Merry Christmas

So it has been a while since my last post - it's been a crazy week with Christmas and all. Went up 0.8lbs on Monday at my weigh-in and I'll probably go up a little bit again this week due to the holidays but I'm actually ok with that because I've done a lot better than I thought I would over the last few days, and definitely a lot better than I have the last few years. I asked my family not to put too much junk in my stocking this year and I only got one little thing of chocolates, which is good because I have a self-control problem (case in point, it's Dec 26 and those chocolates I got were gone YESTERDAY).

Managed to make it to the gym on Tuesday but haven't gotten back again yet.

This is a pretty boring post - sorry - not much action this week!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Good News, Bad News

Dear lady at the gym,

In the future, please refrain from clipping your toenails while sitting on the bench in the locker room. It is nasty - that is an at home activity. Do you think it is appropriate to have your toenail clippings flying all over the locker room? Are you planning on picking them up or are you going to leave them there for people to sit on or step on in their bare feet? Why did you leave that activity for a Sunday afternoon at the gym? What is wrong with you? Please don't do it again, it's rude and just plain NASTY!

THANKS!

It has been a while since my last post - I've had a crazy week! Here are the highlights:

Good news: I managed to make it almost a whole week without having any Subway cookies

Bad news: because I did such a good job, I rewarded myself with Subway cookies today on the way to the gym - kind of counterproductive

Good news: I think I drank more water this week than I've ever drank in my life!

Bad news: I did my holiday baking this week and managed to taste test at least 2 of everything - plus threw in a few cupcakes!

Good news: my cold, possibly due to a combination of all the water I drank and the ColdFX I took, only lasted a few days - which for me is AMAZING

Bad news: because of my cold, work, baking, and sheer laziness, I didn't make it to the gym all week

Good news: I hauled my butt there today in an attempt to get back into a routine

Bad news: I made the mistake of stepping on the scale sometime around Wednesday and had gained like 3lbs!!

Good news: I stepped on the scale again today and I was back down to about 1/2lb less than last week

So what does this all mean? I have no idea, I guess I will find out tomorrow at my Monday WW weigh-in.

How did this happen?

Well, I have no clue how it happened, but despite the lack of gym attendance and the abundance of cookies that filled my week I managed to lose 0.6lbs this week!! Now I know that may not SOUND like a lot, but trust me, it is (especially considering the amount of food I consumed over the course of the week!). What does this mean exactly? I'm not sure. It could be a fluke, it could be my metabolism gearing up for some reason, I don't know, but it is definitely encouraging! Now if I can stick to my goal of no cookies this week and maybe try and add in a few extra workouts next week may be just as bright!

On the other side of the coin, I am getting a cold. This could spell disaster for my well thought out plan outlined above. You see, I am an emotional eater - that is by far my most challenging issue. Me + sick = very very CRANKY person. I am angry that I'm sick, I feel like crap and don't want to do ANYTHING - including attempt to cook - which means I turn to packaged foods and crap that I can stick in the microwave and be eating in under 5 minutes. Not exactly the most healthy way to eat. Another thing that happens when I'm sick? That tiny bit of will power that I manage to muster up the rest of the time seems to fly out of my nose with the first ominous sneeze. What that means for me is that I see yummy food, I grab yummy food, I stick yummy food in mouth without a second thought. After all, I'm SICK! Therefore, I DESERVE that cookie/chocolate bar/pizza/taco/insert high fat food here.

So, my plan? To try and stick to my original plan despite the cold, attempt to drink as much water as possible to try and flush out the cold, and sleep - lots and lots of sleep. We'll see how it goes ...

Hmmm

So I have come to a number of conclusions over the past week:

1) this is not going to be as easy as I expected

I thought I would start this blog and immediately I would get that extra boost that I needed to stay on track and get rid of this extra weight. Not so. I have been trying, but I know there are still many things I have to work on and this week has only helped to clarify what those things are.

2) I really need to learn to just say no to cookies!

7 days - 6 delicious subway cookies in my stomach that I did NOT need to eat. My goal for this week? Reduce that number to 0. It's going to be really hard - those deliciously under baked treats staring me down at the cash register will be tough to say no to but it's something to work towards anyway!

I weigh in at Weight Watchers tomorrow and am a little nervous that the scale might have crept up a tiny bit. I've already told you about the overindulgence in cookies but add that with the measly 2 times I managed to haul my butt to the gym this week and I could be in a lot of trouble tomorrow! Stay tuned for the results!

Thoughts

So I went out for lunch today at a local restaurant (I know, I know, BAD IDEA) and a few things came across my mind. I had planned to try and order something at least semi-healthy as I sat down to peruse the menu, and about half way in I came across a section called "on the lighter side". GREAT you think, OBVIOUSLY this is where my meal came from! WRONG. Although there were several options that I may have considered, by the time I got to this section of the menu, I already had to look at pictures of nachos, loaded cheese fries, hamburgers, fries, pastas and sandwiches. While I appreciate the fact that this restaurant put a section of slightly healthier options, for an eataholic such as myself with a weight problem and a love of food, those healthy options didn't have a chance! My suggestion, put that section of the menu near the front, BEFORE all the other entres so that people with no willpower (such as myself) can look at this section, decide what we want and not have to look through all the other things that are probably going to appeal to us more. Just a thought!

Having returned from my lunch (by the way, I settled for soup and a sandwich - kind of in between good and bad), I logged onto the restaurant web site to check out the nutritional information in order to calculate my Weight Watchers points (you can stop laughing at me now) and to my dismay - NO NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE! How, in this day and age, with all the fuss about healthy living and nutrition tracking, does a common, chain restaurant NOT feel the need to put their nutritional info on their website?

I have heard that some restaurants (I think more in the US than here in Canada yet) are actually going so far as to print nutritional info (cal & fat) right on the menu! Personally, I think this is a great idea! As I have mentioned, I have very little willpower, so seeing that a particular entre is going to cost me 1500 cals and 65g of fat is that extra little push I need to order something a little healthier.

What are your thoughts on these issues?

Upgrades!

So, in an attempt to make my blog more interesting I have been creeping other people's pages looking for cool things I can add. New items I have added to my blog:

1) a weight loss ticker

Now not only can you read about my ups and downs while trying to lose weight, you can literally follow my weight ups and downs! Exciting I know!! Just something I thought might be self-motivating (now I won't be the only one who knows when I have a bad week and tip the scales in the wrong direction!)

2) a playlist

Has absolutely nothing to do with weight loss, but I thought it might be cool for you to be able to listen to some of my favourite songs at the moment while browsing my posts - suggestions always welcome!

3) contact me

I have created an e-mail address to contact me with. Please feel free to write with questions, comments, suggestions, etc.

I will continue to keep adding things as I come across them. As I have said I am pretty new to blogging so I have no idea what's out there. Anything you want to see added please let me know!

Ouch

So I gave in and ordered take-out on Sunday BUT I got something semi-healthy at least (I could have gotten pizza!) Considering how I ate last week my Monday weigh-in went surprisingly well! I stayed exactly the same, and you know what? I'LL TAKE IT! My goal for this week is to ATTEMPT to stay on track with my eating - going to be difficult I'm sure!

So I went to the gym tonight and decided to run on the treadmill - first time I have run since grade 10 gym class (i.e. over a decade ago). It went surprisingly well! I was able to go a whole 2 minutes before taking a walking break! I was expecting to trip or pass out or something.

Observation: I know as a fat girl I have a fat ass - kind of common sense right? However, I did not realize quite how fat my ass was until I started running and was in PAIN from the fat on my ass and thighs bouncing up and down - always a wonderful experience! New years resolution: lose enough weight so that ass does not jog independently from the rest of my body!

I stopped at Subway on the way home from the gym and avoided eye contact with the delicious cookies calling my name. One small victory I suppose.

Rocky Start

So, today has been kind of a mixed bag of good and bad. Started off OK - got up, had some peanut butter toast and sat around for a little while. I hadn't gone to the gym in a few days so I decided to walk down for a workout and grab a sub for lunch on the way. Good - 20min walk to Subway. Good - ordered a turkey sub on brown (yummy!) THEN I got to the cash register and there staring me in the face were delicious looking, chocolaty, under baked (just the way I like them!) cookies just CALLING my name. Before I knew it the words "combo with cookies" flew out of my mouth! So, minor setback ... Why do they have to put those cookie shelves right there at eye level? I was doing so well until I saw them!

Went to the gym afterwards and put in a good workout - doubt it made up for the cookies though! Walked home from the gym and here I sit. I wonder how dinner is going to go? Those take-out menus are so tempting! Weight in tomorrow at WW so I guess I'll see then how my week has been~

Beginnings...

So, what is this blog about you may be asking yourself? Well here's the deal. I'm fat. I haven't always been fat. In fact, as a child I would say I was pretty average. However, I love food. My love of food has resulted in my gradual slide into fathood. Here I sit, 25 years old, and have never been at any weight (consistently) since ever. For as long as I can remember the needle on the scale has slowly been going up until I reached the point where I decided enough was enough (coincidentally, that point was exactly 216lbs).

I'm not one of those people who complains about their weight and says "I just don't understand it! I eat fine!". I know what my problems are - portion control, eating for emotional reasons (usually boredom) and my absolute LOVE of food. Don't get me wrong, I love my fruits and veggies, and I've even garnered a tolerance for whole wheat pastas - however put any of those things next to a big plate of french fries? Those veggies don't stand a chance. So, what led me to become a first time blogger? About a year and a half ago I sucked it up and decided to actually DO something to change my bad habits, so off to Weight Watchers I went! I am not the kind of person who will sit here and tell you how to live your life - you need to do what works best for you and your life. For me, Weight Watchers was a perfect fit. I could eat whatever I wanted and didn't have to give up anything! And IT WORKED! As of my last weigh-in I am down to 188lbs.

Here's the catch, I have been hovering around this 188lb mark for months now and I'm starting to get frustrated. Thus, my foray into Internet blabbing begins. Why start a blog? Basically, I wanted to jump start my weight loss and thought that this might be helpful. So I turn to you dear readers (or should I say future readers) - I will post my ups and downs (weight wise and life wise) and look to you for tips, comments, encouragements, kicks in the ass - whatever you feel like sharing with me - to help me with my battle. So day one begins! I guess I'll have to see how this whole blog thing goes. Seeing as I've never done it before I might be kidding myself that anyone will actually BOTHER to read this but it's worth a shot!