And the good news continues

In my last post, I mentioned how I gained a pound at weigh-in that day. Well, I had another weigh-in a week later, and I was so happy. I was down 3.6 pounds from the previous week, for a total weight loss so far of 6.2 pounds! On Weight Watchers' scale, I'm at 132.4 (dressed, and end of day after dinner), but on my scale at home (naked, first thing in the morning), I'm 130.2.

I love Weight Watchers. I really do. And I'm so glad that I'm attending meetings this time around. It really does help to keep you motivated, and keep you on track. And I love the program. It's easy to follow, the tools are easy to use, and it's not hard. Admittedly, I have the occasional moment where I'm dying for Chex Mix or some other salty snack that I can eat in abundance. And every morning before I sit down for breakfast, I wish I could eat three bowls of cereal like I used to sometimes do. But that's more about loving the way those things taste, not because I'm hungry in the least for that much food. One bowl of Cheerios and a banana is plenty to get me through most of the morning. My morning snack of an apple holds me over until lunch. And my lunches have been satisfying as well. I realized recently that I can use 2 tablespoons of light ranch dressing on my salads, and it goes a long way, and makes the salad a bit more satisfying. So there's nothing to complain about. I even ate Chinese food a few times this past week (steamed chicken and vegetables with brown sauce), and had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory one night.

I must admit, I do think that The Cheesecake Factory dinner is going to catch up with me at the next meeting on March 3. I think I did ok on the meal; I ordered their "weight management grilled chicken." The menu said it had less than 590 calories, but mentioned nothing else about fat or anything. And it was way too much food. I ate about 2/3 of it, and even that was probably more than I needed to eat. The bad part came when Jack and Lila decided to share a peanut butter cup cake cheesecake. Oh my word. I had quite a few bites of that, plus a bite or two of other cheesecakes at the table that our friends had ordered. But you know what? I totally paid for those bad decisions. The next day, I felt terrible. I was lethargic, tired, and just had a feeling of blah. My stomach hurt. I was fine by Friday, but those leftovers are going in the trash. No thank you.

Workouts are still going well. I've been able to keep up with 6 days a week of exercise. I've still been mixing it up, doing some Brazil Butt Lift routines while doing some old favorites. I'm not crazy about the BBL cardio routine. It's only 30 minutes, and it's not very hard. If I had to judge my intensity based on low, moderate, or high, I would say it's moderate. But I'd much rather do 40 minutes of one of my other routines that I feel are high intensity, so I've been skipping the BBL cardio. However, the other BBL routines are great. There's one for your lower body that includes a bunch of squats and stuff, and that feels like a cardio routine, too, because you're constantly moving with very little rest. Then there's the BBL toning routine. It's a 50 minute routine that works every part of your body except your legs, since you get targeted leg workouts in the other routines. The toning routine has a good ab section, too. But then there's also a leg toning routine where you use bands and ankle weights. That's a good one, too. And lastly, there's a 20 minute ab workout, which is pretty difficult. I still can't complete it. At the end of that one, we do planks, and then one-arm planks, and then side planks while you lift and lower your hips. I find these planks all so hard, which is why I still do the easy version of some of those moves. I hate that part of the routine, but it must be helping because I went back and did an older ab routine yesterday, and it was much easier than the last time I remember doing it.

Anyway, overall things are good. It takes dedication and a willingness to track what you eat, and a willingness to exercise, but I have that dedication, and it's paying off. I hope that I can continue in this manner, and not get discouraged; however, I'm not fooling myself. I know there will come a day soon where the weight is not coming off so easily and progress will slow down. It always happens when you get close to your goal. So stay tuned for more fun and adventure on my wagon ride. I'm sure there will be more drama soon.

Satisfied

The last few weeks on the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus plan has been very successful, and although I didn't lose any weight this last week (today was weigh-in day), I'm very satisfied with my progress.

For the last 7 days, I've maintained my weight loss at 131.6 pounds. I started this journey at the beginning of this year weighing in at 136 (I think I'm remembering that correctly). It is amazing how just a few pounds can really make a difference in the way I feel, and the way that I think I look. It's motivation in and of itself, and even though I didn't lose anything this past week, I'm still motivated to keep going. I'm thrilled.

At last week's weigh-in, I had lost about 2.5 pounds from the week before. I was astonished by this because during that week before weigh-in, we had a Super Bowl get-together with my in-laws. While I did make a recipe from a Cooking Light cookbook, I still had roasted potatoes with olive oil, plus Doritos and Chex Mix that I couldn't pass up. For Super Bowl party desserts, I usually make chocolate fondue, but I knew that I would easily go way overboard with that, so instead I just made cookies. I think I ended up only eating two, so that was much more controllable than ladles of melted chocolate would have been. Anyway, even after that splurge that day, I still managed to lose 2.5 pounds.

However, I wasn't convinced that was real. I figured that when I finally weighed in this week, I would either not see a change, or maybe even see a gain. Fortunately, I remained the same, which is astonishing if you knew what I ate on Sunday. Want to know? Let me give you the rundown. I had my usual bowl of Cheerios for breakfast, with a banana. No biggie. I had a baby shower to attend at lunch, which was at an Italian restaurant. The food was really good, and although not terribly horrible for me, I ate more than I needed to. I had a bowl of wedding soup, and my entree. The entree was a salad with a piece of baked chicken breast on it. Not too bad, right? Well, there was a small scoop of pasta salad in the bowl as well (which had pasta and cheese in a light dressing), and two fabulous pieces of toasted baguette with a tomato slice and melted cheese on top. I left those until the end, thinking I wouldn't eat them, but I did. Then I thought I'd just eat one, but then I ate the other. I'm such a wimp. But it was good. For dessert, they had a cookie tray, and I had two small cookies. But then they brought out cake, and I ate that, too!

So as if that weren't bad enough, we had my niece and her boyfriend over for dinner that night. Our meal consisted of lasagna (which wouldn't have been bad had I not eaten what I did for lunch), salad, and bread (but I refrained from having any bread.... yay, me!). But it was the dessert that was the kicker. I made them tiramisu. I made it on Saturday, so even on Saturday, I was sampling the mascarpone filling as I was spreading it over the ladyfingers, which I also sampled on Saturday. Then on Sunday as I was dishing it out, I had one small piece (9 PointsPlus). But it was so good, I had to have another. Ugh! What was wrong with me? Then on top of that, I had to lick the spoon after I was done dishing it out, not once, but twice (first time after the first serving, lick spoon, put in dishwasher.... second time after the second serving, lick spoon, put in dishwasher). I knew in that moment that I would be lucky if I didn't gain any weight this week.

To top it all off, while I'm usually really good about watching my PointsPlus during the week when our routine is predictable, I splurged last night. I went to Zumba at 7:15 pm. I don't usually work out in the evenings, but I had an early dinner, and knew I had time to fit it in. But working out late makes me hungry. I came home and had several small bowls of cereal. I knew for sure that my weigh-in today would not show a loss. But I'm ok with that. I'm grateful that even after all that crazy eating, I didn't gain anything.

My workouts have been good. I did the Brazil Butt Lift workout plan for 5 weeks, and decided that before I move on to the next 4-week plan with that workout, I would give myself a break and go back to some of my old favorites. So this past week, I did some TurboJam and Firm workouts, plus a Kathy Smith workout, and Zumba. I think I burn more calories with those cardio routines than I do with the BBL, but I think the BBL is really great at lower-body toning. So this week, I've been doing a little bit of both... old cardio workouts, plus the BBL toning workouts. I think it's working out ok.

So that's it for this week. I hope to continue to have good news for you in the weeks to come. I feel pretty confident that I will.

And everything is good again

Up and down, up and down. I feel like that's the way my emotions run, as well as the number on my scale, week after week. Today, everything is good again. Last week, I weighed in at 135 pounds. Today, I weighed in at 134. One pound is progress in my book. I'm very, very happy.

Last Thursday, I decided to join Weight Watchers again. A close friend of mine joined as well, so we're able to go to meetings together, which I LOVE. It's great to have an excuse that forces you to make time for your friends, because I know, as I'm sure you know, too, how hard it is to find the time to just hang out with your best gal pals these days.

Anyway, the new Weight Watchers Points Plus plan is really rather nice. No longer do you count points for fruits, and most vegetables. You know how you're supposed to eat a bunch of fruits and vegetables each day? The only way I think I can accomplish that is to plan my meals, and plan when I'm going to fit those foods into my routine. This made me realize that I need to be eating fruit or vegetables at EVERY meal, including snacks, in order to fit them in. But since they don't cost me any points, I'm not afraid to scarf down the huge apple, or the banana I may have never eaten before. So how can an eating plan be bad that gives you no reason to not eat all of that good, wholesome stuff? Of course, it would be better if I could also eat the jumbo cookies I've been baking for some taste tests, but I understand that empty calories will get me nowhere. I'm just trying to be good and not be tempted. It's very, very hard.

So my eating this past week has been pretty normal, aside from the fact that I'm now counting all of my points, and using the Weight Watchers online tools. I haven't had to change much of what I was doing, except cut out the crap.... the cookies, mostly. And I lost one pound. If I can continue to lose one pound a week, while eating all the stuff I love anyway, I'll be very, very happy. I think this is why Weight Watchers worked for me before. I definitely don't feel like I'm depriving myself in the least!

So how about my workouts, you ask? They've been coming along just fine. I'm still focusing on the Brazil Butt Lift program, but supplementing that with Zumba on Saturdays in lieu of BBL. I haven't remeasured myself yet. I'm waiting to lose some weight first, then see if my butt has shrunk at all. The workouts are good ones, and I feel good after doing them, especially the ones that really target my lower half. I've been good about keeping up with 6 days/week workouts, about 60 minutes each. Some mornings I just want to stay in bed, but then I picture my ugly naked thighs, and I spring out of bed and head to the basement.

I have a Weight Watchers meeting this evening. I'm glad I'm doing the meetings this time around. The leader for this meeting time is really motivating and I enjoyed going last week. She's very interactive with the group, and I think that makes me want to stick to my plan even more, as you hear what others are up to.

So that's it for this week. If you're on your own weight loss plan, I hope it's going well for you. Remember, any loss counts as a loss. Good luck!