WW Weigh-In, Week 15

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus, Kids

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
Week 10: 142.33
Week 11: 141.125
Week 12: 140.7
Week 13: 140.25
Week 14: 140.9
Week 15: 139.25!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh. My. God. FINALLY. Yay!!!!!!! Okay, only 9.25 pounds to go...

Looks like I'm at the part of this whole weight loss thing where I basically lose half a pound a week when averaged out over a few weeks. So if I keep it up at this rate, I should hit goal right before my November 3rd weigh-in. As far as the theory of it goes, I'm good with that. Intellectually I know that I'm at a healthy weight and have been since I got below 160. My body is perceiving these last 20 pounds (now less than 10 -- HAH!) as "vanity weight," and is pretty hesitant to let them go. So I'm having to kind of sneak them out. And it will happen, in time.

Meanwhile, out here in reality-world, it's a royal pain. I keep going because my knees will thank me (the less I weigh, the less strain on both of them, particularly the right knee). And I keep going in part, too, because I gain weight in the "saddle bag" style, which means that I'm not only a pear shape, but a lumpy one at that and less weight overall means the saddlebags get proportionally smaller making it easier to find pants that fit well enough to pay for the price of having them tailored.

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At some point, when the scale gets extremely stingy with the rewards, you have to buy into the whole lifestyle aspect of weight loss. Sure, we can parrot on about how "it's a lifestyle change, not a diet!" all we want, but it takes a long time to truly internalize that concept. That's one reason why the whole deprivation angle of "thou shalt not eat items X, Y, and Z" never worked for me. It's just not sustainable, and there comes a time where it has got to be about what you can live with.

It's about activity.
I walk 10,000 steps minimum 5-7 days per week. On a weekday, that means I hop on the treadmill at the end of the workday for 40 minutes. Even at only 3 MPH, that puts me above 10,000 by the time I'm done. Anymore I'm at a minimum 5% incline and pushing up both that and the speed, because for me walking on a level surface at 3 MPH is just... sauntering, really.

I'm also working on my resistance training 2-3 times per week, 20 minutes per session. I'm once again maxed out on my weights at home (granted the highest I have is a 10 lb. dumbbell). Muscle memory is a marvelous thing.

And I've also been researching the hiking paths around my area. There's only so much one can do on a treadmill. Besides, the boys will enjoy forced marches... maybe?

It's about food.
I had a major NSV (non-scale victory) earlier this week. My parents have been away and in their absence I've hijacked their minivan, in large part because their fifteen-year-old-chihuahua-on-Lasix is staying with us and I need the back of the van to transport her and Teddy back and forth to their daytime location during the week. Well, Monday when I put the key into the ignition I heard an ominous "click-click-click-click-click".

Lovely.

So Choreboy gave me a jump and I got to work. About 4:40, I went out to check the van.

"Click-click-click-click-click."

Oh dammit all to hell. So once again, Choreboy rides to the rescue. I picked up the boys and we met him at the local auto parts store where I then replaced my parents' car battery for them.

You're welcome.

By the end of all this, the last thing I felt like doing was going home and cooking a new batch of lentil soup, so we went to the local family-sports-bar-like place, conveniently located in the strip center right behind the auto parts store.

I scanned the menu. If I were on the Deep Fried Items Only diet, I'd have been in hog heaven. Finally I found the grilled mahi sandwich, which looked fairly okay. I ordered it without the bread and with a side of steamed broccoli. The sandwich toppings were basically a Caesar salad and tomatoes, so salad + broccoli + grilled fish = win, all things considered.

I did, however, snag a couple boneless wings from Choreboy. They were good.

And yes, I logged them.

It's about consistency.
I have set myself up for success. For me, that means having my lunch-of-choice already stocked at the office. Apples, grapes, hard boiled eggs, reduced fat cheese (I usually eschew reduced fat cheese, but I've found two kinds I actually like -- Cracker Barrel 2% cheddar, and Babybel Light), whole wheat pitettes, and Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter -- these are what keep me going during day.

It means making a GINORMOUS pot of lentils or black bean soup. Yeah, I flaked out on the lentils Monday, but Tuesday night I was in the kitchen chopping carrots once again. And I think I'll set the black beans out to soak Saturday night.

It means getting into the habit of choosing wisely with both activity and food, so those times when a truly outstanding food opportunity comes along (hello pound cake/ chess pie/ vanilla bean cake/ REESES!!!!!!!!!!!!!), I can indulge with a clear conscience. Honestly, I'm not going to live a life without certain things (full fat cheese, desserts, guacamole, chips, cheese dip), so it behooves me to find ways to live with them now. Reasonably.

And then I log every bite of it. Because that's what works. For me.

It's about persistence.
I've been at this since fall of 2006. At 5'-7" tall, I weighed 200 pounds which gave me a BMI of 31.32. Technically I was categorized as "Obese Class 1". And I wouldn't have known my weight if I hadn't followed my kids onto the scale at Publix on a crazy whim. They weighed themselves, then I climbed on.

You know, you can tell yourself that the scale is off, that the dryer is shrinking your jeans, that you're bloated... you can say these things for a certain amount of time. And they may even be right. But there's nothing quite like the reality check you get when your seven-year-old announces to the entire freaking store, "Mommy, you weigh 200! Isn't that quite a lot?"

The now-twelve-year-old is very proud of his role in my wake-up call, as well he should be. Since that fateful day I've used just about every method out there to lose weight, and I've learned from each one of them. I started with NutriSystem, which reset my brain for standard sized portions. It also helped me realize I needed to get this weight off once and for all because no way was I going to eat that crap long-term. When Lean Cuisine tastes like a gourmet treat? Something's gotta give. I read The Hacker's Diet (free online!), and that's what finally kicked the calories in/ calories out switch. I got under 160, which officially put me at a healthy weight. I joined SparkPeople. I tracked my food. I exercised. I joined Weight Watchers.

I've had my ups and downs, but over time the trendline has continued to point in the right direction.

And in just a bit more time, goal.

November, watch out.

WW Weigh-In, Week 14

There is no subtitle adequate to describe my feelings at the moment. Well, there is, but it involves more cursing than I'm comfortable using in public.

The scale got an earful, though.

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
Week 10: 142.33
Week 11: 141.125
Week 12: 140.7
Week 13: 140.25
Week 14: 140.9 !@)(*$(*@*@#$@)(&@%)((!)

Where is the "primal scream" emoticon when you need one?

Okay, confession time: I (foolishly) got on the scale this past Monday, for what reason I do not know. It read 138.5. I was elated. The 130's! I'd done it! I could finally report on my blog that I'd broken the accursed plateau!

Then I weighed myself on Tuesday, and it read 139.25.

Huh. Well, weight fluctuates, and three-quarters of a pound is within reason.

I didn't get on the scale on Wednesday, because I felt like I'd kind of jinxed myself with Monday and Tuesday's weighing-in antics, so for Thursday I was fully expecting to be rewarded for my good behavior.

Nope. 140.9. Probably there are a few more repeating 9's in that series, but we're just going to leave it at one decimal place.

So anyway, the mind started kicking. I know my food has been good. I know my exercise has been good. I even started back with the weights this week! Hmmm... that could cause a little fluid retention, but not this much.

Then I thought to check The Calendar.

Yup. Screwed by hormones again. I'd thought my stomach was looking poochier than usual, but I was thrown off because the latest weight I've lost (and I have lost it) has affected my chest, thus making any retention in that area less noticeable. But indeed, it was due.

So guess what showed up right before I went to bed last night?

Sigh. Delightful.

At least I know what's up. Here's hoping next week will be it!

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Adding insult to injury, my bra size has apparently dropped even where the scale hasn't, which I didn't notice until I wore a dress this week with a certain bra and noticed that we were having a gravitationally challenged moment. The band size is definitely smaller -- I'm going to have to move down to a 32 -- and it's possible my cup size has shifted as well because that isn't a "volume" thing, but is instead proportional to the band size.

Y'all, if I dropped to a C I'm going to need an entirely new vocabulary. Just sayin'.

Oh well, on the plus side I took today off work. I've already bonded with the treadmill and am about to do my resistance stuff without my children staring at me as if I'm a very interesting bug in a terrarium. Gotta take those small pleasures where we can find them. Have a great weekend, folks!

WW Weigh-In, Week 13

Subtitled: ARRRGH!!!!!!!

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
Week 10: 142.33
Week 11: 141.125
Week 12: 140.7
Week 13: 140.25

*muttering to self* Slow but steady, Amanda... slow but steady...

It was a good weigh-in. It really was. I lost almost half a pound in a week where I baked both a vanilla bean cake and a chess pie, and partook in both of same multiple times. I had a cheeseburger on Memorial Day. And the night before weigh-in I was attacked by a box of Triscuits that were mercilessly taunting me and consumed probably 3 servings of them instead of dinner, along with all the attendant sodium that involved.

So truly, I did well. I'm just looking at that scale i-n-c-h-i-n-g its way down oh-so-slowly and it's driving me nuts! I know the last 10 pounds or so can take forever, but I wish The Grand Stall-Out had started at, say... 139.9?

Perhaps?

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In other news, I completed Jenn's 10K a Day (in May!) challenge and managed a minimum of 10,000 steps per day each day in the month of May. Hooray -- go me!!! And then I cracked Choreboy up because I looked at him on May 31st and said, "I'm not going to get on the treadmill tomorrow. I'm just going to take a break," but then proceeded to jog in place to get my steps up to 10,000 yet again for the first day of June.

Obsessive much, me? Nah...

I did, however, take a real day off of working out yesterday. I needed it mentally if for no other reason. And today I'm going to get on the treadmill but my plan is to mix it up a bit by using one of the pre-programmed workout circuits on the machine. I haven't tried one of those since back in 2001, way before the Gum Zombie was even a vague concept let alone any sort of cellular entity. Then tomorrow morning our local SparkPeople group is meeting at the mall for walking at 9:00 a.m. We had been walking around one of the local lakes (we've got a plethora of lakes here), but the last time we walked the humidity really got to a bunch of us (and to my hair -- talk about an explosion!) so we're moving the party indoors until things cool down a bit.

So... December, probably. Okay, realistically I'm thinking late October at the earliest. I will officially be hating my power bill for the next six months.

My challenge to myself this next week: get some resistance training back into the schedule. Seriously, it won't kill me to lift a freaking dumbbell. I might as well do it.

WW Weigh-In, Week 12

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
Week 10: 142.33
Week 11: 141.125
Week 12: 140.7

Unfortunately, I let myself hope for the 130's even though I knew it was a bad idea. Four tenths of a pound is something, but it's obviously not quite what I wanted. I guess we'll go with the whole "Slow and steady wins the race" concept. It's not like I have much choice in the matter. My eating is on point. I've averaged right at 1200 calories (+/- 30) for the past five weeks at least (email me if you want a link to my food log on SparkPeople -- I believe there's a version I have shared somewhere out on teh intarweebs), the food has for the most part (*koff* oreos *koff*) been of good quality, I've walked a minimum of 10,000 steps a day.

I'm looking at it and there's not much more I can reasonably do at this time. I'd like to run, but my body has been very clear that any response to running -- even sprints, dagnabbit -- will be along the lines of "Excuse me? What do you think you're doing? I'm taking you down, toots," so we're just not going there.

Some parts of getting old pretty much suck. Just so you know :P

Good news is, it's still trending downward. Yay!

Lentils By Request

In the comments to my last post, Sarah at Thinfluenced asked about my lentil recipe. As many of you know, this year I've been on a mission to lessen my hatred of The Vile Legume. I started with chickpeas, since I already knew I didn't hate hummus or falafel. After mastering the chickpea, I moved on to lentils. Why? People, I have the attention span of a gnat. The "why" for the lentil could be anything. Best I can figure, there was a random nutrition/ fitness/ cooking article out there that mentioned the virtues of the lentil and my ADD-esque brain grabbed onto it, causing me to research nearly every lentil recipe extant. Finally I figured I'd just go with soup. I'm a kitchen slacker, what can I say?

I finally found a recipe I liked, but it's been severely tweaked since reading the comments that followed it (reduced oil, went with broth/ stock instead of water, added curry powder, more carrots and onions, etc), so this is what I've finally come up with:

2 TBSP olive oil
2 medium onions, diced
4 carrots, sliced
2 ribs celery, sliced or diced
2 bay leaves
1 TBSP garlic powder (original recipe calls for 2 garlic cloves minced -- see "slacker" statement above for justification)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 TBSP curry powder
1 lb dried lentils
8 cups/ 64 fl oz. chicken broth (or stock, or vegetable stock if you prefer)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (I like the ones with basil, garlic, and oregano)
1 package thawed and rinsed frozen spinach (optional)
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot (I don't know much about sizes – mine's about 8inches high and 10 inches around maybe?) heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery and cook until onion is translucent. Add bay leaves, garlic powder, oregano, basil, curry powder, crushed red pepper, and salt and pepper. Cook for two minutes. Add rinsed lentils, broth, and tomatoes and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for at least one hour (I usually take about 2). Check periodically and add additional salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. Use caution especially on that last one. After at least one hour, add the balsamic vinegar. If you're adding the spinach (which I haven't lately, but it's harmless), this is where I'd do it. Then continue to simmer until done, where "done" is measured by "Are the lentils still crunchy? If so, continue to simmer until edible."

The base recipe over at Allrecipes says this only serves 6, but I get at least 10 1-cup servings out of it, and consume it over the course of a week or so with occasional nibblings by the offspring and Choreboy. My favorite thus far is to top it with some shredded parmesan, but I have a feeling avocado would also go nicely on it. Might have to give that one a whirl.

If you try it, let me know how it turns out!

WW Weigh-In, Week 11

My comments never came back from the Blogger outage -- rats!!!!!!!!

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
Week 10: 142.33
Week 11: 141.125

Yes, those decimals are accurate :P

I'm so close to the 130's... but I'm going to try not to dwell on it because that way lies insanity. And it would probably stress me out too, which would make me retain water, and that would Not. Be. HELPFUL.

I'm just going to keep on with what I've been doing and see what happens.

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As for what I've been doing? Well, my basic day of eating is pretty dull:

Breakfast:
1 egg
2 egg whites
1/2 oz. cheddar
1 cup fruit (usually berries)

Lunch:
1 hard boiled egg (I like eggs a bit)
1 oz. 2% cheddar
1 pitette w/ 1 TBSP Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter
6-8 apple slices (depends on how many I grab from the bag)
1 cup grapes

Dinner:
1 cup lentil soup
1 TPBS parmesan cheese

Snacks:
Range from ice cream and Oreos (in fixed amounts) to apples and cheese.

I tend to stick around 1200 - 1300 calories per day (yes, even on Weight Watchers I'm still counting calories), and on the weekend this varies a bit more; for example I'll bake some fish for dinner, or hit a restaurant for a meal. And for special events I'm admittedly perfectly happy to throw caution to the winds. I've also got a pretty kick-ass black bean soup recipe I've been alternating with the lentils, so that's brought in some welcome variety too.

Tomorrow morning, I fully intend to indulge in a raspberry white chocolate scone for breakfast. Sure it'll cost me some points, but believe me it's worth it.

Points-wise, I stick right around 29 points a day. Sometimes it's a little more (and is covered by activity) and on rare occasion I might end the day with a couple of points left over. Thanks to the 10K a Day (in May!) walking challenge I've been getting a good 3 activity points per day, and that adds up nicely during the week.

I'm not pushing myself severely on the activity front because my body does not like to be pushed, and shares that with me via stress fractures, my knees acting up (I've got a lovely case of chondromalacia patella, if I spelled that correctly), whatever it takes to get me to ratchet down the stress to my joints. So after being sidelined repeatedly with my attempts at running and more intensive physical goals, my goal at this point is to just keep moving consistently.

So far so good. 41 years down, hopefully more than 40 to go.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Stupid Blogger. My last two entries have been eaten, along with entries of thousands of other bloggers.

Anyway, in case they don't restore entries, Week 10 WW Weigh-in was 142.33 pounds, down 1/3 pound from last week. I'd thought I might gain due to water retention but the Scale Gods were on my side.

Also? I wear rubber bands around my wrist sometimes.

That is all. Have a great weekend!

Edited to add: the posts are back (Hooray!!!), but alas, not the comments!

WW Weigh-in, Week 10

Subtitled: Quitcher Bitchin'

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
Week 10: 142.33

Well color me floored. After yesterday's weight (a "monstrous" 143 -- yeah I know but it was moving in the wrong direction) and the continued increase in size of certain, erm, body parts due to that lovely cyclical water retention, I'm pretty surprised to have netted a loss of any kind. But hey, I'll take it! This also puts me at my 5% weight lost goal for Weight Watchers.

It also caused the WW e-tools severe alarm, because according to their records (inaccurate due to my absence from the "real" scale last week) I've lost more than a single pound at a time. Danger Will Robinson!

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In other news, I'm currently wearing a rubber band on my right wrist. Why, you might ask? Because I'm a complete dork would be the answer. And a creature of severe habit.

I almost always wear earrings. Usually the same pair of gold hoops.
I almost always wear a necklace.
I always wear my wedding ring on my left hand.
I almost always wear my maternal grandmother's ring on my right hand.
I almost always wear my watch on my left wrist.
I almost always wear a bracelet on my right wrist.

And when, for some reason, one of those items is missing, I spend the whole day looking at whatever part it's missing from and clutching it until I remember "Oh yeah, I didn't wear that because..." and today's reason for failure to wear the bracelet is "I got distracted mid-jewelry assembly and forgot." Hence the rubber band, so I don't freak out.

Please tell me I'm not the only weirdo person like this.

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.