The Million Dollar Question

Yes, the million dollar question is....Did I actually get my workout in last night after working over 10 hours? ABSOLUTELY! I kicked Todd out of the living room about a half hour after dinner and I exerercised for an hour!

The scales moved back down 2 pounds today. So now I'm only up about 2 - 2.5 pounds from where I was on Tuesday. Just thought about it...I had sauerkraut...VERY high in sodium...and ham...also very high in sodium. Could that be contributing??? Probably! Oh well.....I'm going to do my best to be able to call Thanksgiving week a 'maintain' or better week! That means I'll be watching what I eat and do very carefully....even more than normal, if that is possible.

The alarm was set an hour early this morning. However, when it went off, I just didn't want to get up! I hit the snooze...and snuggled close to Todd. Man, that nine minutes goes by FAST! When it off the second time, I got up...grabbed my exercise clothes and went at it. So....now I sit here at work...I'm already exercised up for the day and all that good stuff! Todd has a break in the studio from like 4-6. Then he worked an hour or so...and we are eating after that. So I may exercise or play DDR a bit in that break to get a bit more exercise in! :-)

Afternoon update

I had my super yummy lunch. Lots of leftovers. I had leftover sauerkraut and green beans and some pumpkin mousse/fluff. YUMMY. I also threw in a clemantine and a kiwi! Filled me right up!

Now to make sure I exercise tonight when I get home!!!! What do to... I was dissapointed becasue the two nice days that we've had recently...I wanted so bad to be out on my bike riding outside...and alas, I was stuck inside and busy! That really bites! At least dinner won't be much work as I actually prepared it yesterday and I have left instructions for Todd to put it in the oven so that it is ready when I get home.

So far today the foot isn't aching as badly as it was yesterday. That's a really good thing!!! Especially when it comes to exercising tonight!

Thanksgiving, aches and pains and extreme tiredness

The day before Thanksgiving was busy. Todd and I ran around and did errends all morning. We went to Longhorn for lunch. We had a complimentary meal coupon (because of a problem during a previous visit). I had a salad, a baked sweet potato, brandied apples and some steamed veggies. I could only eat half of the steamed veggies...there was too much food (todd helped a bit with the apples also). When we got home, we moved a piece of furniture to our storage place, moved some train layout boards to a shed and brought down the Christmas decorations from the attic. I then spent a couple hours really cleaning the living room (moved furniture and all that) and putting up the Christmas decorations. I ran out and got us subs from Subway at around 6PM. Came home, ate my sub and went into the kitchen where I did my cooking for Thanksgiving day. At about 8:30 our piano tuner came (it was a scheduled visit)....so it was about 9:30 or so until I was able to fall into bed exhausted. (Oh yes, I had exercised early that morning).

The alarm went off at 6AM on Thanksgiving day. I diligently went to the living room (aka workout room) and worked out for just under an hour. I had breakfast, showered, did a load of laundry and got everything ready to take to mom's. I also got Todd's breakfast ready...he was exhausted on Tuesday so I wanted him to be able to sleep as long as possible. (He hadn't budged as I'd moved around the house). I woke him up 20 minutes before we had to leave.

We got to mom's at around 9:30 (we left our house at 8:15...picked up Ronnie at 9...and at mom's by 9:30). I peeled potatoes and helped mom out in the kitchen for a bit....and we took time to sit in the living room and chat when we could. For lunch I ate a little bit of meat, sauerkraut, green beans, baked butter beans, mashed potatoes, harvard beets, peas, stuffing (yum, I LOVE my mom's stuffing). For my sweet tooth I had some jello with mandarin oranges and some pumpkin mousse! (Yummy!.....I'm having more for lunch today.... 1 point for 1/2 cup!). My indulgance yesterday...I had a piece of applesauce cake and a snickerdoodle cookie that mom had made for dad. I also drank my full 64 ounces of water!

Soooooo....knowing that...and seeing that I didn't eat like a mad woman. WHY THE HECK is my weight showing me up 5 POUNDS since Tuesday morning???????? Ok....5 pounds times 3500 calories that make up a pound....that's a HECK of a lot of food! In fact, that's 17500 calories to make up that five pounds. There is NO WAY IN HECK that I ate 17500 extra calories in two days! I'm not overly upset...because I know that I didn't eat that much food. I'm just disgusted...because I do feel as if I ate wisely! Oh well...that's the nature of the beast!

I'm thinking about not weighing myself again until next Tuesday morning. SO I don't panic or obsess about. Just eat right the next couple days and take it like a man....err woman!

What's up with the weather??? One day I'm wearing shorts and tee shirts...the next day my winter coat????? I don't like this.....because i'm STILL constantly cold!

Yesterday evening I was just exhausted. I think the busyness of my few days just really caught up with me! We got home and I put my leftovers away...and put together a Shepherds pie for dinner tonight. It was all I could do stay awake. I ended up falling asleep for about a half our or so. ANd that was good enough to hold me through until a 'decent' time to go to bed. HOWEVER, Todd and i were in bed at 7PM...watching tv. :-)

Aches....my feet are soooo sore! The one hurts so horribly! It's a real struggle to exercise because of the pain! In fact, this morning...I struggled with actually exercising. The alarm went off an hour early so I could get up and exercise. However, it was cool in the house (dang weather changes), my foot hurt like a banshee, and last but not least...I was just struggling with waking up! I WILL exercise tonight!!! I even asked Todd to help me to actually do it!!!!

Holiday Manifesto

Saw this online and it was a good reminder! It would work for any special occaision!!!
1) it's ONE DAY out of the year. So have anything (within reason), and don't stress. Enjoy it.
2) Savor foods that are particular to that holiday, and skip anything that you don't really care as well as things that are always available throughout the year - ie. the bread basket, cheese tray, etc.
3) Remember: one day means back to good habits the next day - no excuses.
4) Go for a long walk after the meal!

Core Day 7....and The END

Well....day seven of my core week is almost over. I can see why people would like to do core. However, I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is not for me. :-) Although I would be tempted to do core over a holiday, for the simple fact that if I chose my foods carefully I wouldn't have to worry about portions or how much I was eating!

Woah.......it's now Tuesday morning. I forgot that I was in the middle of writing my blog...turned off the monitor to go make dinner...and never went back to the computerlast night. Turned on my monitor this morning and was confronted with the first paragraph of my blog entry!

Well....Core is officiallly done. I'm glad that I experienced. I can see why people like it. But I'm happy to be back to flex!

I did weigh in at my lowest ever this morning.....182.8. SO I"m happy about that!

Core Day 6

I'm gonna finish this week if it kills me! Ok, so today wasn't all that bad. I can just realize that this option in the weight watchers is just not for me. I'm down to about 183.2 pounds. So it hasn't been all that bad. However, that's where I was before the ick hit. So for me, at least I didn't gain! Oh well.

Spent some time with mom again today. We had to make our plans for Thanksgiving day. We are in the process of changing out plans. :-) I think we are going to end up making a T-day dinner ourselves. Why spend $100 dollar for 5 people to eat...when we can prepare the exact same thing for a fraction of the cost.

Day Five Core

Core is going ok. I'm on day five. I've already figured out that Core is definitely NOT something that I would be satisfied doing long term. It is way to restrictive. Yeah, I know that I could use my flex points for those 'extras'. But it just still seems too restrictive! I'm determined to go through the entire week though...and considering I'm on day 5, I think I'll make it. There is merit to this plan..just not for me.

Yesterday I was 183.0 Today I weighed in at 183.6. I've been trying to figure out exactly why. We had a crock pot meal...diet coke chicken....over whole wheat pasta. Corn (frozen...from my garden), and applesauce. I did use 3 flex points and had a bite of dessert. I've been trying to figure out what caused my weight to jump .6 pounds. The only thing I can think of. I put salt in the corn. The diet coke has sodium...and ketchup is high in sodium (right?). I did drink more than my 64 ounces yesterday...so that shouldn't be a factor. So I'm thinking the sodium is probably it. We'll see though! Not too worried about it though.

Had a nice visit with the pastor last night. He seems like a really down to earth guy. Not overly legalistic or anything like that....which is good! :-) His preaching is top notch, which is the important thing. We are very impressed with him and his views. He was apologetic about some and was like, if this scares you off, then so be it. I was like, "I'm here because of that view!" Basically he said he is more concerned about our spiritual walk versus building the church into a huge number. AMEN!

Thank heavens dinner last night turned out! haa haa haa. Ok, I knew it would...it's one that we've had before! :-)

Tonight for dinner we are having ham steak, pasta salad (not core....but that's for todd) and a variety of vegetables. I haven't decided, but I was originally planning on having parsley potatoes (yes, I can make them core...with the fat free butter)..but Todd mentioned wanting the pasta salad (luckily for me, he likes a creamy pasta salad...which I don't like...I prefer oil based pasta salads...so I won't be as tempted). So....the pasta salad may be parsley potatoes.....who knows. :-) I'd probably be better off without the potatoes! :-) What to do...what to do....hmmm. Well, considering we will eat late tonight because of Todd's work schedule, I have plenty of time to think about it! Lunch will probably be tuna salad (made with FF mayo to be core), fruits and veggies. Yummy!

Core day 4

Ok, I'm feeling marginally better about this core thing today. I thought of a few options for lunch instead of salad that works. That eased my mind a whole lot! :-)

My lunch...I made homemade chicken salad (fat free mayo, celery, etc etc etc). I paired that with leftover corn from last night, pineapple, a kiwi and a clementine. Woah doggie, that clementine literally had 18 seeds in it!!!!! What they hey?

I'm not sure what's happening...but I think some emails that I'm sending AND receiving are disappearing out into oblivion! I have had about three people have to resend me something because I haven't received it. Go figure. Luckily my friends all know that as long as it isn't some foward, and is a real email...I respond....even if it's just to say thanks again! I don't know..but I have this thing that I don't like to be the last one to respond.

I had a nice productive morning today. I woke up and actually took an hour or so in bed to read. At 8, I mosied out to the living room (aka the workout room) and proceeded to do a workout. I had breakfast (oatmeal) ...then took pity on Todd and made him a western omelet. I made chicken salad for lunch, mixed up some jello (yeah, I always forget about jello, but I actually do like it), and put dinner in the crockpot (diet coke chicken). I emptied the dishwasher and reloaded it, straightened the kitchen, straightened the rest of the house, vacumned the whole house, folded and put away a load of laundry, showered, ate lunch and came to work. And here I sit. Tonight the pastor of the church that we recently started attending is coming over to talk. I'm not really looking foward to it.......Todd and I just went through this about a year an a half ago. We settled in the church, became members....became active...and then the rug was pulled out from under us. It's no fun! We tried to leave that church gracefully, without hard feelings and all that. BUT, the hurt is still there on our end. This on top of what the church that i was a member of (where my dad was a preacher) did a few years back.....not cool. BUT, Todd and I immediately tried a few churches. This one seemed to fit the best. So...tonight we get the 'home visit'.

Core Deep thoughts

Ok, I"ll get to the deep thoughts on core. However I need to vent and rant a bit. WHen I planned to do this 'core' thing. I sat down, looked online and at my recipe books and created a menu of core foods. I found recipes that we already eat that is core...and interspersed a few new 'experiemental' meals in to the menu. So I got off work at 6PM and came home all anxious to try out the meal for tonight...which was one of the 'experimental ones'. I had even found a 'core' dessert recipe to try for this meal. Well one hour later...and YUCK! The dessert...eeewwwww. The main dish was yucky also! I called Todd into the kitchen to give him the options. I had him try the main dish....he spit it out in the garbage can! What the heck???? Ok, so we win some, and we lose some.

So...I'm trying this core thing. I firmly believe in the weight watchers program. I myself am a flex girl. I think I've known it from the get go. I never had any real desire to try the core. But you hear people that rave about it. Then you hear about people that kick start their plateaus with one or two weeks of following the core plan versus the flex plan. I've been in this weird whirlpool of weight loss and that has prompted a bunch of people to encourage me to try the core plan. SOOOOOO I did. Day one wasn't too bad. I breezed right through it. Day two wasn't too bad. Then Day three hit. This morning was nice. I had my oatmeal...and thouroughly enjoyed not measuring it out. (Deducted one flex point for my brown sugar). Lunch wasn't too bad either. I had a banana and a big salad with all the trimmin's and fixin's. Doin' good. THEN hits dinner...and the fiasco with the new recipes. So that left me foodless. Todd said he wasn't all that hungry so he made a sandwich. Uhhhh what do I eat..what do I eat. I'm a more picky eater than some. My week was carefully planned out because of that. I stood in the kitchen literally in a tailspin. I ended up eating the corn (that was the only thing edible out of the meal...the corn that I had prepared as a sidedish), jello, a small salad (oh yeah..that's the next problem...I'll save that for the next paragraph though), Butter and Jelly BREAD (ww bread...fat free butter and Jelly...yep, there goes two more points deducted from my weekly totals). I finished eating and I was literally still hungry. So I trooped back to the kitchen and had some oatmeal...yep chalk up another point for more brown sugar! I feel satisfied now. But I was literally miserable because the options were not there. I stood in the kitchen and even though I rarely eat any of teh baked tortilla chips that my husband eats, I looked at them and thought, "I can't eat those" and that made me want them. EVERY WHERE I LOOKED, I saw food that I couldn't eat (shouldn't I should say) and I wanted it!!!! I'm much more able to manage it with the flex program . I think because nothing is taboo. If I want it, I eat it. Yeah, core is the same way...but becuase I'm a picky eater to begin with, I'm using some of those 35 flex points for stuff like the brown sugar. Hmmmmm.........

OK....salads. About a month ago (give or take) I went through a HUGE salad craze. I was hungry for salad's all the time. I hadn't had salad fixin's at the house for a few weeks and it actually sounded like a good idea for my lunches (ok...picky eaters options are more limited). Well....I've eaten...and I'm already sick of salads! What to do the rest of the week! :-)

So, on day three I can pretty much garauntee that the core plan will be something that I do very rarely if ever again! I do plan on sticking it out the rest of the week. AND, I BETTER lose big like so many people claim will happen!!!!!!

Core-Day three

Day three of my core experiment has commenced. I had my oatmeal....counted my flex point for the brown sugar and I'm rollin'! My weight yesterday was still floating at 185.2. Today it was down to 184.4. A couple things that may be affecting the weight to make it go down. Walking for like 5 hours straight. Core eating. The ick having arrived....which will in the very near future alleviate some water retention. So any of those things could have caused the drop in my weight. Looking realistically...I didn't drink enough water yesterday, so I highly doubt that water retention had anything to do with it. I'm tipping the bottle (the water bottle) today!

Battlefield Hike fallout........hmmmmm that sounds ominous! As for sore....my muscles are a bit sore from our walk yesterday. No becuase walking is so strenuous or anything...but because of the length of time we walked. What really hurts are my feet. I've always had feet problems......so being on them for that long kinda kicked up the pain a bit. It will pass...I'll just deal with it. :-) As Todd and I neared our home yesterday at the end of our walk/hike we were talking about how our feet were a bit sore and how we could feel that our muscles had been worked out. It brought up remembrances of some of our previous LONG walks/hikes. This was every bit as long as some of the past ones. There was one that we called the 'death march'....so you know how we felt when it was over! :-) So it has been neat to see how our endurance has changed over the years!

Didn't want to exercise today.....back to that slight soreness from yesterday. HOwever, I went ahead and thirty minutes down! I didn't do anything super high intensity...but I did something. Felt good! Woo hooo!

Core-Day 2

View from the Tower at the Antitam National Battlefield 11-14-07
What a lovely day for a hike. Todd and I woke up and mosied around. I made Spanish Omelets and Canadian Bacon for the two of us. I added toast for Todd. However, I refrained from having toast, as it is not on the core list of foods. It was a nice hearty breakfast and set us up for a wonderful experience outdoors. We checked our email accounts and did a few errends around the house and at about 9AM we were headed out the door. We didn't get far...and had to turn back....We couldn't remember if the stove had been turned off AND I had forgotten to put my cell phone in the backpack. Yeppers, the stove was off. Off we headed again. This time, we got down the main pike and onto the battlefield road. We were looking at our house from an angle that we don't see often and noticed the farm dog standing on the edge of the pike (busy road) staring at us. DARN! So....we started back. Luckily, when we moved out of his site, he mosied back up to lane and to the house.....Off we started again. We walked up roads, down roads, by monuments and waysides. We did climb the tower that stands sentinel at the end of Bloody Lane. From there we got the shot from above. Onward we went! Up hills and down hills we went. It was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect. We both wore jeans, tee-shirts and a sweatshirt. At the beginning of the walk, we needed the sweatshirt...but by the time we got around to Sharpsburg....3 hours later (ok, so we were technically never out of sharpsburg....we started on the North end...about 2 miles out....went out about 1-2 miles east of sharpsburg and ended up about 2 miles south of sharpsburg....then back into Sharpsburg. Anyway, by the time we marched into Sharpsburg, we had our sweatshirts tied around our waists. We stopped at the deli and had a delightful meal with Sallie and Amanda. The conversation was pleasant and as much appreciated, since I had seen neither of these two ladies in a while. We stopped at the bank to make a deposit picked up the mail from our PO Box and then we walked the two miles home. I won't lie...my feet were sore. We were just shy of 20K steps when we finally traipsed up our lane.

Core! So far so good. I made Core Spanish Omelets for breakfast...and Like I said earlier...I didn't have any toast with them! For me that is HUGE! But, I really do want to give Core a real chance! For lunch at the deli I ate a salad topped with chicken salad. I did dip into my flex points for the chicken salad....6 points (per the ingredient list....helps to know the proprietor...you can get exact calculations). I also splurged and had a Diet Pepsi. My usual rule is nothing other than water until AFTER the 64 ounces are down the hatch. I had drank a bottle of water while hiking...and I'd had two large 16 ounce glasses of water with breakfast, so I know I wasn't actually doing too badly! I guess I could actually use some of my many activity points that I earned today to cover my lunch. However, I'm going to simply count them. I plan on being strict this week while I'm on core...and that seems a bit like cheating!

The weight was still up today...but the ick started.....so hopefully in a few days the weight will drop again!

Mr. Bibbs 11-14-07
After we got home we worked to take the garbage down the lane. Yes, it is a two man job. One person to take the garbage down the lane...the other to make sure our 'friends' do not follow down to the main road. SO...I got the lovely job of playing with our batch of kittens. My favorite, Mr. Bibb's posed so perfectly for a picture that I couldn't resist snaping a shot off! Mr. Bibbs and his two brothers are both adorable...as is their mother, still practically a kitten herself! Why oh why do people think that animals are expendable...and thereby drop them off on the side of the road (Yes, this mother cat was dropped off, we assume when her previous owners figured out she was pregnant...and it is obvious that she was a domesticated cate!)

Hopefully we can find homes for them!!!! Meanwhile, they have our hearts!

My own personal miracle.

OK, so it wasn't any grand, "wow, I actually lost weight when I thought I had gained' miracle. However, I was pretty sure that I had gained about 2 pounds. So, when they said, 'you gained 1 pound" I was pretty tickled!

Tonight at our meeting we talked about how to navigate the holiday/thanksgiving dinner. At least I won't have scads of desserts and such to resist. I'll only have to worry about it actually AT the dinner. But when dinners over, and we leave the restaurant, the temptation will be GONE, over DONE! Woo hoooo

I was all bummed last night and today. It's been rainy and wet. We had been planning on hiking the trails on the battlefield tomorrow. Making a full day of it. Well, we know from having hiked the one trail that these trails are not exactly rough...but they are not ones that would be great if it was muddy. SO I've been bummed because I've been looking foward to it ALL week and it is looking like that plan is a no go. Well, on the way to work today I thought to myself. Why can't we leave our house and walk the roads through the battlefield. Yeah, it wouldn't be as pretty...but if we start at our end (the north end) and go the whole way to the southern end, we'd at least be getting in a nice long walk! A couple miles. Then we could still treat ourselves at the deli in town on our way back through. Which would be a treat. We have been cutting down how many times we eat out. Limiting it, I should say. Plus, the deli hasn't been on our top list of places to go since I worked there. So it would be a nice treat...and a fitting addition to a day of local activities. :-)

Tomorrow night we will be in Hagerstown for travelogue. That should be fun also! SO all in all, tomorrow may still end up being a fun day! Oh wait...I have to clean the house really good somewhere in there....in preparation for the preachers visit....hmmmmm think we can bar him entry to our part of the house and just meet him in the studio??? No MaryFran, that won't work! (oh my, am I now talking to myself also.) Ok...I'm scared now! haa haa haa

Am I due a Miracle?

No...I don't expect a miracle to occur! Although it would be nice. I'm actually expecting about a 2 pound gain this week. As disgusted as I am with that, I'm ok with it. I know why I'll show a gain...and there is pretty much nothing I can do about it...so there!

That brings me to a thought of mine. Some people don't weigh daily. I do. I think for me part of it is that I know my body flucuates in weight at certain times of the month. (thankfully now my flucations are only 2 pounds instead of the 10-15 pounds that I used to fluctuate). So isn't it better to know this? Isn't it better to face it daily instead of once a week and just happen to hit it on a high end fluctuation day? I think that would be much more devastating emotionally!

Another thing I noticed. Today, I put on a pair of dress pants that I purchased for the job that I'm currently working at. They were tight at the beginning of the summer. In fact, this particular pair of pants went into the closet and i didn't wear at first. So today I put them on....KNOWING that I've gained my monthly requisite of water weight and the pants are loose. Need a belt loose! NO...I didn't wear my new belt....brown pants and a black belt....nope, not gonna fly! Quite interesting!

Started the core thing this morning! I went to have my oatmeal. I normally measure out my cereal...it's way to easy to pour extra in. So I grabbed my measuring cup (as i normally do in order to measure out my portion of oatmeal) and all of a sudden it hit me...I don't have to measure my oatmeal...it's a core food..which means I can have as much as I want. So I simply poured in the amount that I thought would be sufficient. Same with the milk. I did however measure out the brown sugar that I added....and yes, I used a flex point for the brown sugar that I used. Hmmm....this will be interesting.

I was raving about how I didn't have to measure my oatmeal this morning and Todd was like, "man, I'm in for an interesting week. We'll be eating all we can possible eat of salads. Bowl after bowl' I just laughed. I think he may be in for a surprise, because I've got a pretty good menu planned out. One that I think he'll actually like and appreciate. Actually not at all restrictive. Now I'll admit...i'm a bit of a pickier eater, so I don't know that I would be happy with doing core week in and week out. But for this week, I think I'll make it! Even without the bread! :-)

Like I've said before (I think), this core thing is getting a leg up already becuase my weight is artificially inflated with this water weight. SPEAKING of.....could I be getting rid of some it? I will say I've been in the bathroom like 4 times in the last hour or so!!!! Dare a girl to dream?????

Small/Medium????

YEsterday I had to chuckle. A week or so ago, mom, dad and I were out for lunch together. Every time I stood up, I had to hitch up my pants. They weren't in danger of falling off...but they just didn't fit right anymore...starting to get loose...woo hooo! Mom was like, "put on a belt girl". I just laughed and said...SURE, If I had one. She looked at me and was like, "you've got belts" I had to answer and explain to her that yeah, I do have belts....ones that I wore when I was 300 plus pounds. I put them on now...and they wrap around me practically the whole way! So yesterday we were waiting in line at American Eagle Outfitters to pay. We saw the belts and just for giggles, I decided to try them on. The Large was way too big. (What???) So I tried on the S-M Yeah, it fit...with room to spare...it's not on the last hole or anything! I was laughing...I held up the belt and showed mom the size. Not that I'm even a solid medium yet....but it is a SMALL-MEDIUM! Yeah, I bought it....I liked it before I put it on. :-) Yeah, I'm saving the sizing tab to put in my scrapbook with the pages that chronicle my weight loss!

Weight loss....Yeah, I'm up! ARRGGHHH. I know it's the monthly 'ick'. There is no reason my weight would jump like that. Frustrates me to no end!

Mom and I are going out again today to do some shopping. Quite honestly, I"m REALLY hoping to get almost totally done with my shopping today! I know what I'm getting mom for Christmas AND her birthday......figured that out yesterday while shopping at the mall with her. I still need to get dad his birthday and some Christmas. But it would be splendid if I could pretty much finish up the kids and Cindy (still need a birthday gift for her!) Ok....I know I'm early for Christmas (ok, earlier than the average person). But my word....they put up Christmas decorations around here on the first of November!!!! Is it like that where you are at???? Yesterday at the mall they were playing CHristmas music! What's up with that. We shouldn't see that stuff, or hear it, until Thanksgiving!!!!!! What the hey?!?!?!?!?!?!? At least this year I don't have to have my gifts bought, wrapped and ready to present at Thanksgiving. This is our year to celebrate at Christmas! Speaking of that...in past years, mom has gone all out for both holidays. Even though it's only me for Thanksgiving. She invites people....and whatnot. That's a nice thing...but when you do both of the huge meals, one it gets expensive (ok, mom has historically asked tons of people) but also it is almost two much...too close together. So this year, Todd and I are taking his uncle out for Thanksgiving (to a restaurant) and mom and dad are joining us. It will kinda be nice to not have to do the work. However, I'll admit that there is something special about the house all filled with holiday cooking smells! :-)

I'm having a forgetful night...that and a weird spelling day!

Oh my....I forgot to say. I am grocery shopped up for the week! I'm ready to attempt this core thing! I'm quite honestly quite scared to do it! I mean, I can eat as much as I want of the 'approved' foods???? What if this backfires and I put on weight this week? I'm going to be so disspointed. Now, honestly, the ick is just around the corner, so I"m retaining water...so my beginning weight on Tuesday will probably be a bit skewed. But still.......

Yes, my weight is just flucuating like mad this week! It's showing me up at 185.2 this morning. Hmmmmmm. I was 183 last Tuesday and Wednesday morning! And since then I've been up! I know, historically speaking that I'm up for about a week before the ick hits...so I do expect it and know it's coming. However, it is still frustrating. All I can say is this. At lest it is only a 2-3 pound flucuation. When I first started this weight loss journey...back when I was 305 or so pounds....my weight would fluctuate about 10 pounds or more before the ick. At least the flucuations are getting 'smaller' also. haa haa haa

Busy Day

It's been a busy day. Woke up and exercised for 45 minutes, ate breakfast, got ready for church and lounged a bit before leaving for church. After church, I rushed around like a chicken with my head cut off making lunch. I made a Spicy Garlic Chicken with Jasmine Rice. YUMMY! Todd had to work at 1PM...thus the rush. After we ate, I did a few errends here at the house and then I hightailed it up to Hagerstown. Mom met me at the mall and we shopped for a couple hours. It was a very productive day for Christmas shopping! I got something for Bubby, Cindy, Dad, two of my small gifts for my work secret santa thing, and Todd. Ipuchased our 'yearly' ornament (we started the year we got married to get a yearly ornmament...we are doing the Hallmark 'cool decade' ornaments at this point). I also broke down and got Todd the Star Trek ornament that he's been DYING for. I also splurged and got him the "Major Award" ornamant....from The Christmas Story! I have it laid out on his desk....I can't wait until he comes up and sees it. I also bought some lotion from Bath and Body works...it actually seems to be helping my hand! (A Co-worker had me try it....so now I went out to buy my own!). Oh yes...and I got some three in one Peppermint Wash from Bath and Body. Yes, exciting stuff, I assure you. After all that excitement...I went grocery shopping! Yes, the fun continues! I came home and spent a while in the kitchen washing and chopping all my veggies for my salad, making homemade croutons, and mixing up a batch of salad dressing. SO I'm ready for the week!

I ate wisely today. I'm pretty happy with that. However, with all the running, I haven't drank near enough water! I'm drinking now...but I don't want to waterlog myself!

Sent an email to someone that I once considered one of my best friends. I'm not sure how that will go over. But I felt like I needed to do it. :-)

I spent a good portion of my afternoon getting myself ready for my grocery trip. I cut and organized my backlog of coupons. I also worked up my menu for the next week. Yeah, I do this everyweek....it keeps me from running to the store at every turn! BUT, this week took me longer.....I'm committed to doing the core program next week. I'm actually quite worried about it. It scares me to be able to eat as much as I want of the foods I eat. I've obviously had a problem with this in the past. So I'm actually petrified! But, I think it will be a good thing to try! I only hope and pray that I don't go backwards in my weight loss! A nice jump down would be really nice also!

I exercised before work this morning. Let me tell you...I HATE these early morning exercises. At least the sun comes up while I'm exercising now though! When it's over though, I feel sooo good!

After work (we are only open until noon on Saturdays) I also made some bread for Todd. I'm proud to say that I haven't had a bite of it! And bread is a HUGE downfall for me! YEah, that is another issue with Core....no bread...or else I count it! :-) I think I'm just going to not even buy bread this week! :-) We'll have to see! Not buying it would take away the temptation to eat it!!!!

My weight is doing it's monthly fluctuation in anticipation for the ick. Ticks me off! But oh well....I must live with it...as we all do (females that is)

Super Excited

Wooo hooo! It is amazing how something so seemingly little is so exciting! The dryer is DONE! It works wonderfully! I'm super excited!

Dinner was done when I got home tonight. I was nice and well worth the effort I made this morning! After dinner, I used up the few banana's that were starting to get soft (I only like my banana's when they hvae no black spots on them....when they start to speckle..they are tooo old. I prefer them firm). SO I made a big batch of banana muffins. I had a lot of points left over...so I did test the batter....and I did have a finished product. I made them with black walnuts (from my very own trees outside...picked, hulled and cracked by yours truely). I don't like black wlanuts...so they will not be at all tempting for me. :-) I froze half the batch...because Todd doesn't need to have that many muffins. THey would go bad before he could eat them all.

This morning I was almost in tears with dreading the thought of exercising! It was pitiful. I finally literally stopped and asked my self, "what is more important? Having an extra 45 minutes today or being thin? I chose being thin. :-)

I'm still planning on trying the core plan of weight watchers next week (my weight watchers week...starting Tuesday). I'm a bit nervous about it...but I'm going to give it a whirl. I plan on sitting down tomorrow after work and laying out my menus for the next week (something I normally do) and get myself all geared up for it!

Good quote...think I've put it in here before...but here goes again, "Pain is temporary, giving up is forever"

Ok, last winter I was cold all the time. I figured it was from the loss of all that fat....you know, it had to have been working as an insulator. Well, I had hoped that this year would be better. Is it? HECK NO! I'm already about frozen solid and it's not that overly cold out! This is terrible! That is probably the only negative to losing all this weight!

I was down a bit on the scales...not down to the 183 that I was at on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. BUT down from the 185.2 that I was at yesterday morning. I was a dead on 184 pounds this morning. That makes me VERY happy! I want to bring it down further...obviously!

This morning I was the exact same weight as a friend. It really makes me think. My friend who is the same weight wears a 8/10. Me, I'm in a 14/16. What the heck. Yeah yeah, I know that everyone carries their weight differently...but that's a HUGE difference! What in the world will I need to get down to in order to wear an 8?????? NUTTY!

I planned out what we are having for dinner. I actually did a good deal of the prep work....that way when I get off at 6 or 6:30 it twill be quick. I showed Todd what has been done and left instructions...that way, if he is done with his work, he can get it started! Woo hooo.

Work...Todd. Well.....he is working on fishing a wire through the wall. Our dryer electric line...the cable that goes from the dryer outlet to the breaker box apparently doesn't work. Our dryer was under warranty and stopped working....we called the service guy. He put a new motor in and found it still didn't work. LOVELY. Yeah, that left it being the line....joy joy. So, we bought the line...and 'rigged' it up (basically connected it at the breaker box...and ran it up the stairs and through the halls and hooked it up at the outlet) to check it. Yeah, it worked GREAT! SOOOOO thus commences the 'fishing' expedition. I'm praying that he can get it. It was being very stubborn this morning!!!

Tired Evening

After work, I rushed home and Todd and I beat a path down to Frederick were we dined at Brewers Alley. I got a pasta dish and salad. I had 18 points...so I'm very good with what I ate. Intrinsically, I know that I could actually 'afford' to get a 1 or 2 point ice cream bar. But honestly, I want it...but I realize that I don't need it. Does that make sense. I think I want it because I know I CA have it.

Thank goodness I dont' have to wake up early tomorrow to exercise! I don't have to go into work until 1PM....so that will be nice.

Meanwhile, I'm so excited about our plans for next Wednesday. We have a HUGE hike planned. A Couple hours worth! I've got to remember to take my camera!!!!!!