Weight-ing Around

It's weigh-in day, folks! And the theme today is "2 steps up, 2 steps down." I managed to lose those two pounds that I gained last week, and not a smidge more. I guess I'm happy with that, although I was really hoping for a bonus pound as a reward for coming to my senses. :)  Ah well, considering I missed three gym days last week to take the dogs for a walk, I didn't burn quite as many calories as I should/could have. So I'm good with two pounds.

I've decided something. I know in the past I said I was only going to track my weight loss since January and not count the 5 lbs I lost in November/December. Well that's just stupid. Because in my head I'm still including that 5 lbs and it's just getting downright confusing tracking two different numbers. Plus, it's weight that's gone off my body, why shouldn't I count it? I was at my heaviest weight EVER around Thanksgiving, so I should be counting any weight lost since then. There, it's decided. So I'm down 17lbs. That's a big chunka change, folks! Looking at myself, I don't really know where I put it! Guess I was bigger than I thought.

AND! AND guess what! There's more! You know my handy dandy scale with it's fancy doohickies that measure body fat? Well my percentage went down! I was at 31.somethin' (after we figured out how tall I really am *hehe*) and this morning it read 28.7! That's a significant drop, isn't it? So I guess I'm building some muscle, which is great. To be honest I haven't even worked that hard at strength-training yet. I've been doing mostly cardio with some weights thrown in every once in a while. So I was pleased to see that number had changed. :)

Here's what I'm most excited about. Remember the great weather I told you about? Well it spurred me to dig out some shorts and capris from the depths of my drawers. I thought trying them on might give me some extra motivation, y'know, to shrink into them. But they FIT!!! Hallelujah! My super cute denim capri's that I ballooned out of last Summer are fitting beautifully again. 

And then there's a couple pairs of shorts that I bought last Spring on sale. They were too tight when I bought them but I planned on losing some more weight so they'd fit. I never managed to do that, so these shorts were sitting in my drawer with the tags still on them. Tragic! But I was able to get them up and zipped AND still breathe in them. :) It was a very good day.

Wake Up Call

Well this morning's weigh-in wasn't good, but it also wasn't really a surprise. I was up 2lbs. Not terrible, but definitely enough to get my attention. 

For the past week I've let a lot of things slip. Portion sizes have gotten a little sloppy...just taking "handfuls" of things instead of actually counting them. Sneaking extra little nibbles here and there...Oh I think I'll have some banana chips...or some grapes...or a few crackers...and then not counting them into my calories. It's little things like that, but they add up. Then there was Jeremy's Birthday dinner on Wednesday night where I ate more (and naughtier) than I'd planned. And that popcorn I had at the concert on Saturday night. And I'd rather not get into last night. *sigh*

It's kind of a pattern I've had in the past, too. This is usually where it starts, but then eventually I start cheating here and there in other ways. Rationalizing, fudging, bingeing. It snowballs. But this time I really can't let it! This time I need to get myself under control before it's too late.  And if the scales have already noticed that I'm not trying very hard, then I need to get back to taking this seriously again. 

So there...that's my personal pep-talk for the week. It's a new week...a new month...a new start. I'm ready to give it my all again and see a better result next Monday.  :^/

(P.S. Anybody out there in Blogger land: Is it possible to go back and add labels to old posts without screwing up the order of the posts? Like, I don't want it to tell my "followers" that I've added a new post, when all I've done is added a label. Has anyone tried this? Thanks!)

A-weigh down south in Dixie!

(Have you figured out that I find it necessary to give all my weigh-in posts punny names? Wonder how many plays on "weigh" and "weight" I can come up with...)

I skipped last Monday's weigh-in since I was in Minneapolis indulging beyond my dieting limits. So today's lost pounds are from a two-week period (that included way too many calories and several skipped workouts.) So I'm quite pleased to tell you I'm down 3lbs!  I don't know if I gained after our Valentine's romp...I didn't weigh myself afterwards. So this loss could include a gain, but I'm not complaining!! No siree! 

I sometimes feel like it's coming off too slow...like maybe there's something I could do, or something I could deprive myself of, to get faster results. But then I think, y'know, I am getting results this way and it's not torture. The occasional treat (I had about a handful of peanut butter M&M's and several Twizzlers at Saturday night's crop) not cutting anything out entirely... (I mean, I had pancakes for breakfast again this morning. What kind of diet IS THIS? *haha* They were Fiber One pancakes of course, but golly they're so good they taste sinful!!) The odds of me sustaining this long enough to reach my goal are much higher than if I were eating nothing but tuna and lettuce. (I don't even like tuna!) So I'll just plod along, doin' what I'm doin'. Slow and steady wins the race, right? If I stop losing weight, I guess I'll reevaluate the situation.

Hey I have some other news! My blog got an award!! I know, right? Who would've seen that coming?  :) But it's true. (I would also like to note that I now have 22 followers! I am beyond boggled by that...thanks for reading, folks!) Etta from over at Adventures In Holy Matrimony deemed me worthy of this cute little bloggy award:

TaDa!

I am quite flattered! Thanks Etta! And now, because this honor has been bestowed on me, I get to pass it on! Here are the rules of selection:

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

So in no particular order, here are my nominees!!

1. Michelle's My Little Crazy Corner of the World

2. Toni's Creative Impressions

3. Samantha's And Then I Said... 

4. Kim's Don't Bother Me I'm Scrapping

5. Mary's Scrapper's Unite!

6. Nikki's A Scrappy Chick

7. Krissy's A Window To Who I Am

8. Ginny's Chris & Ginny

Due to the "Friend" nature of this award, I chose to give it to the bloggers I do know in "real life." But I couldn't even fit all of you in, since I'm limited to 8. (I have way too much guilt over this. *haha*) 

"Weight" just a minute!

*singing* "It's just another weigh-in Monday! I wish it was Sunday! Cause that's my fun-day." :)

But what am I whining about? Today is a GREAT weigh-in day! Because today, my purdy new scale is telling me I've lost 2 pounds! Woohoo!!! That brings my overall total since I started in January to 9 pounds. (Plus I kept off 5 of the pounds I lost when I was sick all December, but I've decided not to count those since I didn't WORK for them, y'know? They were a "gift." *haha*)  

I have bad news about my body fat percentage, though. The other day Jeremy calculated his own percentage on the scale and we were comparing our numbers. Mine was lower than his, so of course I felt inclined to gloat a little. Just a little. "Women's body fat is supposed to be higher than a man's...we just carry more fat, y'know, in "those" places. Blah blah blah, mine is lower than yours, so I rock." Then he retorted with something like, "Well your number is only lower because you're taller than me." Indeed. This is a fact we shlink around, though, and try to ignore. He doesn't bring it up and I certainly don't rub it in his face, but I AM taller. ;) Everyone knows it. 

So then he pulls me into the bathroom and makes me stand back to back with him in front of the mirror. I insisted that because of the shape and SIZE of my immense head, the results of this test were bound to be skewed. :) So then he makes me stand up against the door jam, like a growing child, and makes a mark above my head. And then I do the same for him. When he pulled out the tape measurer, we were both in for a surprise. 

I've been telling people for YEARS that I'm 5'6". For YEARS! Come to find out, I'm barely 5'5"! *haha* And Jeremy was indignantly sure that he was 5'5" but in reality he's right at 5'4". And this meant that we had entered the wrong proportions into our smart li'l scale, so our body fat was measured wrong. So we were arguing about it for nothing. And we're both shorter and fatter than we thought. *hahaha* Oh well. Such is life.

On the diet front, this morning I made the most AMAZING pancakes! Pancakes, you say? Pancakes aren't for DIETS! Well, my friend, you are mistaken. Because these pancakes were made with Fiber One's pancake mix! (I'm beginning to think FiberOne is destined to take over the entire diet market...even more so than Special K! It's insane how many products they make.) 

As you can see, this mix has fiber, whole grain, calcium, blah blah blah. Plus you get three pancakes for 180 calories.  And they're so delicious! Light and fluffy, simply scrumptious. If I were a better pancake-flipper, they would have been pretty too, I'm sure. But I can never seem to get them turned over without them skidding across the pan, leaving little batter entrails splattered all over. Which doesn't make for a pretty pancake. 

I was so excited about eating them that I forgot to take a picture before my first bite, sorry. :) 

Ok, here's one from the other side which was still in-tact. *haha*

Now, you may be thinking, "Sarah, this looks like a complete rerun of the waffle breakfast." But I assure you it was a completely different taste experience. :)  

The boys got to enjoy one of the cast-offs that got a little too done. They enjoyed it and wanted more, see?

Sadly, there was a casualty in my kitchen this morning. I don't know if any of you do this, but I often get the burners on my stove mixed up, turning on the wrong one. Normally it's not a problem because my stovetop is cleared. But today an unsuspecting oven mitt met it's untimely doom. And my kitchen still smells like burnt cotton.

Wii Wii, Mademoiselle.

I like my Wii Fit. I really do. It's fun to play with and many of the exercises are actually quite challenging. Plus I like that it shows me where I'm putting my weight, on things like lunges, squats and yoga poses. It's helped me see that I was doing some of those moves with emphasis in the wrong areas. 

But I have a beef with my dear Wii Fit. I think that the weigh-ins should be optional...or at least only weekly. I do not need to know when I have gained .043 pounds. I do not need to hear "Oh, looks like your weight has increased a little since last time."  I do not need to see my cute little Wii character on the screen get all sad and blimp up at the weight gain, as if less than half a pound could really SHOW like that on the poor thing's waist. It's quite cruel. *haha*  And then the stupid thing charts every loss and gain so my chart looks like a stinkin' EKG! Up, down, up, down, UP, UP, UP, down, up, down. Sheesh!! 

It's gotten to the point where I will weigh myself on my bathroom scale and I won't turn on the Wii Fit unless the number seems lower. Ridiculous, I know. I guess I just don't need that disappointment, even if it's EXTREMELY minimal. 

Speaking of scales and disappointment, I know some of you noticed that Monday came and went without me weighing in. *whoops* Well I'd like to tell you I just forgot, but that's not true. The skipping was deliberate. I decided that weighing in the morning after eating Super Bowl goodies wasn't a great plan. So for my own psychological well being (and I think you've seen how fragile it is, since an electronic gaming system can effect it so drastically *haha*), I waited a day and weighed in today instead. 

And the loss for last week is exactly....zero. Nada. Nothin'. But that's alright, I'm really not discouraged. I knew it was going to slow down so technically this is all part of the plan. I'm going to stick to my guns!

Motivation

I decided that maybe I should start "weighing in" on my blog every Monday. I guess I was inspired by the weigh-ins on The Biggest Loser and thought maybe it would give me some extra motivation and accountability, knowing I have to fess up to you fine people. (Although as my friends, I trust you won't beat me up about it...so maybe you won't be the best for accountability after all. *haha* And these weigh-ins will NOT include photos of me wearing a sports bra & bike shorts. Sorry, you must be so disappointed.) 

Last Monday I obviously didn't have the "opportunity" to blog about my weight, since I was on that fantastic road trip, buying scrapbook supplies and eating cheesecake...oh to do that every Monday. *haha* But I did weigh myself that morning so I am proud to tell you that in week one I lost 5 lbs! Mind you, some of those pounds had been bouncing back and forth already, but I'm counting them anyway. :)

And today I weighed in and can tell you that the weight loss for week two is: 2 lbs! So that makes a total of 7 in two weeks, which I'll take! Pretty happy with that...but I do expect the numbers to slow waaaaaay down, due to previous experience. We'll have to wait and see.

The Weight Update

I am down 13 pounds, thanks partially to a "miracle 3 day diet" I participated in last week and have started again this week. You basically stick to this fairly strict (but not torturous) plan for three days of the week, and they don't even have to be in consecutive order. Then the rest of the week you should eat sensibly, but my three pounds I lost last week included pigging out at Olive Garden (I told myself to leave more in that bowl...but DANG that pasta was yummy!) and Sunday night's early Thanksgiving feast.  I had "plateaued" at 10 pounds almost a month ago, so it was nice to see the scale move again.  I won't go into the diet's specifics (unless you want 'em) but my Mom did the diet with me last week and she lost TEN POUNDS in the first three days! Pretty impressive, I must say!

Honestly, in the back of my mind, I don't know why I'm bothering at all. When you look at our itinerary for New York City, about 60% of the places we're going involve FOOD! *haha* And not just food but an excessive amount of pancakes and desserts and chocolate and cheeeeeesecake...(New York style baby! I am drooling just thinking about it.) So the plan is this: I'm going to do this miracle 3 day diet right before we go and right after we get back, so I'm hoping that will stave off any ridiculous weight gain. I mean, seriously, the menus we have planned could rival any cruise ship, and don't people usually gain weight on cruises? So that's what I'm sayin! *haha* And not to mention the Food Eating Holiday of the year is in two days and I don't plan on holding back...so basically by the end of all this we'll see just how big of a miracle this diet really is?!? :)