More Miscellanea

Weigh-in for Week 10 of Weight Watchers is tomorrow. Truth be told, I'm not looking forward to it and it's not because of my eating. I've actually done rather well with that; even on Mother's Day I was careful, and didn't break 1300 calories. The pound cake went to the office Monday morning and was gone by midday Tuesday. My activity has also been good -- I'm still on track with Jenn's 10K a Day (in May!) challenge, and so far I've walked a bare minimum of 10,000 steps per day this month.

No, no, what's stressing me out is the lovely hormone fest. We're midway through the cycle right now and that's when things start to get fun, if they're going to. So this month, after a couple of months of things behaving themselves, I'm already retaining a lake's worth of water. I weighed myself this morning just for fun and I'm already easily up to 143. Add in to that the fact that Choreboy took me out to lunch today (I didn't overdo, but the sodium will nuke a weigh-in faster than anything) and I'm pretty sure I'm hosed.

Oh well. We'll see.

On the plus side, I just discovered these:

They're Godiva Pearls, and each pearl is approximately 3.25 calories. I use chocolate like medication at certain times (like this) and it cracks me up that these actually look like little pills! Now I can feel even more honest about medicating myself. For the record, a serving is 8 "pearls" for 25 calories, or 1 PointsPlus value.

I can live with that.

They come in dark chocolate, dark chocolate with mint, white chocolate, some sort of coffee variation (I only know that because I saw it in a picture) and milk chocolate. Needless to say, I have the dark chocolate... and it is good.

We'll see what the scale says tomorrow. All I know is that a bra that fit me fine on Monday now has me spilling over the top, so like I said, I'm not holding my breath.

WW Weigh-in, Week 9

See, I did manage to get this up faster than last week's results! Let's cut to the chase, shall we?

Start: 150
Week 1: 147.25
Week 2: 150.25
Week 3: 148.12
Week 4: 145.25
Week 5: 146.5
Week 6: 144.25
Week 7: 143.25
Week 8: 143.99
Week 9: 142.66

Hah! Take that, scale! I'm below 143, and in utter shock because I am now, arguably, in the low 140's as opposed to mid. It's been well over 10 years since I've seen a weight this low.

No words of wisdom/ shrieks of doom from the Weight Watchers e-tools, though. For one thing, it's barely over one pound, and for another, I didn't have my actual weigh-in scale for my official weigh-in yesterday because I was still at home with the sick Elder son, so all I could do was get out the little floor scale we have at home that has the spring-loaded dial and everything (yes, we're complete Luddites) and try to read it from a standing height.

When you're 41, in denial about your need for bifocals at the minimum, and are admittedly past due for a new glasses prescription, these visual things can get tricky.

Anyway, after moving the scale from its upright storage position -- because there is truly nowhere in our house we can put it down and leave it down -- making sure it was level, and then hopping on that sucker, it said 143.5...ish? Maybe? It was the best I could figure with all my squinting and moving about trying to gauge where the pointer actually landed. So that's what I entered into Weight Watchers. Then today, after winning mother-of-the-year for shoving my potentially-malingering adolescent out the door to school, I made it to my parents' house for my official weigh in on their medical-style scale, which is where I've formally been weighing in since back in 2006 when I started off at 200 pounds.

And that scale, my dears, is what netted me this lovely number in the 142 range (and yes I totally taunted the scale with glee once I realized I was below 143).

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Moving on, in comments on my last entry Tony Van Helsing said: "I'm not sure what pound cake is but it sounds like it would be disastrous to dieters." Okay, Patsy, Marie, anyone who's over in Great Britain, do we not have pound cake on your side of the pond? Yipes!

It's good. It's heavy. And no, it's not diet food -- not by a long shot. As for disastrous, well that depends on how much of it one crams down one's gaping maw, I'd say. One slice isn't going to do a dieter in, assuming the dieter in question is capable of stopping at that one slice.

Since I know myself well, that would be why I am a) leaving the pound cake at my parents' on Sunday rather than taking it back home, and b) will be delivering it to the office on Monday so my coworkers -- most of whom are males and have never seen a diet they didn't scoff at -- can consume it at will. I'm not worried about eating it before I take it over to my folks' because my ego is tied up enough with my baking that I'd rather have a perfect, whole cake to hand over for the celebration than something with an obvious slice removed. Sure, I could argue I was just doing quality control (and have), but, uhm... they know me a bit better than that.

Here's hoping we aren't there long enough for me to lunge for seconds.

WW Weigh-In, Week 8

Subtitled: OMG I have two free moments!!!

Sheesh. THAT took long enough. It's not like Week 9 weigh-in isn't tomorrow or anything. Good grief. Anyway:

Start: 150
Week 1: 147.25
Week 2: 150.25
Week 3: 148.12
Week 4: 145.25
Week 5: 146.5
Week 6: 144.25
Week 7: 143.25
Week 8: 143.99

Yeah, it really was point-ninety-nine, not 144. 144 made the nice little weight arm dip down and hit bottom. Sometimes it's fun weighing in on an old-style doctor's type scale. The visual and the mechanics of it all work for me. There's just something satisfying about that "thunk" when the weight arm hits bottom at a weight that previously made it top out.

Clearly, that didn't happen this week. As we all know, Easter kicked my ass. Specifically, baked goods. I did as much damage control as I could the rest of the week, calorie-wise, but it wasn't enough to completely erase the indulgence. On the plus side, seeing this (and the fact that at this point it doesn't look like tomorrow's weigh-in will even have me back down to Week 7's weigh-in number) will make it a bit easier to moderate myself at our family Mother's Day luncheon on Sunday.

On the minus side, I'm bringing the pound cake. Fortunately, I have a plan: I have hungry coworkers I will foist it on the following Monday. I don't think they'll mind. My leftover Easter candy has been amazingly popular with them.

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In other news, the reason I have a free moment is because the nurse at the Elder's school called me. Child was feeling sick to his stomach, so we're now both at home. And now that we're both home, I'm not feeling that awesome myself. I'm still going to work to make my 10,000 steps though, for Jenn at Watch My Butt Shrink's 10K a Day in May challenge:

(click on the image above for the link -- I can't believe I figured out how to link through an image!!!)

I started the challenge WAY early, actually -- back in mid-April. So far I've made it over 10,000 steps each day with the exception of last Monday and Tuesday, the two days after Easter. The challenge didn't officially start until Sunday, May 1st, though, and my numbers thus far have been 11,693 for Sunday; 10,511 for Monday; and 11,156 for Tuesday (yesterday). Today I've only got 4,816 steps in so far, so I need to get moving! Fortunately, I walk 150 steps per minute at 3.5 MPH, and 125 steps per minute at 3 MPH, so even if I'm moving a bit more slowly I can make my goal in under 45 minutes.

I am such a data freak.

Speaking of which, I need to bond with my treadmill while I have the opportunity. I will do my level best to get up the results of tomorrow's weigh-in much sooner!

WW Weigh-In, Week 7 - In Brief

This is late, late, LATE kids! Sorry about that. Without further ado:

Start: 150
Week 1: 147.25
Week 2: 150.25
Week 3: 148.12
Week 4: 145.25
Week 5: 146.5
Week 6: 144.25
Week 7: 143.25

Down another pound, and at the lowest weight I've seen since I was expecting the Elder, let alone the Gum Zombie! I am psyched!!

However, we'll see how well that sticks this upcoming Thursday. Easter... well, Easter kind of happened. And so did these biscuits.

Of which I ate five.

In one day.

Erm... oops?

So in all, on Easter Sunday (following the Thursday weigh-in I'm referencing), I consumed slightly over 3,300 calories, which included all my weekly allowance points plus and several activity points I'd racked up as well.

I can only be grateful I had those activity points, because at least I'm not in the hole as far as Weight Watchers goes... but I am being absolutely saintly the rest of this week.

WW Weigh-In, Week 6; also, Stylish!

Start: 150
Week 1: 147.25
Week 2: 150.25
Week 3: 148.12
Week 4: 145.25
Week 5: 146.5
Week 6: 144.25

Another drop of more than two pounds, only THIS week I didn't get the "Danger, Will Robinson!" alert from the Weight Watchers website. No, instead I got this:


FIVE POUNDS down, baby! It seems when you hit a milestone, the website defaults into congratulations mode. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

I'm pretty sure it's the loss of hair mass that did it, actually:

Yeah, the hair's in pigtails today, but that's about the size of it. It's cute. I'm adapting. I can't guarantee I'll keep it this length, though, because although the washing time is greatly reduced, the styling time is greatly increased. We'll see -- it's only been a week.

Oh, and the fact that my right and left eyes are looking in completely different directions? Totally normal, sadly. I have amblyopia (lazy eye), and my left eye takes frequent vacations. I was patched for years as a child and am fortunate to have as much vision as I do in that eye; but as it is, only about 20% of my field of vision is in the left.

Wait, I need to save that for this last part of the post!!


Stylin' in my pigtails I guess? Hee! This is thanks to Alexia over at Dimple Snatcher. I love reading her blog -- she's a cat person, and also she just has such vibrancy and joy combined with an ability to share it through her writing. It's a bonus that she's in NYC, which is conveniently where my nearly eight-month-old niece The Divine Miss M resides (along with her parents). Hop over there when you have a moment :)

Anyway, on to the rules for this award:

1. Create a post linking back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 random things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered bloggers with this award.
4. Contact the bloggers you’re awarding to tell them they’ve won.

1. Okay, done!
2. As I kind of implied above, we're going to count the amblyopia issue as my first random thing. Don't gripe, because I almost figured I'd use the haircut picture as the second random thing. It might still show up as number seven. I'm not sure yet.

Second random thing about me? My hair is totally grey. No, no, I mean under the dye, dearies. The reason I'm nearly blonde now isn't just because I'm covering a few greys, it's because I'm covering a freaking boatload of them. My hair is truly more grey than women I know who are 20 years older than I am.

Third random thing? Uh... given my 'druthers, I type sitting cross-legged in my office chair. This doesn't work so well at the office, but at home I'm free to cut off all the circulation I please.

Fourth, if you google "stinky Birkenstocks", my blog is the second website listed. It used to be first, but apparently someone on the Mothering forums started a thread that really took off. Stinky Birkenstocks are a big problem, it seems, because that is one of the main search terms that brings traffic to my blog.

Weird, huh?

Fifth, I just figured out today that my normal activity level plus 30 minutes of bonding with my treadmill will net me 10,000 steps per day. Awesome!! The reason I know this is all Jenn's fault, by the way. She's running the 10 K a Day (in May) walking challenge, and because I signed up for it I had to get a new pedometer (the Gum Zombie hijacked my old one), and since I had to get a new one, of course I got the way-cool Weight Watchers pedometer that keeps track of not only steps, but also mileage and activity points.

Yeah, I know, I'm a huge dork. But I'm good with that (plus now I can tell I've also already scored 3 activity points today --total data geek heaven).

Sixth? Hmmm... this is getting more and more difficult. Sixth random fact, uh... I read lots of paranormal fiction. Yes, I even read the Twilight books. And I while I will poke fun at them mercilessly -- sparkly vampires, really? -- I'll also grudgingly admit I made it through the whole series in less than two weeks.

Moving right along (because seriously, Twilight? I have an English degree, people... this is shameful) my seventh random fact is that they will pry my Diet Coke out of my cold, dead fingers. I eat fresh produce, and the majority of my diet is comprised of minimally processed whole foods, but there's something about that addictive little can of chemicals I just can't resist.

Now I'm supposed to pass this sucker on. If you've read me for any length of time you know I'm lousy at this part -- like, truly terrible even. I'm going to give it a shot though (and I'm going to make the term "recently discovered" pretty... erm... flexible).

Jenn at Watch My Butt Shrink (like I wasn't going to tap her after already linking her in this post - heh)
Natasha at Creating Natasha (welcome back to the blog world!)
The Ninja over at Cooking it Off
Dizzy Girl at Dizzy
Draz over at It's Just Me, Drazil, & Sheniqua
Sara at Domestically Challenged
Tina at Faith, Fitness, Fun
JAFG at I'm Just Another Fat Girl (see, here it is -- inspiration to post again! Well, either that or run far, far away...)
Kendra at I'm Totally the Turtle (how can you not love a blog title like that?)
Mrs. X from Mrs. X's Journey from the Dark Side
Sarah at The Weathered Word

Okay, I'm not at 15 yet but I'm getting freaked out because I hate worrying I'm leaving people out, and I know I've probably put some folks on here who are going "Oh geez, just what I needed, another meme!" and others are probably wondering just why I didn't add them and...

...uhm, I overthink things? So hey, if you want to respond, regardless of whether or not you're listed, please do so! Anyone who reads my blog is a jewel and worthy of any award that comes along. And if you don't have the opportunity, no worries y'all :)

Enjoy your weekend!

WW Weigh-in, Week 5; also, Hair

Let them eat cake!!

Start: 150
Week 1: 147.25
Week 2: 150.25
Week 3: 148.12
Week 4: 145.25
Week 5: 146.5

Eh, considering I consumed six pieces of birthday cake over Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday, I'll take it. Calorie-wise I haven't taken in enough to gain 1.25 pounds... in theory at least.

Weekly Calories/ PointsPlus Breakdown:
3/31 - 1158; 27
4/1 - 1214; 26
4/2 - 2391; 55
4/3 - 1251; 41
4/4 - 852; 21
4/5 - 1006; 26
4/6 - 1185; 28

That's an average intake of 1294 calories/ 32 PointsPlus per day. And no, I didn't use all my weekly allowance points last week, in spite of threatening to. I still had 18 left after trading in 7 activity points (and all this means nothing to those of you not on WW... sorry!).

I figure the spike is due to excessive cake consumption, i.e., too much processed flour, sugar, and fats. It's as good a reason as any, and seriously, like eating six slices of cake (delicious, buttercream frosted pound cake with strawberry and custard filling with edible glitter) is ever a good idea?


Hee... probably not. So yes, I was excessive. The scale reflected the excess, in spite of the fact that other than cake-overload I didn't go nuts. I knew it was a possibility, and there it is, in black and white.

I'll live. :)

We'll see what Week 6 brings, now that I'm back on track. I'm not expecting anything much considering that I'm cycling up as far as water retention goes -- I'm already grumpy and have to set aside points for medicinal chocolate, so The Bloatfest isn't far behind.

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In other news, I'm getting my roots touched up today, and I might get the hair chopped off. I'm tired of washing it; I have to wash it in two parts, first the front half and then the back half (upside down, even) to make sure I get everything on evenly and well-rinsed. Add to that the fact that I'm still using the ringworm shampoo (because I am PARANOID) and have to let THAT mess set on my head for 5 minutes twice a week and... yeah. It's a timesink.

I'm just so used to having long hair I'm not sure how well getting it cut off is going to work. I mean, when I think of myself I see this:

Which doesn't quite mesh with my current reality:


Not bad for 41, especially considering the picture was taken at a less-flattering angle on my birthday by the 12-year-old (good news is I've clearly learned that less = more when it comes to makeup and my coloring) but definitely not 28. Also, the hair is severely leaning toward blonde which is yet another mental disconnect because I have dark brown hair, dammit. I'm sure of it.

Yeah, I know. Sigh.

On the plus side, I'm using tooth whitening strips again because holy cow, those chompers look dingy. Anyway, I need to go ahead and post this because now I'm seeing some of the differences in my face that 13 years have wrought, and I've already decided that my brow has dropped. Much more analysis and I'll be booking an appointment with a plastic surgeon.

WW Weigh-in, Week 4

a.k.a. After the Deluge

Start: 150
Week 1: 147.25
Week 2: 150.25
Week 3: 148.12
Week 4: 145.25

That air raid siren-like sound you hear in the background? Is my Weight Watchers e-tools shrieking "Too fast! Too fast! Slow down IMMEDIATELY!!!!"

Heh.

In actuality, 4.75 pounds lost over 4 weeks time = 1.1875 pounds lost per week. Nothing to sneeze at, but nothing to freak out over either. My eating was in line with the past weeks I've posted, wherein I've both gained and lost weight. I know for a fact that I'm retaining way less fluid than I was in Week 3; ergo, I just can't bring myself to stress over the big drop this week.

In more "weird stuff WW e-tools do" news, Weight Watchers is calculating me at an average of only .9 pounds per week lost because they're counting my starting weight as one full week, when in actuality I joined WW on a Wednesday and picked Thursday for my weigh-in day, not realizing that the e-tools would count that whopping ONE DAY as a whole week.

Fortunately I can do math so it's no big deal; also, as time passes that start week will matter less and less as far as all the statistics are concerned. But you'd think that since the e-tools calculate how much average weight is lost, that the programming could take that into account before the "Please slow down!!" freakout.

Ah well. It's all good. And outside of that I'm really pleased with the program. I'm not even displeased with the weirdness with the e-tools; I'm more slightly bemused/ amused. This is the best loss over time I've had in months, and the quality of my food intake is much better than it has been prior.

You just can't argue with success, yanno?

So of course, being me I'm going to throw a wrench into it. Now I could say it's because I want to test the PointsPlus program and see how well I do in a week where I consume not only all my activity points, but also my entire weekly points allowance as well. And yeah, I'm curious, but to be honest...

... Saturday's my 41st birthday, and I am having cake. Lots and lots of cake. With strawberry filling and custard filling on alternating layers. And we're going to Olive Garden for dinner.

And did I mention the cake? This is a repeat of Choreboy's and my wedding cake. It's even from the same vendor, but it's a quarter the price because it's smaller (by only a third) and not for a wedding.

Bliss.

That said, I'm also preparing for the Olive Garden excursion by checking out the PointsPlus values for the food. I'm setting my mind to look our soon-to-be-well-tipped server right in her beady little pasta-pushing eyes and ask her very nicely to please bring half my meal in a to-go box. Because although I fully intend to burn through every last weekly allowance point, I'm not going over.

Which would also be why the leftover cake is already slated to head to the office next Monday. I can only handle so much temptation.

I'll be interested to see what the April 7th weigh-in brings. I may be on the upswing with the water retention, or I may not. So at this point we're looking at the potential for anything from a modest loss up to a ridiculous spike. If nothing else, it should be entertaining.

He's At It Again

Choreboy Strikes Back!

He's blogging, AND blaming me for his spare tire. Geez.

I can't help it if I was forced at gunpoint to bake four-dozen cupcakes this weekend. Granted, it was a space ray gun wielded by the four-year-old Nephew, but still....

Okay, seriously. Go. Read. Comment. I'm sitting right beside him laughing so loudly that I'm scaring the kids and have forced the cats into hiding. Hee!!

WW Weigh-in, Week 3

Wherein Amanda Laughs Hysterically

Start: 150
Week 1: 147.25
Week 2: 150.25
Week 3: 148.12

Yep, that's down 2.2 pounds from last week, and I'm totally freaking out my Weight Watchers Online Tracker. It only understands each week individually, so it's going nuts with wailing sirens and such (not literally re: the sirens), hollering "You're losing weight too quickly!!! Click here to see how to slow down your weight loss..."

Riiiiight. Because a 1.9 pound net loss over 3 weeks is so unreasonable. I think I'll be ignoring that little quirk of the WW etools...

So, did I do anything significantly different from last week? Hmmm. Caloric intake:

3/17 - 1184, 28
3/18 - 1490, 33
3/19 - 1345, 29
3/20 - 1294, 28
3/21 - 1234, 28
3/22 - 1206, 28
3/23 - 1126, 28

That's an average of 1268 calories/day, and 28.9 PointsPlus/day. Last week was 1229 calories/day and 27.5 PointsPlus/day. I ate 273 more calories this past week and showed over a two pound loss, compared to last week where I ate less than Week 1 and gained three pounds.

Go figure.

And I can't blame the loss on less fluid retention because, well, I'm still retaining. Ask Choreboy, who's wondering how I manage to stand upright with the boulders I've got mounted on my chest at the moment. Yeeouch!

Okay, that was probably TMI. Anyway.

My prediction is that somewhere between Weeks 4 and 5 I'll see a drop below that 147.25 I hit at the end of Week 1. That weight was taken around day 10 of my cycle, and day 10 of this next one has a good chance of hitting in the next couple of weeks. So we'll see. I may end up tracking my weight not just with the same time of day/ same scale/ same clothes scenario, but also at the same phase of my cycle. Oish.

Oh well, as long as the trend line keeps going down it'll work out. I'm just really curious to see how far below 147.25 I go on day 10, whenever that happens to be.

Fortunately, I'm easily entertained.

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In other news, The Evil That is Ringworm appears to be fading from our home. Mine is virtually undetectable, and the patch on the anonymous child's arm is getting there too. Thank goodness.

That said, I fully expect the unafflicted to come down with it... likely as soon as I think it's safe to shelve the anti-fungals.

WW Weigh-in, Week 2

Subtitled: Our Bodies, They Are Not Bank Accounts

Note: there may be some "language" in today's post. This would be why:

Start: 150
Week 1: 147.25
Week 2: 150.25

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. That's a 3 pound gain. And if you think I'm going to blame it on hormones...

...you are dead on the money.

Let me give you the data. Here are my calories and points for the week:

3/10 - 1670, 37
3/11 - 1261, 28
3/12 - 1163, 29
3/13 - 1312, 29
3/14 - 948, 22
3/15 - 1247, 27
3/16 - 1005, 21

That averages out to 1229 calories per day, 27.5 points per day.

Last week when I lost 2.75 pounds, my average intake was 1252 calories/ 29 points per day.

So basically, I managed to gain weight while consuming 161 calories less than I did last week. I know I'm scrupulous about logging every bite. Like I've seen others say, if you don't journal your food, your butt will. I know the truth of that -- if I weren't logging every bite (seriously y'all, I made sure to put in the six lousy chocolate covered almonds I ate yesterday), we'd be looking at an even higher scale number.

The simple truth is, my body is holding onto a boatload of fluid. I'm on day 17 of my current "cycle" and it's prime time for the water retention to kick in. I don't like it, but it's a physiological, medically-verifiable fact.

And hell yeah I'm pissed. It's not even as if I can comfort myself by saying "Oh, next week will be better!" because who knows? Next weigh-in will only be day 24 of the cycle. So... maybe yes, maybe no. My last cycle was 35 days. The one prior was 17 days. The one before that was 26 days. I've gone as long as 58 days between periods.

There is no telling.

Welcome to perimenopause, kids. In spite of being used to this insanity -- I've been going through it since I was 37 -- I am so freaking aggravated. These are not mathematically valid results. At least not by the average 3500 calories/ pound measurement they aren't. Theoretically, at the absolute bottom end I should be eating 1660 calories per day just to maintain my weight. By that math alone, I should have lost almost a pound. Or something. Hell, I'd have taken holding steady. So instead to gain?

Frustratingly, it's just more proof that our bodies aren't like bank accounts.

It annoys my "Give me something concrete and I'll run with it" mind to no end, but it's the jaw-clenching, tooth-grinding truth. Sure, it's comforting to think "Okay, if I put 3500 calories less into my body than it needs to function on a daily basis, I'll lose a pound, and that means if I put 7000 calories less into my body than it needs, that's two pounds, and then..." but the math just doesn't hold true in reality.

That 3500 number is an average, which means there are those freaks of nature (of whom I am shamefully jealous) who burn calories as if they're well-aged pine, and then there are those on the other end of the scale whose bodies are exceptionally efficient (i.e., they hold on to fat as if famine were around the next corner, rather than McDonald's) and only require a minimal number of calories to sustain life.

Those are the types of people on both ends of that 3500-average bell curve. The rest of us fall somewhere in the middle, some higher than 3500, some lower, and a precious few right on it. You simply can't look at intake and assume a specific weight loss. It's a nice guide, but we're all running with different metabolisms. When you then throw in the hormones (don't even say it's an "excuse" boys/ girls who've never had a hormonal fluctuation in their lives or I won't be held responsible for my actions), tormenting yourselves because your weight loss isn't adhering to a specific, mathematical formula is unrealistic at best, and self-sabotage at worst.

Be honest. Journal your food. If it's the chocolate that nuked your weigh-in (I've been there), then own it. By the same token, if it's the hormones, quit bitching yourselves out and own that.

I do.

Majorly Skeeved

Me, squealing: It's gross!!

Him: It's not. It's nothing.

Me: It's gross!!

Him: It's just a little parasite.

Me: Oh my God, it is not a parasite it's a fungus. Eewww!

Him: It's a parasite.

Me: Fungus! Like! Mushroom!

Him: Fine. It's a fungus. We'll save the flakes from your scalp and we'll put them on a pizza.

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You know, it's one thing blogging about your child's ringworm.

It's quite another matter when it's your own.

I'm more than capable of giving myself a healthy case of the psychosomatic itchies. When they're accompanied by red lesions with a distinctive, raised ring around the borders, though... well, that's how I found myself driving home from my doctor's office today, shrieking and cursing to myself in an empty car. So I'm now the proud owner of anti-fungal shampoo and ointment, because I'm special and my case of ringworm happens to be on my scalp.

Not enough ick in the world to cover this.

Oh well, at least it's not impetigo.

(knock wood)

Just a Quickie

You know you're aging when you have to wear your reading glasses to give yourself a pedicure.

Good grief.

Okay, I'm Caving

No, not on my food! Good grief, I'm on a roll there! No, no, it's just that I've been seeing this "ABC's of Me" meme running amok, and since I want to post something tonight but really have no clue what to post about, I'm in.

A - Age: 40 years, 11 months, 9 days. Not that I'm counting.

B - Bed size: queen

C - Chore you hate: scooping the litter box. Making the bed has also always seemed pretty pointless.

D - Dog's name: Teddy, a.k.a. Hound

E - Essential start your day item: something caffeinated. Coffee is best, Diet Coke will do.

F - Favorite color: green

G - Gold or Silver: gold

H - Height: 5'7"

I - Instruments you play: piano and violin, neither one that well anymore

J - Job title: office manager/ ruler of all she surveys (I'm very nearsighted in my good eye, so they let me get away with this)

K - Kids: 2 boys

L - Living arrangements: married, offspring, 3 cats, 1 dog, innumerable dust bunnies, and more books than there is shelf space

M - Mom's name: Yo, ma!

N - Nicknames: A, A.J., Ralph (yes, Ralph -- my father is a very twisted man)

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: for a tonsillectomy when I was 4 -- 2 nights! The nephew just had his removed and it was out-patient.

P - Pet Peeve: bullying and hateful behavior. Don't get me started on this rant...

Q - Quote from a movie: “Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.”

R - Right or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: 2 - one sister, and one brother

T - Time you wake up: the alarm goes off at 6:00. I'm usually awake around 4:30 or 5:00, because my body hates me and wants me to die of sleep deprivation :P

U- Underwear: uh, yes? (who wrote this thing?)

V - Vegetable you dislike: freaking PEAS. Bleah.

W - Ways you run late: my beloved children attempt to thwart my efforts at promptness

X - X-rays you've had: lots of dental, legs (for the stress fractures), wrist (fracture), chest... more, but I've lost count

Y - Yummy food you make: monkey bread, buttermilk pie, chocolate cake with chocolate ganache glaze, lentil soup, mustard maple pork tenderloin, salmon with mustard dill sauce, curried sweet potato oven fries... shoot, now I'm hungry and I just ate.

Z - Zoo favorite: elephants. Always.

First WW Weigh-In!

Back during the holiday season I was determined not to go above 150 again. And I haven't.

Well, not on The Official Scale I haven't. That's the medical-style scale at my parents' house.

On our little scale at home? Erm...

uh...

it might have been another story (*koff* 154 at the height of the bloat *koff*).

Ahem.

So my starting weight last Wednesday for Weight Watchers was 150. It was actually 149.99999999 (on The Official Scale, after some of the bloat water had drained off), but for all intents and purposes?

150.

After a week and a day on plan, though?

147.25.

YES.

2.75 pounds lost. I'll take it.

Weirdly, I was really excited to weigh in this week. I haven't been excited to get on the scale in months, even when I was losing consistently; but with counting PointsPlus instead of (okay, in addition to) calories, something just clicked. I'm not sure if it's the fact that fruit is zero points or what, but it's just working for me. And as I've said before, I'm all about using whatever method is working best at a particular moment in time. For me, at this moment in time, Weight Watchers happens to be it.

Another thing I'm really enjoying about the WW site is that it breaks the weight lost down into percentages. So by the time I hit 142.5, I'll have lost 5% of my starting body weight; and at 135 I'll have lost 10% of my starting body weight. Goal is 130, so I'll only be 5 pounds away by then. Awesome.

I'm ridiculously excited by all of this, as you can tell from the relentless babbling.

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One thing I have to say SparkPeople has over Weight Watchers is the interactive community. Weight Watchers has a thriving online community; don't get me wrong. But from my perspective SparkPeople's community is better organized and easier for a newbie to both navigate and jump into. I could be missing something, though, and I'm open to suggestions if anyone has them.

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In other news, rain, rain, and more rain is in the forecast for our area of Florida today. It started last night and hasn't really stopped since. This morning I was in and out of the rain four freaking times by the time I finally walked into the office. I'm soggy, my stupid shoes are wet, and the cuffs of my pants aren't exactly dry either. Fortunately, the rain was needed and all of the sniffledy people here at the office (and at my home) are thrilled that this might actually bring the pollen count down. Between the oaks flowering and the orange blossoms blooming, it's a nightmare for the hay fever-prone.

Speaking of which, I need to make sure we have enough tissues. Better wrap this up. Later!

An Open Letter to My Co-Workers

Dear Co-Workers,

My blue pen and post-it note pad appear to have wandered away from my desk. Granted, this is not like The Great Scissors Debacle of 2010, but still.

I. Want. Them. Back.

If they return by lunchtime, no one gets hurt.

The office supply cabinet is two bays up to the north. Use it.

Sincerely,
She Who Generates the Paychecks

Hard Reset

I've seen a few folks talking about needing to do a "hard reset" with their weight loss efforts, and I believe it's quite evident I've reached that point myself. I'm still far below my high weight of 200 pounds, but if I don't do something that might not always be the case.

Failure is not an option. So yesterday, I joined Weight Watchers Online.

As most of you are aware, I've been using SparkPeople for two years now for tracking my food and whatnot, and truly, I can't say enough good things about it. The tools are easy to use, and the community is great. I'm even one of the leaders for my local SparkPeople team (may God have mercy on us all).

And it's free. You can't beat free. Also, I'm twenty pounds down from last year's high of 166-168 pounds. It's hard to argue with success.

But right now, calorie counting isn't cutting it for me. I'm just treading water. It's too easy for me to eat at the middle to top end of my 1350 - 1670 calorie range. "Eh, go ahead and have that donut, Amanda. You can fit it in. Oh, that cheese looks good! Just a little slice..."

You know, that's just fine sometimes. But not daily. And there are moments, especially when I'm in the pits of hormonal hell, where a little more structure might be helpful.

Plus whining about it endlessly is proving somewhat ineffective.

So after following Sheryl, aka Bitchcakes for the past year-plus, and also watching Jenn and Patsy with Weight Watchers, I bit the financial bullet and signed up. The change in social security withholding gives me enough extra monthly to be able to justify the cost (right around $18.00/month); additionally, they're running a membership special at the moment where if you pay for 3 months online membership at once, the initial fee is waived.

To be honest, I'm really pretty psyched about this. I've always been interested in Weight Watchers, and the whole "points" system has intrigued me. I'm clearly a marketer's dream, because the new PointsPlus system that's been the talk of much of the blog world as well as mainstream media has further drawn me in.

So here I sit, a full-fledged Weight Watchers Online member. I get 29 PointsPlus per day, and 49 more weekly... I guess they're flex-points or something? And because I'm a total data geek, I'm tracking my food on SparkPeople as well as on my Weight Watchers plan manager. Hee.

Turns out 29 PointsPlus per day is in the neighborhood of 1200 calories, give or take for fruit and vegetable intake. I have to say that fruit being zero points is a benefit to me already, because yesterday I picked grapes for a snack rather than some lovely glazed pecans (that I really should move away from my desk, say, now). Also, having my "extra" points all in one neat little bundle works for me mentally. I totally have hoarding tendencies (ask Choreboy) so my preference is to hoard the points rather than expend them on food. That said, it's wonderful that they're there in case we're out at dinner, or if I really desperately need that quarter pounder with cheese (which is THIRTEEN FREAKING POINTS OH MY GOD).

Ahem.

So anyway, I can see this being a good thing. I'm fired up again, which is what I really needed.

And in case anyone wanted to know, Hershey's Special Dark kisses are 2 PointsPlus for 3 kisses. That's vital information right there.

Okay FTC, once again, NOT BEING COMPENSATED. Weight Watchers and SparkPeople are getting publicity and linkage for free. Not that I'd mind being compensated, but no one's offered :P

It's About Time

After thirty-six days, all is well. I was feeling more settled yesterday and as the day wore on I noticed that my stomach was looking a little flatter.A couple of hours later I discovered why. It's amazing how intense the bloat gets -- the scale can vary as much as five pounds from one day to the next.

You know, I'm so done with the whole "peri" part of this peri-menopause. I'd like it to just pause already, thankyouverymuch. And thank you very much for listening to Sunday's rant.

Oish.

In other news, it's becoming apparent to me that small boys bring home icky things. Last fall it was impetigo, and now one of my precious snowflakes has developed a most charming patch of ringworm on his arm. If it's not the bacteria it's the fungi apparently. And they're all out to get me. See, I can take vomit. I can take blood (good thing too because the Gum Zombie's nose is a veritable fountain of carnage at times). I can take just about any body fluid you throw at me, although I may make little gagging noises in the process. In the end, though, it's no biggie. I changed diapers for close to seven years straight, for crying out loud.

But communicable skin conditions? GACK!!! Yep, throw me something a bit scaly, oozy, and most importantly, contagious and I turn into a complete pansy.

Here's hoping the ointment works as described. If not, you may next find me huddled in the back of a closet with my iPad.

Baking Again

Bread today. White. First loaf.

No, not a good sign diet-wise. Baking rarely is, for me. My hormones have gone around the bend. I'm somewhere between a week and a week-and-a-half late and bloated as hell; my cycles are ridiculously varied and even by their standards I'm behind. I'm crabby and emotional. I spent at least an hour last night in tears over the ills of the past few decades -- those committed by me and those committed against me -- like that does anyone any good at all.

Oh, and I'm fairly convinced I will NEVER lose this last fourteen to twenty pounds. Urrrgh.

Hopefully the bread at least turns out decently. I'm having an entitlement moment; I'm owed a good loaf of bread.

Dammit.

Is this thing on?

I feel like I should tap into a microphone or something, since this place is way dusty after being neglected for the past -- oh holy crap -- nearly three weeks.

Mea culpa, y'all. And thank you for hanging in there while I contemplated my navel for a bit.

I go through cycles with my food, and at the moment I'm sick and tired of what's been working for nearly six months. URRRGH. Boredom with my tried-and-true menu items leads to baking (mmmmm.... butter), which finally leads to me figuring out something new to cook and then settling down. So between February 1st and now, I've been baking.

I got to play with the stand mixer Choreboy gave me for Christmas -- yay! I made monkey bread from scratch, and let's just say that yeast and I are not yet on totally friendly terms. I made one batch and the yeast activated just fine, everything rose, life was beautiful. Then I started up another batch (I believe we had a teensy "binge", aided and abetted by my offspring), but the stupid yeast didn't work.

Yes, we ate it anyway. I wasn't wasting all that dough, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter!

Ahem.

The next weekend was Valentine's weekend, and Choreboy had requested a vanilla bean cheesecake. After much use of power tools (i.e., the Kitchen Aid and the food processor) we got that sucker mixed up, baked, and in the fridge. And let me tell you, it was awesome. I adore vanilla beans, and although cheesecake isn't my favorite dessert, I'd eat this every night if I could.

If you click on the recipe, by the way, check out the hilarious nutrition information. It's 538 calories per slice assuming 16 slices per 10-inch cake. GACK!!!

Fortunately, this past week marked the end of the baking fest and the return to sense. I made a move to animal-based proteins away from the legumes I'd been concentrating on for dinner with a lean pork tenderloin and a lovely cut of salmon. Happily for my budget, Publix* had a sale on the Eat Smart pre-cut veggies ($1.00/ bag -- for those of you who are Publix shoppers I believe the price goes through this Thursday if you want to grab some) so I stocked up on a bit of fresh broccoli.

Also, today I made a HUGE batch of lentil soup at lunch. It might seem counter-intuitive considering I was trying to move away from legumes, but lentils are different from chickpeas, plus I had carrots to get rid of and what better way than to toss them into soup? It turned out pretty well, I believe, and that's a good thing because I have a ton of it left over. I think my parents are going to have a little soup coming their way.

So, next weigh in? I'm guessing around my birthday, which will make it the beginning of April. I'm going to concentrate on eating well over the next several weeks, because I have this dress I want to wear come summer and although it fits kind of at the moment, it will definitely be more flattering with a few less pounds attached to my ass.

For those who don't want to do the math, I'll be forty-one. I've barely resigned myself to forty. Bleah.

Next up is getting back on my treadmill. JAFG kindly sent me a kick-in-the-butt text (heheh... thanks chica!) and although my words were good, my follow-up sucked. In my defense, my husband has left a table propped against the treadmill so that is impeding my progress somewhat.

Hey, that's my story and I'm sticking to it (ignore the fact that I could have moved the table my own damn self and burned a few calories in the process). Tune in next time for more True Confessions of a Diet Tortoise!


*Note to the FTC: once again, I'm only mentioning brand names and stores because I feel like it. I receive no compensation from anyone for the products or vendors listed.

Fourteen to Go

I'd determined back in December that I wouldn't do a full, official weigh-in until February 1st. Leading up to the holidays I saw over and over throughout blogland that we needed to decide if we were going to lose weight through the holidays, or if we were "just" going to try to maintain. Quite frankly, the phrasing bugged. Maintaining weight over the holidays can be a huge struggle. There is no "just" about maintaining over the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New-Year's season. Maintaining is awesome!

It's also what I chose, and what I did*. Which, with all due self-awareness, might have a tad bit to do with my defensiveness regarding the usage of "just".

On November 18th, I weighed 144.5 pounds. Today, I weighed in at 144 pounds. And if I want to stretch it -- okay, I totally want to stretch it -- it was more like 143.9. Take THAT, holiday food fest!! 144 is an all-time low from back in 2006 when I weighed 200 pounds.

56 down, 14 to go.

Goal date: December 31, 2011. And geez, that seems a bunch closer than it did back in November!

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In other news, I'd rate my back at 90-95% of normal, and feeling 100 times better than it did a couple of months ago when I first managed to mess it up. Hooray!! The only thing truly bothering me now is trying to determine just how I managed to hurt myself. Was it scrubbing the bathroom floor at work? Carrying the Gum Zombie-who-really-weighs-too-much-for-me-to-pick-up to bed? Dancing around like an idiot to Pink's "Raise Your Glass"? Four times? In a row?

All of the above?

I wish I knew, because I'd really prefer not to torture myself. Also, I want to exercise but there's a serious fear component involved at the moment. So... I'm trying to look at this realistically. In all likelihood I didn't hurt myself exercising. It was probably one of the things I listed above (darn you, Pink!). I know I can walk on my treadmill. I can probably even do the evil-that-is Tabata sprints.

There go those excuses. Looks like my treadmill and I have a date for tomorrow.

*Yes, I did report a post-holiday weight of 146 or thereabouts, but it wasn't from the real weigh in scale; ergo, it was not an official weight. So there. That's my story and I'm sticking to it :P (Okay, plus a couple of pounds fluctuation is maintaining in the real world.)