Meet Veronica V. (V. for Vixen). She's my weight loss octopus. My weight loss group decided we needed something visual to help us along. Each week we set a goal. If we meet that weight loss goal, we get to braid a leg on our octopus. If we don't meet the goal, then no leg to braid. The person to braid all 8 legs first wins the pot.
My octopus couldn't just be a plain ole octopus...no! I needed to vamp her right up. She is my sassy alter ego, so she needed some fancy eyelashes to match the personality that I have given her.
I got to braid a leg my first week. Last week I lost .2 pounds. This week I gained the .2 pounds back. Darn dieting for being such a pain in the tush! Today there were only 2 of us not braiding a leg, and that was a pretty darn crummy feeling.
Another Wednesday. I conveniently didn’t post last week on Wednesday. The idea of this weekly MeMe is to keep me accountable. Last week was not a good week for me, and the scale showed it; I couldn’t bring myself to admit it here.
This week, however was another story.
My co-workers and I have a little support group going. All of us are in the same in the same oversized predicament. So, we put together a two part contest (my boss calls it gambling). One is to put a dollar in the pot if we don’t lose or if we gain. The other I will tell you about next week.
Having to put money in the pot frightened my cheap frugal ways, so I lost weight. I lost 5.2 pounds to be exact. Before you start throwing streamers, don’t forget about the bad week last week.
I find I do best when my days are pretty regular. Here is a sample of what I eat on a normal day:
7:00am Diet Vanilla Pepsi
8:00am Whole grain, light English muffin with 2 Laughing Cow light cheese wedges
10:30am Light yogurt
12:30pm Frozen WW meal or lean cuisine with a red bell pepper sliced and 4 tablespoons of hummus to dip them in.
3:30pm Fruit (pear or grapes last week)
5:30pm Dinner with the family. The dinners range from roast chicken to soup, but nothing super fatty and I limit my servings of starchy foods.
8:00 Glass of wine. Sometimes non-fat, sugar-free pudding or popcorn.
And buckets of water. Tons of water. I might just float away from all the water!
That snack at 3:30 is imperative. If I don’t have it, I overdo it at dinner.
Next week, I will introduce you to Veronica V. My weight loss buddy!
NSV of the week: "Would you stop losing weight already. You are going to disappear!" While I know she was just being nice and there is no real threat of me disappearing any time soon, it was still very nice to hear.
Tip: Fiber One is an amazing brand. They have their original cereal that is great to snack on (don't forget the water), and now they have added a whole slew of products: granola bars (which I can't eat b/c they have peanut products in them), english muffins (delish), bread, yogurt....Hooray for Fiber One. Go out and get yourself some. The products taste great and they add a ton of fiber to your diet.
So another Wednesday has come. Another Weight Loss Wednesday. Another Wednesday to tell you I didn’t lose any weight. I stayed the same, which is a small victory, but a victory all the same.
My tip for the week: enjoy the Non-Scale Victories (NSVs). When you are enjoying a healthy lifestyle and making positive changes in your life, there are NSVs all around you.
For example, someone whose hasn’t seen me in awhile came into my office last week. I got up from my desk to grab something for her, and (as my back was turned to her) she said, “Omygosh, Cali Girl! Your ass is not there anymore. Omygosh! How did you do that?”
That, my bloggy friends, is an NSV. Look for them – they are everywhere and just waiting for you take notice and give them a title. They will make youfeel better about yourself and your day instantly.
Are you pants feeling a tad looser? Can you see your collar bone again? Did the construction worker whistle at you, finally? Whatever it is – take it and relish in it! You’ll be glad you did!
Work has left me in a state of constant stress over the last 2 weeks. I don't see it slowing down. The only good thing to come out of it is that I haven't had time to eat anything extra. When I am going along at a calm rate I have time to think about a snack. When I am busy and running from one meeting to another I don't have time to do anything other than survive and complete my tasks at hand. Take this morning for example. At 6:45am I had a Diet Pepsi. I ate lunch at 12:45 - I had nothing in between. I didn't do it on purpose, but there was literally nothing I could do about the situation.
Weight Loss - I am down 3 pounds since last week.
Tip - Increase your stress level and number of tasks that need immediate attention. I'm kidding, of course. Days like my day today are not healthy. If you know you are going to have a busy day, grab a healthy snack that can be eaten on the run. A low cal, low fat granola bar, grapes, celery sticks, meal replacement shake.
As I was pulling out of my driveway this morning I saw my neighbor, Metro, jogging. That's right...he was jogging at 6:47am! A few thoughts occured to me.
1) Should I get up at 4:00am to jog? 4:00am is the only time that would allow me to actually jog, then shower, get the kids up, get the kids fed, pack for daycare and work, and get out the door at 6:45am? That sounds like a lot of hassle before 7am to me!
2) Would I have the energy to get up at 4:00am to jog?
3) If I started jogging at 4:00am, would the energy then come to me? All the experts swear you gain energy when you start exercising, but I have my doubts.
4) Should I jog at 8:00pm when my day winds down and allows me the time to do it?
So many questions to ponder when I see someone partaking in the healthful art of exercise.
Favorite snack this week: 4 tablespoons of hummus and sugar snap peas for dipping. This yummy little treat will only cost you 2 points!
I thought posting about my journey here would help me. Alas, it only got me through the end of the work week, then everything got turned upside down. I am not going to make excuses. I will fully admit that I gave into temptation at a block party on Saturday. I will also admit that I gave into temptation again last night and had a sandwich that was not the best choice on the menu and I split dessert with the hubs.
All of my transgressions led to a 1 pound weight gain. The only thing I can say is at least it was only 1 pound.
Weight loss is not easy. If it were easy there wouldn’t be an obesity epidemic in our country. It’s a journey, and I am will be on that journey for the long haul.
My tip for the week, which will make all diet experts gasp in horror, works for me. I am not an expert. Every healthy eating expert in the world will tell you not to skip breakfast. In fact many will tell you to make breakfast your largest meal of the day. I get up at 5:00am every morning. I usually wake up hungry. If I eat a big breakfast anytime before 9:00am I will have used up a good portion of my points for the day and find myself hungry and cranky by dinnertime. What I do instead is drink a diet soda on my drive to work (don’t judge me… I have a severe dislike of coffee, so this is where I get my caffeine). That diet soda holds me over until 9:00 or 10:00, when I will then eat something small for breakfast. It works by holding my hunger at bay and saving my points for smaller meals throughout the day.
I start a new week tomorrow and am hopeful I will have a more successful week!
Weight Loss Wednesday
I have been avoiding debating the idea of posting anything in relation to my weight battle. I told myself the internal war was whether or not it was too personal for me to post. In reality, I was afraid of the accountability of it all, because I lacked focus and motivation.
Every Thursday I meet with a group of women with whom I work. We started the group as Weight Watchers. I was responsible for getting everyone WW at Home kits for a discount price through the help of our medical insurance. At the time, I was 8 months pregnant, so doing anything more than healthy eating wasn’t an option for me. I still attended the meetings that we set up as a group.
Right now, I am 20 pounds lighter than I was when I got pregnant with Ladybug last summer. Through nothing that I tried to do, mind you, I lost weight during the first part of my pregnancy, then went between gaining and losing 2 pounds during the last part of my pregnancy. The little girl practically sucked the life out of me. I was so sick for the first trimester, that I didn’t eat more than a few bites at each meal. Even those bites were physically tough for me to have in mouth and to swallow. Through the rest of the pregnancy, I felt great but was repulsed by food. Almost everything was unappealing to me, so I just didn’t eat much. I was hoping that those 9 months would have created a habit in me – they didn’t.
Ladybug is 4 months old. I lost 17 pounds following her birth and have not gained weight. I stopped losing weight about 10 weeks ago. Now I am going back and forth between 5 pounds. If I am being honest with myself, I need to shed a good 45 pounds. I no longer have an excuse for putting off what needs to be done.
So, here it is. After much kicking and screaming in my head, I have decided to go public with my very personal battle. My goal is to post here each Wednesday. I plan to post how I am feeling, progress, hints and tips and even recipes. I do Weight Watchers, so I will talk about points and even post recipes’ points.
If you have any hints or tips for successful and health weight loss, I would love to hear them.
