this goal?   I'm going to exercise more, and eat healthier.
On a scale of 1-10, what do you think your success will be?  I feel my success will be an 8/10 for healthier eating, a 7/10 for exercise, and I'm not sure about weight loss - maybe 5/10.

My more specific goals are:

Exercise:  I would like to get to the gym at least 2 times a week, participating in at least 30 minutes in cardio.

Diet:  After reading the most recent US News and World Report, it appears the DASH diet is the best diet.  (Click here for the article).  I really don't see how it's very different from South Beach Diet.  I have PCOS, so I know 1)  Low carb diets are better for me, and 2)  diet is more important for weight loss for me than exercise.  This is going to be very hard, because I'm a foodie.  I'm also an emotional eater.  It's a loose/loose situation.  I eat when I'm happy, sad, nervous, worried, excited, bored, or scared.  I use food as a reward, as my entertainment, as a comforter and a therapist.  I know I need to change my relationshiip with food.
So.....my goal for an eating plan this week is to incorporate vegetables in at least 2 veggies.

These are my goals.  Let's see how this works!

259.0

It's November 1st, and it's the day I get serioius on getting healthy. I'm hoping to track my weight, eating and exericse on this blog.  Since the birth of the boys, I've really felt bad about myself.  I'm happy that I've lost all the baby weight, but I"m nowhere near my pre-baby body. 
I work in healthcare, and I see what obesity can do to a person.  The hypertension, diabetes, back pain, etc, etc, etc.  I don't want to be a statistic!
I'm planning on doing a low carb/high protein and veggies meal plan, and increasing my exericse.  I'm going to try to do it on my own.  My husband wants to loose weight, too, so it's always good to do it with a buddy.
Let's see how day 1 goes!