Tag: Romance Biggest Winner

Our Romance Biggest Winner challenge officially ends on 1/5 — which is also my one year anniversary on Weight Watchers — and today’s our last weekly weigh in.

So far, I’ve lost 22 pounds in 6 months.  Definitely not earth shatteringly fast, but 22 pounds are gone forever.  I lost again this week, just a small amount (.17), but considering it was a holiday and we had Christmas dinner at my mom’s this past weekend, I’m very pleased.

Even more exciting, I finally got myself on an exercise routine.  I’m doing Tony Horton’s Power 90 again and I’ve made it two days in a row.  If I get bored with the Sweat portion, I reserve the right to switch things up and do some other cardio instead, but I love the Sculpt exercise.  It’ll be a challenge to figure out how to plan the exercise during my work days, especially around writing.  It’s always tempting to write over lunch instead of work out, for instance, but I’ve *got* to increase my activity if I want to keep losing at a reasonable speed.

To make sure I still get words each day, I’m going to have to get up Dark & Early.  I made it today, although mannnnn, I’m tired.  I slept horribly (which I almost always do after a long weekend or when starting a new D&E stint).  Hopefully I can get through this week and keep to the schedule.  We’ll see.

I also recorded my measurements this weekend.  I did Power 90 about 2 years ago (in March) and made it about 45 days before quitting.  I’d only lost 3 pounds and was soooo discouraged after working out so hard.  I could feel myself tightening up and getting smaller though, but I didn’t have any evidence since I didn’t take my measurements.

At the time, I wasn’t “dieting”.  I increased my protein and calories according to Beach Body’s recommended plan, but I wasn’t following the plan exactly.  I’ve never really been able to stick to both exercise AND diet, so I’m a bit nervous.  I’m hoping that a full year on Weight Watchers (as of 1/5) will give me the diet foundation I need, and that adding exercise on top will only increase my metabolism and get me losing bigger amounts each week.  *crossing fingers*

I’m 61.4 pounds lighter than the last time I tried Power 90, so I’m hoping for great things.  Who knows, I might even be able to do that one swing-the-leg-through move after the downward dog that I never could manage before!  Okay, one can hope. 

I didn’t track much this past week.  I didn’t exercise either.  Sigh.  I was just too busy.  If I wasn’t running an errand or cooking, I was doing up dishes, cleaning the house for company, or writing (a little).  We even ended up with fried twist donuts in the house Thursday morning (for the company, of course), and I succumbed instead of eating my healthy yogurt as planned.

I gave away tons of leftovers but the fridges are still loaded.  We had another Thanksgiving dinner with my mom, brother, and sister Saturday, and of course Granny sent us home with MORE leftovers, including a nice big piece of Chocolate Angel Pie.  I ate it.

So why was the scale down .42% today?

I tried really hard to not OVER eat.  I ate what I wanted – but had small portions, ate slowly, and had NO seconds.  I ate extra vegetables and fruit and yogurt whenever possible (e.g. Saturday morning brunch before leaving for Mom’s I had Fage, blueberries, and Kashi, while the family gnoshed on Combos and beef jerky on the ride).  Then Sunday and Monday I was strictly back to plan, ate a little less than my point range but nothing extreme, drank my water, tracked my points, and avoided snacky food.  In other words, I got right back on track instead of allowing the feasting to continue.

Nearly to my next 5 pound star!

Romance Biggest Winner

I haven’t been posting weekly Romance Biggest Winner updates because there’s not been much to report.  I’ve been hovering around the same number, up a pound, down a pound, wash and repeat over and over and over.

It’s frustrating to say the least.

However, I’ve also gotten just a little bit lazy on my tracking.  Where I was tracking faithfully every day, I’ve just been so busy — and had a few too many slips — to keep up.  When I’m writing hard, I tend to get up early and stay up later, which makes me even more hungry.  And yes, I’m always tempted to use munchies to help me stay awake even longer.  Enter my nemesis, the Lay’s potato chip.

But this NaNoWriMo I’ve been pretty strong.  I only indulged in chips once.  I even got a little exercise in last week — but I’m still not consistent yet.  Baby steps.

Yesterday I tracked my food before I ate it — planning my day out to the final point so I already knew I would have nothing else after the last apple snack.  I drank water with lemon (that I finally remembered to pick up), which helped me want even more water because I love the taste, especially bubbly water made by our SodaStream.

And today, I was finally thrilled to slip into that new decade on the scale.  .91% loss for RBW and 57 pounds lost for the year!  Woot!

Now a lot of you might be wondering what I’m going to do for Thanksgiving.  Will I make diet food?  Will I starve myself and gorge on all the goodies at dinner?

Here’s my philosophy.  I love to cook the big dinner.  I make it the way my mom always made it, with a few extras that That Man’s family likes.  I use the best quality ingredients I can find.  I make my own chicken broth for the gravy and noodles (and I don’t skim the fat off).  I make bone broth from the turkey carcass for another round of healthy soups after the big day.  I make real food.

Many “light” and “fat free” products have added corn syrup and fillers to make them taste good.  So I don’t often use them.  I do substitute light sour cream and light cheese occasionally because I personally can’t taste the difference.  But when I’m cooking for twenty people on Thanksgiving day, I’m making the best food I possibly can and I’ll use the real deal.

Will I have pie?  Yes.  Small pieces of both pumpkin and pecan.  Will I eat both mashed potatoes and carby homemade egg noodles?  Yep.  But I’ll eat in moderation.  I’m going to have a filling Greek yogurt and Kashi breakfast.  I’ll drink my water along with a gallon of coffee.  I’m preparing a healthy yet delicious spinach salad to eat along with the carbs, and my SIL is bringing a vegetable platter.  I’ll try not to eat until I’m miserable, which shouldn’t be too hard.  I’ll be too busy serving and cleaning up to eat a lot anyway.  As soon as the main late lunch is consumed, I’ll throw the carcass into a pot and start the late dinner soup fest with the leftovers.  (We’ll have people visiting all day)

So I won’t “diet” that day — but I will try to eat in moderation.  I’ll go into the day with a plan and do the best I can.  It’s only one day a year, the only day I’m responsible for cooking delicious food for so many people, and I’m going to enjoy it!

Still heading in the right direction – 1.06% lost for the week!

We’re working harder on meal planning, but this will be an evolving process.  I also want to get better at using what I have on hand, so more careful shopping and using what’s in the freezer.  If we ever want to move to the farm out in the boonies, we need to get used to hitting the store less regularly instead of stopping by 2-3 times a week because I don’t have a plan.

My exercise is still sadly lacking.  I keep putting it on my list – hopefully I’ll get my arse in gear soon. 

On the bright side, I did some closet diving this weekend and found several things I haven’t worn in a decade — that now fit!  Of course they’re a decade old…so I ended up donating most of it.  But it was still awesome to button and zip and have that decision to make, rather than regrets that I still can’t wear it.

We’re having car issues so I’m fighting stress/anxiety eating.  I hate having car issues, and these are major enough we might not be able to dodge the replacement bullet.  🙁  I hate dealing with salespeople even more, and the “10 minutes” turns into 2 hours, missed lunch, late dinner, and still no decisions.  *pass the Lays!!!  NO.  Lock those suckers up*

The poor old car has fought valiantly, but it’s almost 13 years old….  It’s probably time to DNR it instead of constantly dumping money into it trying to save it.  (And paying yet another tow bill!)

FINALLY!  The extra pounds that just wouldn’t go away finally dropped off and I hit a new low (1.69% loss for the week).  52.2 pounds gone since Jan.  My weekly average loss has decreased dramatically but slow and steady will win the race.

I’m still not exercising regularly.    It’s definitely something I need to work on, but with all the craziness going on lately, I’m doing the best I can.

I also made myself sit down and work on the meal plan for the next two weeks.  I sometimes get lazy and just forget to plan — and then it’s like I totally forget what I know how to make.  Is that silly or what?  It’s like I can’t think of how to make anything.  So I made a list of all the super easy “emergency” things my family likes — and I wrote out the ingredients so I’ll always have them on hand.  Then I made a general list of meals, a staples list, and made out a plan for two weeks.

And if anyone says “Ewwww!” they can make their own dinner!

No new foods this week — just working on getting my ducks in a row and firming up a meal plan and corresponding budget.

Argh, my worst stretch since starting this journey in January.  I gained again.  I guess I can’t call it “unfair” since I did slip…ONCE…but I know the bulk of the gain is tied to stress and poor sleep.  I’m staying the course and doing the best I can.  After slipping into the Lay’s chips the other night, I got right back on track and have been on plan since.  I’m still not exercising – I just haven’t found the time or the gumption yet. 

In the past, I would have fallen off the wagon by now.  I’d get discouraged and just quit.  If I’m going to gain anyway, I might as well enjoy it, right?  WRONG.  I know I’m doing the right thing and eventually I’ll see it on the scale.

After yesterday’s -.73% gain, the scale was back down 1.4 pounds this morning.  Still higher than my low but back down from that scary number.  I was almost in a new decade!  *whines*

My new food this week is a little bit weird.  Remember when I mentioned I was eating salads with protein, usually deli roast beef or cheese?  Well, I’m out of roast beef…but I have a ton of leftover meatloaf.  So, why not have a meatloaf salad?  It’s a little weird I guess but it tastes pretty good.  Since the meatloaf was made with 90% lean hamburger and oats instead of bread crumbs, I figure it’s not a bad protein option at all.

Onward and upward to a better week!!

As I feared in yesterday’s post, the scale is still up today, exactly the same weight I was last week.  However, I refuse to despair.  I’ve eaten on plan all week, making healthy choices despite my work stress.  I haven’t gobbled pizza OR chips.  I call that a win!

I haven’t been sleeping the greatest either, which contributes to a slowdown in weight loss.  All I can do is stay the course.  I know I’m doing the right things, and I should eventually be rewarded in the number category.  I should be exercising more — it’ll help with the stress and the weight factor.  I just haven’t taken the time, and I missed our weekend trek to the track thanks to much-needed rain.

New food this week:  at our favorite coffee house, they have a killer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  That Man likes to order it, and it’s all I can do to eat one or two bites because it’s so good, but also sooooo high in fat and calories.  Luckily Middle Monster likes it too, so one piece with three forks hitting it doesn’t last long.

Anyway, I decided to make a healthy version, very similar to Skinny Taste’s Pumpkin Cupcakes.  I used a carrot cake mix for the base with canned pumpkin, and then mixed more pumpkin with the cream cheese in the frosting.  Unfortunately I didn’t have reduced fat cream cheese, so mine were a little higher points but still much more diet friendly.

The kids loved the cupcakes, although not all of them liked the frosting.  Not a problem — I kept the frosting separate in the fridge, so I didn’t have to keep the whole cupcake in the fridge too.   I’d like to make a homemade cake base eventually that I can control even more, but this was a good start!

If I were only looking at the scale, this would be a disappointing week because it’s showing a gain.

However, I know that I worked the plan all week.  I’ve been eating as healthy as usual.  But the biggest victory came this past weekend when I jogged with Princess Monster.  Again!  Not only did I not die — but I also jogged for quarter of a mile – straight!  Then I jogged another half a lap after that.

I wasn’t as sore, either.  Now, I just need to work on more REGULAR exercise.

My “new” food this week has been large salads for lunch.  I’ve always loved salad, but more as a side than the main dish.  Now I’m measuring out 2-3 oz of roast beef or ham, adding a BabyBell mini cheese, or even a hardboiled egg, for lots of protein, topped with my homemade honey dijon dressing made with olive oil and basalmic.  I have a nice huge plate of greens mixed with cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes.  Yum!

Plus it always makes me giggle because I call it a “Hugh Jass” salad.  On the WW forums, they censor certain words, so people call it that instead of huge ASS.  Then my brain leaps on to Hugh Jackman…

And I’m very happy to eat my salad.   Hoping for a better weigh in next week!