Trials of a Long Haired Girl

I will likely see a loss on the scale this week…thanks to the dentist. Yep, I have mouth pain again. They were trying to remove the temporary crowns and although it hurt, I thought I could suck it up because they would pop off in a minute. Yeah, not so much…those temporary crowns did not want to come off. The dentist came in and looked at them and they have decided to wait for 2 more weeks because my teeth were so tender. I can’t say that I’m not frustrated because I would be lying to myself and everyone else. It frustrates me when I can’t floss between all of my teeth. I wound up taking the first pain pill but when it didn’t help, I did take second one. Then my annoying friend “Insomnia” showed up. Not the way I wanted to spend my night/morning. I didn’t make it for my date with my boyfriend “GYM”, but I’ll definitely work on getting some extra steps in today to try to make up for it. Just hoping I can get in enough calories when I am not able to eat much. So today’s Spa...

So tonight is weigh in and, again, I have no idea what to expect. I have been doing better with my food and only having a splurge here and there. I guess one of the main reasons that I am unsure what to expect is that I have gone to the gym every day this week except Tuesday. My “dates” with my boyfriend Gym are getting more consistent. I love how I feel going through the day knowing that I started my day right. I have also noticed that I am feeling more rested when I get up. I do try to get 8 hours of sleep at least…and sometimes I go to bed at the same time as my two younger children because I want to make sure I can get to sleep to get at least 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep. Here’s what I have been doing to sort of insure I don’t have an excuse not to go to the gym. I have been laying my clothes out at night at the end of my bed (socks, undergarments, etc.) with my sneakers where I can find them. When my alarm goes off at 5 a.m., I can grab my stuff and start putting it on becaus...

So this morning when I was going through the SparkCoach tasks, Becky Hand was discussing your “Happy Weight”. She defines this as not being about a chart or graph or some magical number that you have in your head for years. This really made me start to think. I talked to my doctor awhile back about my goal weight for Weight Watchers. I told her that I honestly didn’t think that I could get to the ideal weight of 96 to 120 pounds. We agreed on 135. She indicated that it would not put me in a healthy BMI range. Honestly, I can remember being 125 when I got pregnant with my son and felt pretty good at that weight. Sadly, even smaller than that, I thought I was fat back then, but my body honestly seemed comfortable at 19 years old at 125. This is a journey and I’m fully aware of this. I’ll see where my body is comfortable and how I feel. What I do know for sure is that any loss of any percentage of my body mass right now, is a step in the right direction and will give me great h...

I must admit that I am feeling frustrated this week.   I tried to push myself last week to getting to the gym and wind up with an upper respiratory infection which has had me knocked out most of this week.   I am not going to let it stop me though.   I am more determined than ever to make sure that I do what I need to do to not fail myself on this challenge.   That is the thing about this…whether I do workout or follow my meal plan, the one person that it really affects…is ME.   What have I accomplished since starting this challenge 14 days ago?   I am listening to my body.   I stop when I am feeling full and don’t push myself to clean my plate.   Yes, I am a clean plate club member.   I don’t know if it was only the time I grew up in.   I am not pushing myself when my body says STOP, I need to rest.   I’d feel so much better about working out right now, if I could NOT hear myself every time I breathe.   My chest s...

Well, you may have noticed that I have been MIA for the last couple of days. This was not by choice. I woke up Sunday feeling under the weather but was really hoping that a day of rest would help me to feel better by Monday. On the contrary, however, I woke up Monday feeling like I had been run over by a MAC truck and they backed up a time or two just to make sure. I suspect that it is allergies that have turned into an infection of some sort…especially when I started noticeably running a fever. I listened to my body and literally did not move (other than to go down the hall) and stayed in bed. This means that no exercise or workouts were done. This was NOT the way I intended to start the week…or get through the first month of my challenge, but it was a sure reminder that I can plan all I want to, but my body has the ultimate control. I’m not sure I feel up to doing a full on workout today, but I am hoping that I can at least get 15 minutes on the upper/lower body cycle just to...

Well, last night was a rough night.  I want to do nothing more than lay down.  We had a dog that did nothing but cry all night long.  Sadly, I don’t think it is the new dog, but one of the other ones and then the oldest dog starts barking because the younger dog is getting on her nerves.  DH goes in to check out the situation, Daisy (my oldest dog) makes a mad dash out of the kitchen (which is where we keep them).  I know good decisions are not always made when one is tired.  Thankful for my meal plan.  We are having beans and special cornbread tonight.  I did wake up this morning feeling bad.  I have a bit of a sore throat and I feel like one of the 7 Dwarfs…I just can’t figure out if I am Sneezy, Sleepy or Droopy.  Oh and on a random side night, I got flour and gluten to make bread.  I am hoping it will be as much fun as I remember. Yesterday was a fun day with the family.  We played games and learned a couple of news ones....

Okay, so today is a week since I started my challenge. How am I feeling? I’m feeling pretty good actually. I’m getting into the habit of planning my activities. Meal planning is becoming more of an obstacle to do as a family. DH and I took on the task by ourselves. Here’s what I know, I definitely have to have a meal plan and a grocery list. I don’t want to go crazy with the Points so I’m trying to stick with the Simply Filling foods. I definitely see more salads/side salads in my future for this week. I may even try to throw together lasagna. I have seen several crockpot recipes or recipes that I know I can transform into crockpot recipes that I want to try. I am getting excited about cooking/baking again and I feel positive about that. Goals for the week? Well, I have already said that I want to try to workout enough to not use the Weekly PointsPlus allowance. I don’t know that I can make that happen, but I’m going to try. I know eating more of the Simply Filling Power...

As I write this, I have to tell you I went into my Weight Watchers meeting thinking that I maintained at best. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had actually lost 1.8 pounds. Weigh-in the Thursday before Starting the Challenge: 189.6 Current weigh in: 187.8 Loss: 1.8 According to what I had set up for myself for the challenge: Lose 14 pounds to 28 pounds (Starting Weight: 189.2 [02/27/2014] End of challenge Goal: 175.2-161.2) Given that, I am off to a good start in the right direction. I am excited to see where the rest of this challenge will take me. My DH and I have struck a deal. He will let me try to do 2 classes (actually I guess it’s a class and a half) tonight and we’ll have pizza. My goal for the week is to try to stay ahead of the Weekly Points that I am using. It is definitely going to require some effort on my part, but I am excited about trying.

I must admit that I sometimes feel it is a bit much for me to write about each day of the challenge, but at the same time, I feel like I should to hold myself accountable. Head was so bad last night that I pretty much went home and to bed. My sweet husband put dinner together for me and brought it to me. I am so blessed to have him. Although I don’t tell him nearly often enough how thankful I am for him. For the most part, I have an idea how to finish out the week. Whatever happens on the scale tonight, I have an idea of what needs to change for the coming week. While I had planned on having leftovers today for lunch (probably more PointsPlus than I should have been eating anyway), my plans got changed when I was offered something from outside the office. I opted for a mixed greens salad from Paradise Bakery. I did get ranch dressing, but I kept it on the side and just dipped which prevents me from using too much. For those of you that know me, you know that I enjoy baking and...

Today is a new day. I realized after eating dinner and tracking my food that I have depleted my Weekly Points and my Activity Points. Admittedly, I felt like this was going to happen. What does it mean? That I’m going to have to workout in order to eat the foods that are going to cost me PointsPlus. Tonight my Weekly PointsPlus start over. In the coming week, I will need to be more careful of what I am spending my Weekly Points on. Honestly, as frustrated as I may be over that, I am proud of the fact that I have been tracking consistently. I feel like that is definitely a step in the right direction for me. In the past, I have tracked breakfast and lunch, but not dinner. Speaking of, I changed up my smoothie and put Greek Yogurt in it, along with some fat free organic milk, mixed berries, banana, flaxseed and protein powder. I have figured out that most of what goes in it, besides the protein powder is Power Foods. For lunch today, the plan is to have the Simple Start Tun...

Admittedly, today is one of those days. I have a headache…it isn’t migraine status and to be honest, I think it is my allergies, but it is annoying as all get out. Foodwise, it’s not been too bad. I did, however, splurge when my bosses came and asked me if I wanted Jersey Mike’s. I always get the same thing (#7 Turkey & Provolone Sub in a Tub, Mike’s Way). I’ve already calculated the PointsPlus value and it’s in my SparkPeople Tracker as well. I have been trying to be good about tracking my food even though I have mostly been following the Simply Filling Plan which allows you to only track your “extras”. I just feel more comfortable tracking. I changed my tracker to Simply Filling instead of counting PointsPlus. My Weekly PointsPlus allowance refreshes on Thursday (at 12:01 a.m.), but so far, it appears that I have definitely been dipping into my Activity Points as well.  Good thing I’ve been working out, right? Exercise wise, I took a walk with my husband to get our lunch on S...

I’m really trying to find a balance on the Simply Filling plan. I can’t honestly say that I have been following Simple Start to a “T” because I found that some of the things that I would like to have that were suggested in our meeting like Cheerios were not really on the list. Cheerios have seemingly become my go to snack when I need a little crunch and don’t have any freggies on hand that don’t require cooking. I know the red light probably just went on. Please know that I am planning my meals and I keep sugar free/natural applesauce on hand, as well as some frozen Green Giant veggies and have been bring fat free Greek yogurt with me as a snack as well. Just sometimes I need a little crunch. I do put them in 1 cup bags (Ziploc Snack bags are the perfect size). We are supposed to warm up a little later in the week and I’m excited because I planned a little (okay, maybe not so little) Greek salad for myself. Although the Simple Start recipe calls for Fat Free Feta, I couldn’t fi...

1. What is your all time favorite movie? Hmm…I am a great fan of Sense & Sensibility and of some of the old black and whites…The Desk Set, Shop Around the Corner. 2. Who is your favorite actor and actress? I really enjoy watching Leonardo DiCaprio recently, as for actress, that is a little harder for me. I think Julia Roberts. 3. What is the first movie you ever saw at the cinema? I honestly cannot remember, but I do remember taking my oldest son (when he was very young) to see Backdraft. 4. Did you watch The Oscars last night? Unfortunately, I did not. We don’t have cable or antennae so I did not watch it. 5. How many of the Best Picture nominations did you watch and which did you enjoy the most? Honestly, I’m not sure we saw any of them. We tried, but were not successful. 6. What did you think of Ellen hosting The Oscars? I am hearing all sorts of things from last night, but I think she is an awesome host. 7. If you had the chance to play a part in any movie, what would...

Yesterday? Well, honestly, I have really realized that weekends are hard for me. I think it is the lack of schedule. We had such a nice day on Saturday for things to turn completely on Sunday and we were under a winter weather advisory. We quickly got our grocery errands taken care of and headed home for the rest of the day. I did drink some hot tea instead of my normal hot chocolate when the weather is cold. I am thankful that I found some hot tea that I like and can drink without sugar. It is much easier for me when I have my routine to fall back on. I am still trying to adjust to the Simple Start/Simply Filling Plan. I am still tracking because I feel better doing so, but I am feeling more and more comfortable with it each passing day. Although Mother Nature seems to be trying to thwart my workout plans…little did she know that I had a backup plan with some DVDs in the event that the bad weather struck. If anyone of my WW friends has some suggestions for snack foods, I...

Honestly, I can't say yesterday was the best day ever, but I don't think I did too bad considering I am allowing for the human factor as well.  DH and I did buy some new teas for me to try which I hope will help curb the craving for sweets.  We bought a Red Velvet Cupcake tea and a Chocolate Covered Strawberry tea.  I also have a Chocolate Mint Truffle tea that is awesome!   I did sort of splurge at dinner.  To be honest, we went to the gun range and even if I had packed a snack, I wouldn't have felt comfortable trying to eat it because my hands were dirty from reloading magazines, etc.  I wound up having a Taqueria style chicken quesadilla.  I didn't have nearly enough fruits and veggies, but I did mostly stay within my PointsPlus for the day.  Breakfast was a 2 egg sandwich with fat free cheese on a sandwich thin and a banana, which is all free under Weight Watchers Simply Filling plan.  Oh and let's not forget my coffee, which was 0...