January 29, 2007

There’s nothing worse then having the intention of going to the gym and then getting sidetracked. Chris and I were all set to visit the gym tonight but then I got home 25 minutes late due to the weather and then I got a phone call from a friend who I’ve been trying to talk to all week so no gym tonight. Drat! The one thing that has been driving me crazy is that I haven’t been able to work out as much as I wanted in the past week. I think I worked out 3 out of the 7 days last week. We haven’t been to the gym since last Thursday. So we figure that we are going to hit it T-Fri. I’m on oncall this weekend so I figure that I could also hit it on Saturday and Sunday because Chris has to work this weekend and I’ll need something to do besides my usual trips to the stores. My New Years resolution is to keep the crap (oh, I mean, good deals) out of the house. Chris and I did manage to hit a killer sale in K-zoo at Gazelle Sports. He managed to find a pair of Asics Running shoes for $50 (not the cheapies that you would find at Kohls but the nice high end ones) and I found my North Face Denali jacket for $60! I nearly passed out when I saw it...an ex-large! I’ve been dreaming of this jacket for a year now but have refused to cough up the $165 for it. I always hoped that I would come across one at Goodwill but I haven’t been that lucky. So now, I have EVERYTHING that I could possibly want for the next year. There’s not one thing that I want or need right now. That’s actually pretty cool to say.

Work is going good. A new person started last week and we’ve hit it off pretty good. Funny thing is that my boss stated that the new girl is a lot like me I’m just happy to have someone new that is a hard worker. We got talking about weight and she had the gastric bypass surgery a couple of years ago and she’s doing really good. We started to chat about the skin issue and it’s sad in a way because it never really firms up. She was set to do the operation but it would cost $7K out of pocket. Yikes, too bad that it’s not free. I know when I lost the majority of my weight, my stomach looked horrible, like I had a kid or something. Since I gained weight, it looks “normal” again but when I lose the weight again, I bet it will come back. Though, I would much rather have the saggy skin than the weight. Well, that’s it for me today, take care all-Kellie

January 28, 2007

I planned for this weekend but I didn’t plan for everything. The thing about good intentions are that they are good. My intention was to plan out my whole weekend foodwise but it’s never the way I plan it. There are always too many variables when planning for your weekend food wise when other people are factored in. We went down to the inlaws this weekend to celebrate my MIL birthday. I had it all planned out, I knew that we were going to hit the middle eastern buffet for dinner so I was expecting about a 15 point dinner. Which, I counted but then on Saturday, little did I know that we were going to hit a winery, an awesome organic food joint, and have a large steak dinner. Then we were supposed to leave yeasterday but then the snow came and I wasn’t about to drive home in crappy weather so we stayed the night. So then today, I was craving “The Big Burrito” food, haven’t been there in 2 years so I had Chris stop and we both got 2 tacos and shared a chicken burrito but I have no idea what the accurate points are because these tacos/burritos are not your normal tacos. They seem to a heck of a lot leaner than your average mexican food place. So I just counted them as 10 points for the Tacos and possibly 10 points for the burrito. I used all my flexies this week and this is the first time that I have ever done that. We’ll see how the scale fairs next Saturday, I just hope I can get to my meeting because I'm on oncall next weekend.

Since I went to hang out with the inlaws this weekend, I was kind of bummed that I didn’t get to go to the meeting. I was actually looking forward to it. Now I have to wait until Saturday so this kind of bites. I hate weighing in at night so I stick with the morning meetings. I’m actually so anal that I wear the exact same outfit for every weigh in so I know that the scale is acurate. Humm, it will still bug me all week to see if I lost any. I don’t trust my home scale because it’s so off. I know I should toss that thing out, but I have emotional attachment to it Yup...I know I’m going to have a good week.

I cannot wait until next weekend. Guess who's going to Chicago? Yup, Chris and I booked a room at "The Drake Hotel" downtown and then we're staying at a cheapie one night. I absolutely love The Drake. We went there for our honeymoon one night and stayed in the excutive room. We're going to do that again next week and then we get access to the "excutive room lounge" which is open bar so needless to say, next week, I'm saving my points for the lounge and will be partaking in some serious drinking. Very rarely do I EVER live it up like this but I'm going to this time. We're going to hit the Art Institute and maybe another museum. Then we are going to be out in the burbs one night so that we can hit the Woodfield Mall and Ikea and Trader Joes! I love Chicago! Take care-Kellie

January 24, 2007

Oh yeah, I lost a 1.75 pounds this week! Yeah! Things are going good here. I've journalled everything that I have put into my mouth for 24 days now and I'm down 2.25 (weigh in on Saturday morning). Overall, things are going well. We're working out about 4 days a week. This includes 2 visits to Curves and at least 3 visits to the YMCA. So I'm impressed with this. Chris is counting his points but I'm not too sure how committed he is to this process, we'll see.

It's already January 24 and I already broke a New Years resolution. Yes, I still make resolutions because they sometimes work. My resolution was not to go into any Thrift Stores or Big Lots until December. Well today I had part of the day off due to a dentist appointment and what did I do? I hit the Thrift Stores. Though instead of buying some items, I actually had the strength to put them back. Yup, this would have been impossible for me a few years ago. I even had my hands on a brand new Banana Republic purse for $9.99 but I said "no way". Now Big Lots is another story...I didn't buy any implusive items like I usually do but I bought some necessties such as deordant and taco kits. I guess I will just *change* those resolutions...I can go into a thrift shop to *look* and for Big Lots, I'm only allowed to get what I need. Who says you can't modify resolutions? Take care all-Kellie

January 15, 2007

Weigh in went great and I lost .50 pound this past week. It's definitely my smallest first week weight loss but I'm okay with that. I worked really hard for that half of a pound so I felt pretty good about it. I've worked my butt off for that half of a pound too. I've excercised 5 out of 7 days, ate well, had lots of veggies, and drank all my water. Plus, I drank all my water. I also having been using sparkpeople to track my fat grams and calories. I'm eating between 1200-1400 calories a day with about 26 grams fiber. I'm trying to eat more veggies and at least 1 serving of fruit. I found some organic apples at Costco so that is helping a great deal because I'm not too keen on fruits. I like seasonal fruits like cheeries, blueberries, strawberries, etc. I hate biting into a tasteless apple, so finding these costco fruits are a God send. I've also found the Bolthouse Farms Blueberry Juice to be rather tasty so I also count that as a fruit. It feels great to be eating right again. Take care all-Kellie

January 10,2007

Wow, one of my posts went missing! That's okay, I think I was just complaining about being a social worker sometimes. I've just been running like a chicken with my head cut off lately so it's not been fun. Plus this is the first week that I've had to work a full week since mid November. So it's been rough and I've been too spoiled lately. I had a couple of days off in early December because my dad fell on the ice and broke his leg...poor dad. He messed up some tendions and tore some ligaments and broke it in 2 places. The only good that came out of that situation is that my sister started to talk to me again. She basically cut me out of her life all last year which definetly added to my stress level and I know I put on some weight because of my poor choices of not using good coping mechanisms. As for my sister, I still feel very distant and will probably always. Before, she would be the first person I would call to tell good things. Now, it's just not that way. The last time I talked to her is Christmas. She's expecting a child now in May again. That will make it that there is 1 year 6 months between both kids. I wish her the best of luck. I don't think that we'll ever be close again, I just can't go there anymore. But at least I have something now and I'm able to deal with using better coping mechanisms than eating.

I've been able to journal my food for the bast 10 days...now that is good. I've worked out at least 6 out of the past 10 days. I actually got semi-irratated at Chris because he didn't want to work out tonight (bad day). I was just worried that we would follow into our old paterns. At least I went to Curves tonight so I did work out some today. I've hit Curves twice this week and the YMCA on Sunday, Tuesday, then tomorrow we are going to go to play some raquetball. When I'm at the YMCA I usually walk 15-30 minutes, row for 12 minutes, and use the elliptical for 15 minutes and I love it! If we can keep up this pace, it would be terrific.

I went to my first weight watcher meeting in a while and it was INTERESTING. I sat there thinking where in the heck did they get this fruit loop leader. I swear I was in shock. Fruit loop told us rejoiners that she lost 10 pounds. Okay...I know this is judgemental up the ying yang but honey, please tell me you lost more than 10 pounds (she is really small). This is not too inspirational to me. Oh, how I miss DeAnn. She was the best leader ever and so far, I haven't been able to find a leader like her yet. I'll give Fruit Loop a chance because the people at the meeting are actually inspirational but if she starts bringing out her guitar out and signing, I think I will get up and leave...it was that weird. I don't want weird at a WW meeting, I like normal...tell me about what new goodies are out there or something cool to try, whatever but no guitar please.

Oh, I am 183.5 and I didn't freak out. The most I thought I was is 179 but after stepping on the scale at work, I found out last Thursday that I was hovering around 183. Then when I got to WW on Saturday, it was confirmed. I am 183.5. I'm a solid size 16 and my 10% is 165.25. Okay, that is doable. I liked 165. Looking back at pictures, it was a great weight. Even if it takes me until September to get to 165, I'm getting there. I'm averaging about 24 points a day. If I go below 22, I'm not too satisified. I've tried to add in veggies to my diet and eating at least 1 apple per day so I'm pretty proud of myself. We'll see if I'm down any on Saturday. Take care all-Kellie

January 3, 2007

Yeah, I have some journal time before Chris comes home! It’s been day 3 of tracking points again and I’m finding that I can track my points. I can’t wait until the meeting on Saturday because I need it. Yup, I’ve been in the position to see all the people who fell off the wagon get back on, but I know for a fact that New Years Resolutions do help and they are an incentive to make positive changes.

I’m finding that I have been eating actually more than I thought I was. After tracking my points, it’s been extremely easy to eat 24 points and that’s with tracking. I’ve bet I have been averaging about 30-35 points a day. I forgot how easily they used to add up. I’ve been attempting to add more fiber to my diet and so far, I’ve been pretty successfully. In the last 3 days, I’ve eaten about 30g of fiber a day. I’m pretty excited about that. My favorite find of the day yesterday was at Costco. I picked up some of their prepackaged apples and they are a real treat.

We were going to go to the gym last night but with all the activities for Presidents Ford’s funeral, we couldn’t go downtown so we’re going to try it tonight. I’m ready to hit the gym. I think I’m going to walk for 15 minutes, do the rowing machine for 10, and then maybe hit the elliptical. We’ll see…

I think I could be over 180…which stinks. I weighed in on the nurses scale at work today and it said 184. I was ubershocked so I need to brace myself for Saturday. I don’t like to think that I got up over 180 but at least I am doing something now about it, before it’s too late. Well, I got to get dinner heated. We’re having the Lemon Artichoke Pasta from Allrecipes tonight…it sounds yummy. Take care all-Kellie

January 1, 2007

Yikes…Hello, my name is Kellie, I’m 31 years old and I need to lose some weight. I’ve been honestly very careless lately when it comes to my weight. I haven’t faithfully tracking my points in, well, about two years. Yup….I’ve been a slacker.

The one thing I’ve realized is the older you get, the busier you get and the less desire you want to work out at night. I don’t know when I lost my mojo but last year was a total dud for weightloss. Maybe it was that I was focusing on money instead of my health. I’m that type of person that will be passionate about one thing…and in 2006 I was passionate about money and budgeting. I neglected myself in a health sense last year. It’s not like I ate foods with wild abandonment but we did eat well (well thanks to an entertainment book and restaurant.com) we increased our eating out at a nice restaurant to 1 day a week during the week. Then Chris and I have been entertaining a little bit. He’s engaging in the usual male behavior of having some beers on the weekend (as he puts it…only high end microbrews..but my darling has got himself a tummy now)…Mr.Chris is at an all time high of 235. It doesn’t help that he moved from a very active profession to a very sedentary desk worker job. So where does this leave us????

Well it leads us to be overweight. Both of our schedules suck…he has an hour commute south to work, I have an hour commute north. That’s not going to change for a very long time because I have a terrific paying job that I love and it will take him some time to move up the corporate ladder at work. So we both have to face the fact that we are both exhausted at night…but we need to exercise. I still go to CURVES about 2-3 times per week but then if I add in exercise with Chris at the YMCA that puts me at being exhausted also so I have to find a balance because Chris needs exercise as well as I need my social outlet at Curves.

I think the major trouble areas are the lack of time in our own schedule. We both get home around 7pm, need to fix dinner, and then have the desire to loaf until bed time which is around 10:30. The gym is literally 5 minutes away but we actually stopped using it when we moved to our rental house. So we need to come up with a solid plan of how are we going to exercise and eat at a good time.

For exercise…Chris and I need to plan days in advance with our schedules. His schedule has been varying some from 9-5:30 to 12-9:30. I figure maybe on Sunday we can discuss our workout schedule for the week and then establish our workout days in advance. None of this “Do you feel like work out?” “Do you?” “No, not really” crap because who really want to work out? Well, there are people but after a long time, my typical response is going to be “hell, no”. We just have to do it.

For cooking….well, I know what was working last year…and it started in October and lasted for a month but I loved doing “Cooking Sundays”. Cooking Sundays were my version of dream dinners and it worked but then when the holidays hit…cooking Sundays went to the wayside. Since that was successful I think I’ll go back to that so that will help out with the food. The only downfalls is that researching the meals that I would do for the week was semi-exhausting. One day, it took me four hours to identify some recipes that would work for me. So I will have to make this a quicker thing. One thing I do hate is eating boring food. I love different foods so the more the variety, the better.

As for weight watchers, I will be going back next Saturday. My life has somewhat calmed down on the weekends. I’m still doing oncall about 1 weekend a month but we’re staying in the area more so it will be possible for me to go to the class on Saturday. My local WW always offers a season pass for $154 that will last me until late May so I’m going back…

I know what I have been doing wrong lately and I know I need to change it. My clothes are getting tighter and next year (’08) we might try to start to have children so there’s no way in heck do I want to be over 200 pounds with a pregnancy. It I can get my weight down, it will be better for me in the long run. Yes, my name is Kellie, and I need to lose some weight…I’ve done it before, I can do it again….take care all-Kellie