Well, yesterday I ate sooo badly. We stopped at McDonalds and got an Eggnog Milkshake. Now let me say that I haven't purchased anything at McDonalds in over 2 years (probably longer)...so this was huge. But I really do like their Eggnog Milkshakes...I got a small (could have had a gigantor huge one it tasted sooo good...but I did small). I made cookies for work (we have our christmas party tomorrow and we decided to have a cookie tray and punch for our customers....so I volunteered to do some cookies). Well, I ate cookie dough.....a lot of cookie dough. (ohhh yeah, I ate my allotement of calories/points just in my normal meals that I ate...so these extra things are truely extra calories that I took in). Ohh yeah, and then in the evening I made popcorn and had a diet soda. The popcorn and diet soda have so much sodium (that I'm not used to) that it affects my weight...water retention. So I KNEW that this morning was going to be BAD. (as in I'm teetering on the edge of going over 200 pounds...and I thought I would after yesterdays eating.). HOWEVER, in the middle of the night I woke up with stomach pains. Now I won't give you all the icky details but suffice to say that every hour or so I got out of bed an well, elminated some of the bad food that I ate. It happens almost everytime I eat horribly! And everytime, I realize that before I started eating healthy and was eating like that all the time, that the middle of the night stomach aches were commonplace. So this morning, still feeling a bit nauseated, I stepped onto the scale. ANd I was down almost a full pound. Oh my word. I was shocked. Nope, no exercise yesterday either.
Ok, how was that for TMI????

Now here is the question of the hour. Because we don't get these yummy treats all that often anymore, does it make us want to attack a plate of cookies with more vengenance than we would have in the past...before the altered lifestyle. Does it taste so good and do we lose control more easily because it's something that we don't get that often, or did we always fall upon a plate of cookies (fudge, cake...whatever) with a frenzy reminicent of some 'half starved, on therdeathbead

Ok, normally I put on serious things on my blog. Serious and really pushing weight loss...but today I'm putting on something fun. It's totally NOT weight friendly...and in fact it's totally the opposite. However, when I read it, while I was laughing I started to think about how I used to have this mentality (ok, maybe not this strong..but still) and how I really didn't like the person that I was when I was that way....so anyway...read and laugh.

CHRISTMAS EATING TIPS

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare.. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Well.....thanks to Todd I made it to the gym today. He kept gently asking me this morning "Do you want to go to the gym?" I kept saying, "No, I don't WANT to go, but I have to go." So I sucked it up and went. Whew.

My weight stayed the same this morning. I was hoping I would get a bit further away from the big two ohh ohhh but that was not to be. Oh well...tomorrow! :-)

The weather is foul right now......so the rest of my day will probably be really slow and boring here at work. Ahhh more time for surfing the internet and reading my book!

Well, well well. I thought I did good yesterday but my weight crept up even higher on the scales today as compared to yesterdays weigh in. 199 and some change. NO NO NO....this is not allowed! I have done very well today. I've eaten very healthy and totally on target today. None of this going over 200 for me!

Todd mentioned getting back to the gym...as in going tomorrow morning. I know that I need to get my butt into gear and back to daily workouts. However, I dread doing it! But I know that I need to!

In other news I'm back at work after my week off. On one hand it's nice to be back....the week off was so immensly busy, but of course it's always nice to be at home and off work. The good thing...being back at work will put me back into a routine where I can manage my eating a bit better. Not that being off is any excuse to gain...but for me, days that I work are so much more easy to navigate!

I'm back!

I am totally enjoying my day at home. I was determined to have a day at home, just relaxing. I've done a little laundry (still doing it in small spurts as the dryer guy STILl hasn't fixed it), I putzed around the kitchen and finished wrapping gifts but overall I've been just relaxing...JUST what I needed.

This past week was incredibly busy. Todd and I spent a day in DC, a day in Lancaster County PA, and a day roaming north of us that ended at a friends house for the afternoon and evening of fun. We worked in the local soup kitchen one day. One day we worked to help put on a christmas party for underprivledged kids. And then we also spent a day working and volunteering for some other various organizations. Yesterday was spent on errends that got pushed aside all week.....so it was just a plumb crazy week!!!

My weight was at one point this past week up to 199.8. I totally flipped out. That is so close to that mark that I don't even want to say out loud! I was good and dropped the number to 196 (195.8 according to ww scales). The problem....I then kinda lost a bit of control that day after the weigh in...so this morning (two days later) I was back up to 198 and some loose change. I'm not too worried as last night I had some diet soda..and that usually causes my weight to be up! We'll see. Meanwhile I'm working to bring my eating totally under control!

The plan for the rest of the holiday season is pretty straight forward. I've got to navigate my work christmas party. I feel pretty confident that I can do ok with this. We also have to take my husbands uncle out for dinner sometime right before Christmas. He wants to go to Longhorn Steakhouse. I do pretty well there. And Christmas dinner. I'm having mom and dad here and I'm doing a basic dinner..lots of veggies! No trays laden with desserts! So I think I'm good for the rest of the year!

Now to get back to exercising! Because I do know that is where that's where it's at!

I am still here. It's been one crazy week. I was off from work and literally from the moment I left work last Saturday until this afternoon, I have run my feet off. I've been on the go literally from sunup to sundown (and often beyond). We have done a small amount of travelling, (day trips) and a large amount of volunteer work in our town. My house looked like a cyclone struck it as I literally was home only to sleep, shower and dress. I'm going out for dinner tonight and I've declared tomorrow a relax day. I go back to work on Monday. :-) More on my week later.

I will say that my weight has held somewhat steady over the week...up and then down...but averaged about the same.

Ok, so I lied. I did not go to the weight watchers meeting this morning. I actually got out of bed when the alarm went off. I went to the bathroom and I was actually in the shower. And then I started thinking about how cold it was outside and how miserable I was feeling (the sinus/cold thing is still with me......so it's still icky...even if I do feel super without the strep symptoms). I got to thinking about how today is a long day of work for me...and I realized that I just wasn't going to make it. I finished my shower and went to the living room where I curled up on the sofa and read to my hearts content!

I'm aiming for the Tuesday morning meeting now! Tuesdays are one of my more shorter days....so that's good!

Feeling ohhh so much better today. Most of the intense pain in my throat has eased up. Now I'm just dealing mostly with the sinus issues.....woo hoooo! I can deal with that!!!

Hopefully soon I can get back into the exercise routine. Thus far I've been able to maintain some semblance of proper eating. My weight this mornign was right at 192.6...which is down from thanksgiving morning of 197 (and loose change). So I'm pretty tickled with that. Plus, I've maintained taht 192.6 the last few days while I haven't really been careful about what i eat...other than making sure I was eating something soft that would not hurt going down the throat. (tee hee hee).

Weight Watchers is coming out with a new program next week. Should be interesting. Maybe that's what I need...somethign a little different in which to help me stay focused on my goals. We'll see.

December 3, 2008 (94 of 365)

December 3, 2008 (94 of 365), originally uploaded by mfcstotler.

Still sick. As this was day 7 of this crude, I had to suck it up and call the doctor. Hopefully the meds kick in soon! Then I can get myself back into gear with exercise too!!!!!

Tried to weigh myself again yesterday, to no avail. That stupid scale was not going to give up my weight for me. How frustrating. A new battery was put on the list of things to get when I go to town on Wednesday. This morning, just for giggles though I decided to try again to weigh myself. It worked. 192.6.

I'm actually tickled with that as I am still sick and kinda fell off the bandwagon of healthy eating last night. Not really badly...but i should have had more veggies...oh well.

Exercise...non-existant. Well, we did make it to the gym on Sunday!

Well, I think I may have gotten a step further in my dryer saga. I had called the warranty company a week ago this past sunday. The repair place was going to call me on Monday. No call. I called them and left messages. No return calls. So yesterday i called Lowes. They said that they would contact the repair service and I would get a call by the end of the day. Nothing. meanwhile, I have clothes hanging in the library and in the guest bathroom. Sheets need washed but come on now...where to hang sheets in the house???? SO anyway, I called again this morning. They contacted a second repair place, gave me the information and said their goodbyes. Before I could even hang up the phone, the call waiting was beeping. It was the repair place that lowes had just hung up with! I talked to him extensively and told him waht the dryer did AND what Todd had checked (breakers, he had a tester and the outlet is getting power, he tested the chords on the back, etc). The guy was like....'normally I come out and check that stuff...but I'll go ahead and order the part we'll need. He said normally the part comes within a week...but sometimes can be backordered (that's normal)...so hopefully next week sometime I'll have my dryer repaired!! WOOO HOOOO!

I feel as if I've done really well with my eating yesterday and today. I feel as if I made good choices and ate wisely. My weight....well, my scales were not working. Every time I tried to weigh myself I got an error message....not cool. I even walked away and tried 15 minutes later. Oh well..hopefully tomorrow.

The bad new...I"ve got some kind of sickness going on. The glands in my throat are swollen and sore. Not only sore to swallow...but sore to the point that I will yell if anyone touches my throat.

Report

Well, I weighed in this morning. At the highest in the last week I had seen 197.8. I was SCARED to get on the scales this morning because...hello...Thanksgiving! BUT, my weight was 195.4 this morning. I was satisfied with that! I just need to be really careful today and tomorrow...the last two days I'll be with my brother and his family....which offers more food temptations than I like. BUT this weight is going DOWN!

Summing up Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day.

I feel as if I did really good. I did splurge and have one chocolate chip cookie. But ignored all the other desserts. For the meal, I ate mostly fruit and veggies. I have to say mostly because I made a decision going into the meal. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my mom's stuffing. So i decided that i would eat the stuffing. BUT I would skip the mashed potatoes...to cut back on the carbs/starch. I knew I really wouldn't miss the mashed potatoes as I make mashed potatoes fairly often at our house...but stuffing...for some reason, I just don't make it (yeah, I have my mom's recipe and I've actually made it for holiday meals that I've hosted...but I just don't make it at other times). So pretty good with my eating at T-day dinner.

For breakfast I had my normal oatmeal....and for dinner todd and I were home so I whipped up a little pizza for us. (fat free cheese which really cuts down on points!) So all in all I feel as if I did better than good.

I did not however make it to the gym like I had wanted to (they were open between 8AM and noon on Thanksgiving day). Cindy and I did take a long walk after the meal...so at least i did 'something'.

Today I'm back at work for a long long day. After work I'm going to head to H-town to get our two week supply of groceries. (hey, I've got a 10% off the whole grocery bill coupon to use before Sunday.....i'd be a fool not to use it). So it will be a really long day by the time I calculate from wake up.....my open to close (7:45am until 6:15 pm) day of work, driving to and from h-town, the actual grocery shopping (and a quick stop at the liquor store for some wine and guiness...todd's request) and then home to put it all away....yeah....long day! I of course packed my lunch for work...but so that i woulnd't be tempted with eating something bad in town...or picking up all kinds of bad things at the grocery store. I also packed a 'dinner' for me to eat on the way to town. So I'm set.

I did not weigh myself today....I was just out of the loop. I'll check my weight tomorrow morning for sure! And we'll see what the damage or good news is!

Family means love

Family means love, originally uploaded by mfcstotler.

We exchanged Christmas gifts with my brothers family early this year as we will not be seeing them during the Christmas season. It really sucks to live so far away from those you love.

I feel like I ate too much yesterday. No use crying over spilled milk....just move on today and do my best. I'm not going to stress out over it. It's thanksgiving. I've set out on a course to chage my life...NOT live like one in a cloister. Yes, my weight is up and no I don't want to go up any further (actually internally FREAKING out about possibly going over the 200 mark) but mental happiness is also important. My plan is to eat sensibly today (honestly I really didn't eat too bad...I just felt stuffed from what I ate...and I didn't do all my fruits and veggies that I normally do). Do my best....enjoy my family and the social time that Thanksgiving provides and not worry about it. If I'm so stressed about eating, then I will not enjoy my brothers family nor the time with my parents then while it is worth it......it's not. Does that make sense? There is a balance.

rose-collage, originally uploaded by mfcstotler.

My weight is up a bit this morning, but I"m not going to worry about it....I ate perfect yesterday, so there is no reason.

I've been super productive this morning. By 8AM, I had already cleaned the house really well. And by 9:15 I had exercised for an hour and I was already out of the shower. Now, I'm just sitting around being a sluggard until it's time to go to work. I only have to get dressed (finish drying my hair if it's not dry by then) and eat lunch. Ohhh yeah, I have to do the dishes yet...but I'll do that after I eat lunch. :-)

I've been really struggling with my new lifestyle. I won't lie. I wish I could go back and live the existance of not worrying about what I'm eating. Just living life to the fullest (eating wise). Oh yeah, I know that the results of the newer me is soo much more important and actually adds so much more to my life, but I sometimes can't help buy mourn the loss of my old friend...food.

That said......I needed what is coming next....

Oh wow......I just did this test to find out my expected life age. I did it plugging in my current "new" lifestyle. There were definitely things that I can do to help my life expectancy but my life expectancy with my current lifestyle (eating healthy foods for snacks, no red meat, my current exercise levels...all of it) is 95 years old. SOOOOO just for shits and giggles I decided to go back to the start and answer the questions in the manner that I would have answered just a few short years ago.....answers that parallel what I've been crying about and wishing that I could go back to. Are you ready for my life expectancy with THOSE answers????? 74 years old. That is a difference of 21 years!!! TWENTY ONE CRAZY years????

THAT is food for thought!

I helped mom with a catering job on Saturday night...and ate WAY too many of the leftovers! I didn't weigh in yesterday...but kept it somewhat under control yesterday...not was well as I should have though...I KNOW I went over my points. SOOOO imagine my surprise when I stepped onto the scales this morning (I almost didn't) and found my weight down to 193.4 Today and tomorrow shouldn't be tooo difficult for me as I'll be home..normal routine all that. Wednesday we are celebrating Christmas with my brother and family...so I'll be up there all day...and then we are taking Todd's uncle out for dinner...so eating out. And then obviously Thursday...turkey day. Friday will once again be no problem as I work open to close (LONG day) and I usually do really well with eating when I'm at work. Saturday and Sunday I'll be back up there. So I've managed two days up there and I have a total of 4 more days of temptation. And yes, mom's house is totally tempting. She is from the school that you feed people...and that's how you show love. She doesn't mean to...but that's just how our family (my grandmother) was also.

You know, sometimes you wonder why in the world God is doing stuff. WHy he is putting so much on your plate. Yeah yeah yeah,I know that God doesn't give us anything we can't handle...but the stress!

Yesterday I was drying a load of clothes while I ate lunch. I stopped the dryer when I left, simply because we don't like to leave stuff on while we are not at home (my husband has a fit about a crockpot!). The clothes were only half dry. I was walking through the house after I turned it off and noticed that it smelled really hot. Kinda worried me for some reason, but I sniffed and figured it was just the hot dryer smell. It was enough of a worry that I actually went back inside and checked one last time. But it was all good. SOOOOOOO.....fast forward to me once again being home and suddenly remembering that I have half dried clothes in the dryer. I swung into the laundry room and went to start the dryer. ohhhhhhh noooooo......stupid sucker wouldn't turn on. No, I am not joking!! The brand new heatpump and heating system on Wednesday..the dryer now! I checked the breaker and fiddled with that sucker...nothing. Deader than a doornail. It is almost as if it is not getting power. Now let me back and reminisce about my dryers. I bought a washer and dryer in 2000. August to be exact. I had the extended warranty....5 years that time. Used the dryer....and in SEPTEMBER of 2005 the stupid thing broke, ONE MONTH AFTER THE WARRANTY EXPRIED! (it had to be a conspiracy...I think Kenmore/Sears must have had a bomb in it to blow up right after the warranty expired) It was more costly to get it repaired, so we junked it and bought a new one. We went maytag this time....good brand. I did get the extended warranty. In April of 2007 the moter was replaced in the dryer. NOOOOO I'm just washing and drying normal loads of clothes. Heck, there is only two of us! Anyway....back to this current breakdown....I panicked. It is November of 2008. If we bought a 3 year warranty we are totally out of luck (like we ever had it in this case anyway) because it's 2 months past the 3 year mark. I did look and I can breathe a bit of a relief.....it is a 4 year warranty. Todd just ran to the studio to get stuff from the electronics workshop. He wants to double check the power supply to the washer and the connections and stuff that we are responsible for. BUT at least if it's fried, we are covered. At that point, it's just a waiting game to try to get someone here (on thanksgiving week...RIGHT) and work around our work schedules (HA)....and in the meantime, have clothes hanging all around the house drying!

Missed my weigh in this morning.....I was a little pre-occupied.

Last night I ate horribly. I worked on a catering job, helping serve and keep platters full. Yeah, I ate there also....party food is NOT health concious food.

On the good note...my brother and his family arrived safely yesterday!!!

My weight....sitting right around the same. It seems as if i'm hovering between 192 and 196. I know that some of that is me...I'm so focused some days..but then others I struggle. I haven't been to a meeting this week. I was plannign on going this morning and then last night I wasn't thnking and we had popcorn and I drank it with a diet soda. I've figured out that when I drink a diet soda in the evening, that my weight is up...I guess the sodium...which doesn't seem that high, but you know. And couple that with popcorn...I knew immediately that weighing in would probably not be the greatest of ideas this morning. And sure enough, I was up 1.5 pounds. SO I skipped it...bad bad bad...I know! I don't know if I'll be able to get there next week....with the holiday and my brother in town...but I've GOT to start going religiously to a meeting each week. No ifs ands or buts. I need it for accountability and motivation!

I weighed myself this morning. I was quite nervous. yesterday I made pancakes and turkey sausage in the morning. Chili and cornbread for lunch. Chicken and rice casserole for dinner. I had a banana with peanut butter for a snack AND a jello pudding cup. Yikes! But this morning I was at 194.8. So it could have been worse.....overall that's pretty much the same as I was last week. I need it to go DOWN DOWN DOWN!

I did exercise this morning. 30 minutes on the exercise bike!