When everything you do seems right

This week has been an okay week for me. I haven't had too many highs or too many lows. I suppose that should be a good thing.

We just started a contest last week which runs for six weeks. We have a turkey that we get to add feathers to. If you drink all your 6-8 glasses of water everyday you get a feather. If you fill out your food diary everyday you get a feather. If you call at least one person in your TOPS group you get a feather, and lastly you get a feather for every pound you lose.

So, I am excited about this, I have no problem getting in my water, keeping my food diary and calling a fellow member to give them encouragement. What got me down is that I gained weight this week.

I am not upset by this, I was actually expecting it, I am seeing a trend in my weight loss. I seem to lose a lot of weight in one week and then I either gain, or lose very little the next week.

I guess this is a big attitude change for me. I am not upset by the gain. I didn't eat any differently last night than I would have if I had a loss.

It seems to me that I am making small achievements. I am on my 43rd day of my new lifestyle change (it is not a diet), and though I am far from having things under control, I am making noticeable progress.

Just like two weeks ago when I had done everything right and only lost 3/4 of a pound and I wanted to pig out, I resisted and the results last week were phenomenal. This week, I gained 3/4 of a pound and I didn't even have the urge to pig out.

I was thinking this morning before posting, why is it that when I lost 3/4 of a pound I was so disappointed that I had only lost that much, but this week I gained 3/4 of a pound and I am fine with it. That is some seriously messed up thoughts there.

I will learn from that too.

Well, this is Thanksgiving week, and I will be surrounded by family and good food, but I plan on making guilt free choices that day, and even if I mess up a little that is okay too, because I am certain that eating this year is healthier for me then it was last year.

Until next time, I hope to lose nothing but weight and gain nothing but knowledge.

This was more than I expected

Well I sure did not expect this. Last week, I put a challenge out to all the members at my TOPS group and everyone did it successfully excepts for me. Can you believe it? I put the challenge out there and I couldn't even follow through with my own challenge. I had decided that this week, I would not do any emotional eating. I had done well all week until Saturday evening.
By Saturday evening I had gotten in three 1 hour sessions at the gym for the week, I had drank all my water everyday and I had not gone over my weekly points at all. I also had not given into emotional eating all week. That all changed on Saturday evening. I had a really busy active day on Saturday and then that evening when my son got home from work, he was hungry and I decided to order subs for him, and I also ordered one for myself. Here is my thinking behind this. I was a little hungry, I still had quite a few calories left to eat and I still had like three fruits and veggies and 1 milk to get in. My best intentions were to just get in my quota of food and then be done, but NO I had a coupon where it was cheaper to buy three subs. (I think I saved like a dollar) , I ordered the sub and ate the whole thing. If I had stopped there then I would have been okay, but I ate a half of a big bag of Cheddar Chex Mix.
Sunday did not fair much better for me but the only difference is I stayed in my calorie range, but I still feel I made poor food choices.
I broke my one challenge for myself because I ate out of sheer boredom.
So, now I am once again up to Monday realizing I have to face the weigh in; I am not looking forward to it. I am sure that I have gained weight this week. How do I know this? Because that is one other thing that triggered off my bad eating on Saturday. I weighed myself on bath scales at home and had actually gained a pound.
Since I had been working out for two weeks now, and having only one bad day out of that previous time, keep in mind that this week, I had no bad food days yet, and I had only lost 3/4 of a pound the previous week, I could not understand why I wasn't losing this week.
Apparently, my bathroom scales are off because, (and here is the reason that this is more than I expected) I lost 10 1/4 pounds this week. I was so in shock that I had to recheck the figures twice. I am still being weighed using that special clamp. Well, the scales do not lie (unless you are using the cheap bathroom scales).

So, I guess what I am trying to figure out, is first I should not weigh myself between weekly weigh-ins no matter how tempting, and I should find a way to control my weekend food choices. Right now weekends are my weak point and I am not sure how to deal with it yet, but I will figure this out.

Also, I have lost a total of 22 3/4 pounds in five weeks, and I don't need to be weighed using the special clamp anymore. What a wonderful week this will be.

Until next time, I hope to lose nothing but weight and gain nothing but knowledge.

What change can I make this week?

Well, I am beginning my fourth week with my diet. The first thing I want to mention is that I have lost a total of 12 1/2 pounds.

This past week has had it's ups and downs for me. I had a pretty good week, I got all my water in every day, kept a food journal every day and only had one bad food day. This is an improvement for me because I have been having more than one bad food day in the past weeks.

I was at my diet group last night and I challenged all the members to do one thing different that they don't normally do and that made me think about what I could be doing differently. I have been trying to do one thing different every week.

Last week I joined the YMCA. So, I went Friday night for my first time to swim and just do some general exercising in the water which is so much easier on the joints. I was in the water for 40 minutes and I had to get out after that because I was starting to feel some pain. Let me tell you that when I stepped out of the water I could barely walk. My whole body felt as if it weighed 500 lbs, which I am happy to say is NOT my true weight. While I was in the water it felt nice and a little uncomfortable but getting out I felt pulled muscles in places that I didn't even know existed. Well, I turned around and went to the Y again on Saturday because I felt fairly good and I had went to a workshop for TOPS and I was really pumped up. Saturday I spent an hour in the water and once again I got out and felt the weight of the world, but I decided to try cycling because my son told me that it was super easy. My son is not overweight and he is young, so what made me think I could believe him? Well, I got on the bike and after like 8 minutes I had tears rolling down my cheeks and when I stepped off the bike my legs felt like rubber. I still had to walk to my vehicle. I overdid it on Saturday, so I took Sunday off.

Well, now back to the challenge I gave the other members and what is it can I change this week?

After much thinking I have decided that I am going to have a more positive attitude this week and not give into my emotional eating. That is a huge thing for me. I am doing everything else that I should be doing but I am "Tempted to use food to satisfy my frustrated desires"

I lost 3/4 pounds this week and I was bummed out by this, but after talking to a few of my supporters, I now feel better. I need to look at all the accomplishments I made this past week, I did do my food diary every day (and even won a little award for that), I did get all my water in for the week, I exercised at least three times this week, and last but not least, last night after weigh in when my head told me I wanted to go pig out, I went to the gym and swam for 40 minutes. So, I did have a good week.

So my message is this, it is not always about the weight that is being lost, it is about the new attitude you adopt to become a healthier person.

Until next week, I hope to lose nothing but weight and gain nothing but knowledge.

The joys of losing weight

I never thought that the joys of camping and losing weight could go hand in hand.


First off when you talk about the joys of camping, that is just an oxymoron. It seems like whenever I think about past camping experiences it is always because something has gone wrong. I can't even remember a camping experience where it has all gone through without a hitch. Yet, I still get excited at the prospect of getting away from it all and getting out in nature to do nothing but relax and eat. Well, I usually end up doing one thing and relaxing is not it.


There is just something so magical about eating food cooked over a fire. The fresh air just brings out the joy of eating for me. For someone of my size food is an important factor in my life. So here I am, the thought of hot dogs over the fire, marshmallows, chips, potato and ham packs sauteed in butter, hamburgers; muffins and cakes for breakfast...


Well, I think you can imagine how a gal like me would be in all her glory, but alas...I am on a diet.


What to do, what to do...well knowing that I am going camping I can start planning. Since I am following a certain diet plan where you calculate points I decide that I will save all my extra points for the weekend. Good plan.

Next I start thinking about ways too be able to eat all my favorite foods without all those guilt ridden calories, so I start buying low-cal foods and low-fat foods. The second part of my plan is complete. So far, so good.

Now I am at the campground; I realized a long time ago that when I get stressed out I want to eat, so with that in mind and knowing that every camping excursion has always had some problems rise; it stresses me out.

I want to eat! I don't want to have to write in my food diary, I don't want to have to control my food portions, I don't want to think about the low cal foods while everyone else is eating candy and chips and beef hot dogs. I want this part of my camping adventure to be a pleasant one because lets face it, I have already had to run all over the place trying to get my cabin unlocked; I had to sleep in my car in 30 degree weather because of unpleasant sleeping arrangements and now I want the fun part to come and I want to eat.


Well, I did stick to plan 1 and plan 2 and then I even watched my portions, filled out my food diary and didn't eat the high calorie foods and I am happy to say that I got through the weekend.


Now I am up to Monday and I am at my TOPS group and wondering how I did for the week. I did go over in my weekly points but not by a whole lot. Ohhhhh the anticipation.


I step on the scales, which still has to be altered so I can get weighed, an 'lo and behold I have lost 6 1/4 pounds.


My message I wanted to get out is this...it can be done, with a little planning you can have you camping and eat too.


Have a great week and until next time, I hope to lose nothing but weight and gain nothing but knowledge. (Thanks to Carol B. for that line)