Sometimes You Just Gotta Go with the Flow.....

Hello Y'all!

Hope you had a great weekend and stayed cool wherever you were! Holy moly it was in the 90's at our house. Yuk. Sooo not a hot person. But, I will say that being 53 lbs lighter from last summer did make a difference. I was not one giant dripping water faucet sweat ball! :) And, I was able to work out during it. Sooo happy we also put in the air conditioning late last summer. Sure made sleeping better.

So, first up is WI. Lost 2.4 lbs. :) That puts me at hitting another mini goal! Spoke with my leader Marie about my varying WI's lately. We looked back over my tracking. My points level is fine, but I need to get more of the healthy guidelines in. I don't tend to have any dairy more than 1 or 2 times a week. I don't get 8 glasses of water (more like 4). I get 2 fruits, but probably 1-3 vegetables. I also sporadically get the oil in. Ugh, this is going to be tough. Those aren't some of my favorite things, so I would rather "spend" my points on a dessert, or larger portion size for lunch/dinner. Going to work on the dairy this week. Wish me luck! I've also been doing the same exercise routine for awhile, so it was suggested I switch it up a bit. I'm such a creature of habit, I like my routines!

I had a big NSV (non-scale victory) that I keep forgetting to mention. When I was at my highest weight last year, I had back pain when I slept. So bad, that I would toss/turn, get up every hour, or finally get out of bed at 6am because I couldn't take it anymore. I was very sleep deprived. Strangely, the back pain only happened when I would lie down. As soon as I was upright, life was good. So I spent a lot of money on a new and adjustable bed. It seemed to help for a bit, but then after losing 50+ lbs, the back pain was back! :( Huh? I'm confused!! It was horrible, constant, and every drug under the sun wouldn't make it go away. I didn't know if it was my scoliosis, herniated disk, weight, or what. I was getting desperate. But then, almost 2 weeks ago, I adjusted the bed so I'm basically in a zero gravity position and guess what... No Pain!! It's not a great sleeping position, because I love sleeping on my side, but it works for now. So happy to not wake up every hour or stiff as a board in the morning. :)

This weekend I had to kind of go with the flow. I had plans pretty much the whole weekend and we were having a heat wave! I woke up Saturday am with the most absolute worst sinus headache, stuffy nose, and earache. I thought, ok, just go to WI and then come home and rest. It got worse at the meeting, so I couldn't wait to get home. Rested most of the day, took meds, and by 5pm I was feeling a bit better. So, I went to the gym. Actually had a GREAT workout! But, by the time I got home and had dinner, I was now dealing with stomach issues. It was like I got a 24 hr flu. Hubby was even sick! We both called it a night and crashed early. I was ok in the am, so went to the gym. But, had to cut the gym short. Wonky stomach was back in a big way. Wasn't sure I was going to make it to see the friends today and pretty much waited to the last minute. But stomach calmed down. Had a very nice visit, and now home resting again. Sometimes, you gotta take not just each day, or meal, but each moment, one at a time.

Hubby lost 0.2 lbs, but it was enough to give him his 10%!!! Yay hubby, what a great job! And a friend hit a great milestone too! :) And, so proud of another friend that has started on her journey! Here's to the journey to health and living with ease and peace!! :) Have a great week and stay cool!

Cheers!!

Riding the Roller Coaster of Weight Loss (and Life!)

Hello!

Happy Summer and hope you enjoyed a lovely weekend! Holy cow it has just been beautiful here and it's getting warmer. Not so thrilled with that part. I'm a 70s girl, not 80s or 90s. Yuk! I had a pretty jam packed weekend, so not much rest. I did have 2 great workouts. Although, I bought new shoes and man did I get the sore feet and blisters after today! ;( Hoping I can adjust them and they'll be better tomorrow.

So, had a feeling WI wasn't going to be great yesterday. My ankles have really been swelling even with taking the diuretic! I had a feeling I was retaining. Up 2.2 lbs. Yep, so I guess this is how it's gonna be. Riding the weight loss roller coaster. Up 2, up a little more, down a huge amount, repeat. So weird. So, I was thinking today that I need to come up with some new reward goals. It could be awhile before I hit scale number goals, but that doesn't mean I'm not making progress or doing the right things. So, I am thinking of goals like: increased exercise and maintained for a week; able to fit into a size lower clothing; 1 or 2 activity points hit on my non-formal workout days for a week; walking a 5K, etc. I think having those things on the list will help.

I was so happy for my friend who reached some big goals yesterday! Hubby is also doing well. He lost 2.2 lbs, cause he gave them to me!! Haha! :) He is so close to a goal and huge milestone. So excited for him. But men stink! :) I have to kill myself practically 5 times a week to lose (I mean gain!) anything. He has not formally worked out yet and is not hungry one bit ever, and he loses every week.

But speaking of gaining and losing. I had good thinking time today while I was driving to see my friend, and one thing that popped in my head was the weight I was on my wedding day, and the weight I was when I entered the program last year. The bad thing was I had gained 65 lbs in 2 years. Ugh, not good! But then, you know how people always say "the weight didn't come on quickly, so you can't expect it to come off quickly". I'm usually like, yeah yeah yeah, I know. But then it dawned on me.....It took me 2 years to gain 65 lbs, so why do I think or expect it to come off in a year or less?! If it takes anything less than 2 years, then I'm doing good!! :)

Had a great visit today with a dear friend who I hadn't seen in WAY too long. So glad we could finally get together.

Well, it's Monday again soon and we are back at it. Wishing you all a great week!

Cheers!

Now THAT was a Good WI!! :) On the Road Again.......

Hello!
Happy Saturday to you, and Father's Day to all the dads, grandpa's, and doggie daddy's!  What a crazy week I had.  So glad to have no big plans this weekend really and just rest, do the normal routine, and some house stuff.  Work kicked my butt last week with big deadlines, long hours, frustration, and being tired.  I have a feeling it is going to be like this for awhile.  I need to get more sleep then!  This week I stuck to the WW plan, like I do every week, but I did eat a few less weekly points.  I also started back on my diuretic, as my ankles were just out of control swollen to the point that my legs were hurting.  I hate taking it because I feel dizzy and just not all there, but I know it helps.  Just did the low dose though.  I got in a bit more water this past week, but I'm still way off the mark.  Ugh, it's soo hard for me!  I love water when I workout, but that's about the only time.  This diuretic dries me out even more, so I seriously need to drink, drink, DRINK!  I had some good workouts.  Gave myself a pass on one day because my body felt like it was hit by a truck!  Slowly it got better, and by today I did a really hard fast workout and shaved another 45 seconds off my mile.  Now doing 2.5% incline at 3.2 mph, and about an 18 min mile.  Yay!

Today I cleaned out half of my closet and got rid of the items that were too big or that I was keeping, but are totally out of style.  I kept one of the largest tops and pants as a reminder, but all the rest are gone.  I needed to make room for some new clothes. :)  Yep, I will not b*^$h and moan ever again about gaining weight while sticking to the plan.  Thanks so much for all your encouragement, reassuring words, and weight loss words of wisdom!!  It helped a lot.  I learned a lesson these past few weeks.  The body is unpredictable, and if anything it is a slow "learner".  It will do what it is going to do and regulate when it is ready, but keep to the plan and you will come out ahead at some point. :)  Cause I lost 6.8 lbs this week!!!!!!!  I was shocked.  I knew I was losing this week, because my clothes finally felt looser, not annoying or tight.  But wow!  I'm very close to another milestone goal and I can practically touch it! :)  Feels great.  So happy to be back in the 30's again.  Down 42.3 lbs since Jan, and 52.3 since last year!  Hubby was so proud of me that I came home to a sweet card and a gift card for more music to power my workouts. :)  I was also proud and happy with myself that I was able to persevere and stay on track when I was soo frustrated.  I have not binged or used food to cope in over a year now. It almost feels like a long distant friend that I'm losing touch with.  And I'm okay with that!  Tackling one hurdle at a time is the name of the game.

Hubby lost a 1/2 lb and is so close to his next milestone, 10% loss!  So happy for him.  We are a great team. :)  I am thinking of signing up for a 5K soon, but it needs to be right for my first one.  Not too early, near the water/cool breeze, etc.  Picky, Picky! haha! :) I think I'd like to do one down at Liberty Station because it's flat, near the water, has restrooms, etc.  So, that is on my list of goals.  If you'd like to join me and keep me company, or meet one of your goals, let me know!

Here's to a great rest of the weekend and hoping you all are doing well and enjoying summer!  I'll leave you with some motivational thoughts: You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.  Rule your mind or it will rule you.. :)  Thanks again for all your support, it means the world and helps me stick to this journey!

Cheers!

Going in the Wrong Direction!

Hello out there!
Happy Saturday to you all.  I'm soo happy it's the weekend. :)  The rest of this week was much calmer.  I went to the dr yesterday for strange sharp chest pain on one side that came on all of a sudden when I breathed deep all week.  As for the pain, I was pretty sure it wasn't heart or lungs because I continued to workout all week and didn't keel over.  The true test! Ha! :)  Turns out it was Chostochondritis or more specifically Tietze Syndrome.  Huh?!  It is inflammation of the cartilage that joins the ribs to the breastbone. Tietze syndrome (sounds like a bug!) is accompanied by a localized swelling at the painful area (the junction of the ribs and breastbone).  It can be caused by a respiratory infection (which I had possibly very minor symptoms of), otherwise it is of unknown origin.  Great, add another strange medical ailment to the list!  I'm a new doctor or medical student's dream. :)  I am feeling better now, so at least it was short lived and I didn't waste my weekend at urgent care.

At the drs, they weighed me, but I declined to look.  I only go by the WW scale.  But, the WW scale has become my red double horned beast with a pitch fork and wicked smile!  I was really wanting a loss at WI today, after the "unknown" gain last week.  Honestly, I didn't know how it was going to go. Again, I had this inkling that it would be a small loss if any.  Gained 0.2 lbs!  What? Are you freaking serious??!!  Okay weight loss Gods, what is going on?  I was not happy.  It put me in a bit of a foul mood to be going backwards.  I mean, I could totally be okay with it if I knew it was because I was splurging or enjoying some great food or dessert or drink, but I'm not!  I've avoided the alcohol, the cookies, the donuts, the cake, the catered lunches at work.  I've even had longer cardio workouts lately (i.e. 3 miles!).  Soo, time to analyze the situation.

I am being tested!! Kidding. A few things went through my head.  1) My ankles have been quite swollen lately so I think I'm eating too much salt, and I know I don't drink enough water.  That will be my number 1 goal for this week!  2) Am I not eating enough? Perhaps.  This one is always hard for me to figure out. I eat all of my daily points, usually half of the weekly points, and don't convert activity points to food points.  It was working for me, I'm not usually hungry, but now I'm confused.  3) Our dinner delivery service has been on maternity leave so we went to a new service.  They are individual meals with the nutrition on them, low-carb, from a fitness place.  Could the nutrition labels be wrong??  4) I've been eating out a bit more at mom and pop type places (that don't have the nutrition available), but I order healthy the best I can and tend to overestimate on the points (or so I think!).  I'm in a quandary.  I will not have a third week of gain you scale devil....I will defeat you!

Started by going to the gym this afternoon and had a fast paced long workout.  It felt good.  Cut 20 seconds more off my 1 mile time.  Hi-ya karate chop evil scale devil, you are toast!

Last week at our meeting, a woman who lost 80 lbs spoke.  It was perfect timing, because I sooo needed to hear this.  She said, the first time she did WW, she had lost 30 lbs (needed to lose about 50). One week she gained 5 lbs.  That threw her into a funk and derailed her, started the spiral down and weight back up.  When she got around to doing WW the second time, she now needed to lose 80 lbs.  She said, gaining 5 lbs puts you still closer to your goal and further from the starting gate.  It's only 5 lbs.  It's a week, two, maybe 3 weeks of setback.  Let everything fly out the window and it's a year or two of setback, and further from the starting gate to goal.

This is keeping me motivated in a time like this.  Because in the past, I would have thrown the towel in and said ef''it, if I'm going to gain I might as well eat all the good stuff!

Hubby lost 1 lb for a total of 30 lbs! Excited for him, I can notice his loss. :)

Enjoy a fabulous Sunday!

The Last 6 Days...But, Today was a New Day! :)

Well, today was the first day that I was able to come up for air in about 6 days.  It's been a crazy 6 days at that.  It was a yuck week for too many people I know.  From losing pets to pets being hospitalized.  Then, I spent several days working on things for P's Celebration of Life on Saturday.  Our friend C, who also has "C", was organizing most of it in conjunction with P's husband.  I had emailed everything I needed to do to C but hadn't heard back.  Then, she called Thurs night to let me know she was in the hospital and may not get out in time.  Oh heck!  I was very worried about her, had no idea how I was going to take over last minute because work was insane and we had a meeting offsite Friday.  I was stressed.  Then Friday all heck broke loose at work, fires to put out, and I had to leave for the meeting. Ugh!  I could feel my blood pressure rising. We got back and I stayed at work until 7pm, on a Friday night! :(  No fun!  I was exhausted.  I still had things to do for Saturday, and figure out the plans for Sunday-getting to the play American Idiot downtown in the middle of the Rock and Roll Marathon and buying presents for the family birthday dinner Sunday night.

Saturday am C called to say she got the program done and sent to kinko's, FROM HER HOSPITAL BED! She was to get discharged at 11am, run home, and then come to the Celebration.  Insanity.  She worries me. I made it to the gym in the am and then to weigh in.  I had this feeling all week I was going to gain. Didn't deviate from the plan, other than just ate more weekly points cause I was hungry..... but yep, way to go! Gained 2.2 lbs.  I expected it so I wasn't too upset, but it definitely meant I couldn't deviate at the Celebration.  So, we ate before we went and headed over.  It was a nice turnout.  It was good to see old friends and colleagues, but not under these circumstances.  Her husband was just devastated. It broke my heart. I was happy we could do this for him (and her). The last 2 weeks since her passing he was putting in all the things into the new house that she had wanted.  Tore me up. I hope she knew how much he loved her, because he really did.

The Celebration was filled with great food (none for me), perfect prayers and poems, beautiful program, stories, tons and tons of tears, and some laughs. We were getting ready to leave, when P's childhood friend who had flown down for the day from San Fran had this chaotic look of panic on her face. I asked her if something was wrong, and she said she just got a call that her mother died and she had to get back to San Fran asap. Oh my gosh!!! So, we all jumped in my car and rushed her the 30 or so miles to the airport. How awful.  I've had enough sadness and grief this last week to last a year.  Hear that universe?! :)  Once she was safely off, we headed home. Mind you, I'm starving now!! I am emotionally spent and have no energy to figure out something decent for dinner, so we do a hamburger jr. and small fries from Burger King. :(  Should have had the dang party food, would have tasted a lot better!

Sunday, I woke up at like 5am. Why?! Laid in bed, got some coffee, and figured out how to get to the play. Thought it would be a nightmare, but it turned out to be pretty easy.  Yay for small miracles! After the play, I walked 3 miles and went grocery shopping.  Then, it was off to meet the family for a late dinner.  Can I go to bed yet?  Pretty please??!! Finally got home around 9pm and basically couldn't sleep the whole night. Seriously? Really really wanted to take Monday off.  But, didn't. So, dragged myself to work to only have this crap week continue-under the gun for a huge deadline yesterday, 300 page document crashed near the end and wasn't auto-saving.... Left work about 7:30pm, no gym, and I'm a total grouch and can't see straight!! Grrrrrrrr!

But, today was a new day! :)  I did have a few good things happen. I got to go clothes shopping..in my closet! :)  New things to wear! Had great friends by my side during this week.  Had some good workouts. And, I'VE GOT LESS THAN 100 LBS TO LOSE!! :) Yay!

Cheers!