Tuesday To-Do

Obviously my lackadaisical approach isn't working. Oh, FG#1 here, by the way. Last week I completely forgot to weigh in, or post, and now I'm up another 1.5. So I'm thinking about what I'm doing wrong (besides everything). There's a laundry list – but at least one thing I'm doing right is being active. Then again that's just sort of a result of my lifestyle lately, not so much anything I'm consciously doing right. Since I have a laundry list of things I'm doing wrong at the moment I'm going to choose two to start working on this week. I feel like I've gotten out of my groove so to speak.

Things to work on this week:

1. Drink more water. I'm not drinking much water lately as the bathroom at work is stupid far from my desk. That's not a good excuse though, because walking stupid far to potty is good exercise.

2. Eat breakfast. Often I rush out the door in the morning without breakfast, and yet again the kitchen is far enough away from my desk (and the setup there is not terribly conducive to *fixing* food) that I just don't bother. So this morning I brought a hard-boiled egg in a Ziploc baggie that was big enough to actually peel it in the bag, drop the shell in, and throw it out. That'll work.

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FG#2 here. I forgot last week and haven't weighed in this week. Between the dogs killing my computer (it's back now, minus anything I had on my damaged hard drive) and spending a good part of my day here at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital with Willow I have to say that weigh-in is pretty much the last thing on my mind. I'm sure the Easter Bunny did some serious damage, and stress eating over Willow isn't helping. I'll try to remember to weigh-in, maybe tomorrow morning, and post the result, but I imagine it's not going to be a weight-loss success.... (Excuse the odd indent; the formatting for Laura's list above is messing with my paragraph here and I don't have the patience to figure it out and fix it.)

Tuesdays with ... 3 Fat Girlz

Okay, I might not have time for creating pithy, entertaining posts here, and apparently no one else does either, but I think we should at least keep up with the accountability part of this blog, which means recording what has happened between one weigh-in and the next.

For me, FG#2, maintain is the name of the game this week. I'm not complaining about that. This is the toughest part of the whole process for me--I am pretty close to being within 10 pounds of my goal weight (I'm 10 and a fraction from goal), and it always seem to be somewhere in here, in the 10- to 5-pounds to goal weight area that I start to lose interest, stall out, go crazy, or something. So here I am again. But this time, I'm hoping I can make the big push to get past that last hurdle, or whatever you want to call it, and actually lose those last few pounds. All together now: Go!

FG3: Yep, still maintaining pretty much, though expecting a drop in the next day or two. Feeling pretty motivated and doing okay. Wish i was within 10 pounds of my goal! (ETA on wednesday: i did get that little drop, yay!)

Fg#1: Late to the party again! Still maintaining here, not really tracking as I should. I'm walking - a LOT at work, and if I were even slightly more mindful I'd be losing. That is on my agenda - back to tracking. I think I said that last week though, so I'd better cough it UP!

Another Week Gone By

Well it seems that no one has managed to get on here and post this weigh-in day, so it's up to me (FG #2) to poke everyone and yell "Fess up!"

I actually have good news for once. I think. The scale had a precipitous drop this morning. So much so, that I re-weighed like four times trying to make sure that it wasn't just a scale glitch. And who knows, maybe by next week it will all seem like a fantasy. But for now, the scale was down 2.8 pounds from the last weigh in, which officially puts me back on the downhill side of losing, despite the ups and downs of the last few weeks. My total loss is now 6.2 pounds. Who knows what next week's weigh-in will bring? But for now, I plan to not look this gift horse in the mouth and instead assume that the scale isn't lying and that I did something right over the past week. Hmmm...I wonder if a serious lack of money and therefore a corresponding lack of food had anything to do with it? ;-)

FGs 1 & 3?
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FG3 - not too bad here, another small drop, so 2 weeks in a row. I do seem to be doing better since i got off WW. I haven't lost a whole lot (about 3.5 pounds total) but i'm moving the right way. Eight weeks of WW got me about a .5 loss total and now 2 weeks off and i'm down another 3. So far so good.

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Somebody called FG#1 a slacker?!?! I guess I am. Sorry! Maintaining again this week. This is good actually - I've not been the tracker queen, and I'm retaining water due to not drinking enough water, so all things considered I'm happy with that. It's on my list of things to do to get back to hard-core tracking in the next few days. Maybe even starting with today. My clothes are getting looser though, so even though the scale is MTN I'm obviously gaining ground here, and I'm pleased with that. Maybe next week I can post a loss again!

Say Hello To My LIttle Friend...

My heart rate monitor. My touchstone. My raison d'etre. My constant reminder that I have a big ass and it needs reducing.

This little piece of heaven keeps me on track with my activity points. When I first started working out and trying to record activity points, I just took the WW website for what it was worth. Eating those earned activity points was a constant source of worry for me because I didn't want to undo all that work. Seemed to defeat the purpose.

Secondly, if I'm gonna drag my butt to the gym and work out, it better sure as heck be at an effective level. I'm not there for the company, that's for sure.

This settles the unknown on both points. You see, after entering your vital statistics on this little gem, you will know down to the calorie, how much you've worked. It will also keep you working in your target heart rate with an annoying little beep that took me two weeks to figure out how to turn off. And it's accurate....this I know. I calibrated with an EKG at work and it was right on the nose.

Tonight was a double work out for me. I started off with 45 minutes on the elliptical and finished with an hour pilates class on the reformer machine. My new best friend said I earned 679 calories. (the cardio was the biggest chunk but my heart rate got up there with the torture, ahem, workout in the class.) WW's conversion is 1 activity point for every 100 calories burned. I will round that workout down to 6.5 AP's.

My experience is that I see a bigger loss on the scale if I do eat those extra points. Now, it's always better if it's an extra lean protein, extra whole grains, maybe a little more peanut butter than I would normally use, but I also use them for splurges.

Last week I earned about 28 AP'S. I ate my dailies, my flexies and almost all those AP's and ended with a loss of 1.8# for the week. That is HUGE for me. I do not expect that much of a loss next week. This is my first week back to pilates after a couple weeks off and torn muscle fibers = water retention (the reason a lot of people gain weight when they first start working out).

I'm not saying you need to have a heart rate monitor to see success, it has helped me. I admit that it may be more mental that physical but hey, whatever works. And for me it has been the heart rate monitor, a good pilates teacher and MUSIC!!!! The music has made all the difference in the world (maybe something to get into later....it can be a little embarrassing as some of my choices sometimes reflect that of a 14 year old teenybopper).

I plan to wear it Sunday when I help out with tagging and tail docking. I'll check back in and let you know what the results were.

Terrible Tuesday

FG#1 starting us off! So yet another weigh in day rolls around. I'm up this week - up 0.8. I've been indulging a bit over the last few days, so actually the damage is not as severe as I might have expected. I've been pleased with my ability to be somewhat mindful amidst the indulgence, but recognize just how easy it would be to let the mindfullness slip. So yay for only 0.8 - because yesterday I was up THREE pounds. That's right, three (3). Buh-bye water weight, right? That's usually the case with this type of thing - the water weight packs on, and then packs back off. Gotta make sure it keeps packing back off.

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FG#2 here. Up 2 lbs. Sigh. But not unexpected. It seems to be the way of things this time around. One step forward, two steps back. But the trend overall is still downward. Just quit cramming food in your face, you moron!

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#3 here. Well, i'm pretty frustrated right now. I've been faithfully following WW for 8 weeks now, logging everything in, and behaving myself really well - until a couple of days ago anyway, when the frustration finally got to me. Eight weeks and i'm basically where i started, having lost a grand total of half a pound. The last two weeks i've gotten gobs of Activity Points from working non-stop outside for two 3-day weekends, and still managed to watch the scale go up. So i've been pondering on all of this and why it seems when i first start a type of diet, it works great for me. I lost like 60 pounds on low carb before it stopped working for me, and about 20-25 on WW when i started doing it but it's just not working for me now and really hasn't over the last year when i've been on the plan - that's why i'd dropped it. I think what happens is that over time i get really good at getting "more bang for my buck" - i tweak and fiddle with the numbers until i'm getting the most i can out of them. It's part of my personality really, it's how i approach spending money too - don't mind spending it as long as i get the absolute most i possibly can out of every penny. Unfortunately, when it comes to dieting the only one it ends up costing is me. It's also a real pain in the neck to have to track every point much like i have to track every dollar in my budget as well! So, recognizing these things about myself, i'm going to try a new tactic, getting off WW but trying to still lose weight, with just healthy eating and getting some exercise. It's a good time to try it, with longer evenings (DST starts in less than 2 weeks, yay!) and warmer temps. I really need to approach eating differently and hope i can do it. I'm not dropping out of 3FGirlz, i plan to keep tracking weight and doing the weigh-ins. So we're still in it together but i'm going to try it a little differently for awhile.

What Motivates You?

I was never a heavy girl. From age 4 to 18 I danced ballet and I enjoyed cheerleading through most of college (ok, didn't enjoy the cheerleading as much as the perks of traveling with the football team). My twenties brought on the pounds and in my thirties they just packed on. Funny though, I never "saw" myself as fat until I saw pictures and thought to myself "who the hell is that?" Then I got to the plus sizes and swore I would never buy bigger than a size 20. I didn't. I just didn't buy any clothes at all.

Then the perfect storm hit. I came across Laura's blog. I had met her once at a clinic in MD and was utterly impressed at the transformation that she had undergone. She didn't know it but when I saw her photos and read her story I had some kind of awakening. I COULD DO THIS TOO! I joined WW and a gym and got to work. At the same time, the very day I started WW, my sister had gastric bypass surgery and I was determined not to be the fat sister.

My weight loss has been S-L-O-W. In the last 14 months, I've averaged about .7 per week. I've followed the WW program but I also have not entirely deprived myself. Traveling for dog trials and clinics has been challenging but I'm still in the negative column so I guess I did something right.

Right now what motivates me is a combination of emotions. I finally like what I've been seeing on the scale and I can now recognize the changes in my body and I want more (I need to lose another 40 pounds). It's actually fun to shop and the first time I walked into a regular (no plus sizes) store and bought something I practically cried. I'm convinced that the nice girls at Ann Taylor think I'm crazy.

The second emotion is shear and honest fear. I'm afraid of gaining weight back. Through this whole process I have been very open with people on how much I've lost. If someone will listen, I will tell them down to the ounce where I am with my weight loss - doesn't matter if you're a coworker or the lady at the deli counter. To me, it's another person who knows my deep dark secret and I will have to be accountable to them if I gain back weight. I just hope they don't think I'm bragging or fishing for compliments.

So that's where it all started for me. It's surprising how hard it has been. Between my 3-5 days a week at the gym and WW over the last 14 months, technically I should have the body of a supermodel. But all in due time I guess... Those Sports Illustrated girls better watch their backs.

Double Yum

Channing Tatum. Yum. DOUBLE Yum. Double Yum Gum. Today I went with Harriet* to see Channing Tatum's new movie - "Dear John". The movie rocked. OK, who am I kidding - the opportunity to see him with no shirt on is excuse enough. The movie doesn't even have to rock. That's how pathetic I am. For Reals. Give me rock hard abs and no shirt and next thing I know I'm elbow deep in movie theater popcorn.

What does this have to do with being a Fat Girlz? Uh... well... the lust overcame me and I bolted down a candy bar (OK, more than one) along with the kid's size popcorn with butter (OK, synthetic God only knows what that tastes like butter). Oh yeah, and it gets better!

I followed that feeding frenzy up with a piece of chicken pie from the Church dinner, and washed all of that down with a brownie. And a piece of lemon pound cake. Did I mention feeding frenzy? Besides... it was a small piece of pound cake. Does that count for slightly less damage? I think so.

However, true to myself and accountability/mindfulness I came home accounted for every bite I took. Dang. Buh-bye flexies. I have four left, plus 10 APs that have to get me through to next Tuesday. I guess I'd best get off of my behind and work up some extra APs.

Darn you Channing Tatum. Why do you have to be so hot? I'll bet you didn't get abs like that by having feeding frenzies. 'sallright though. You can just keep being hot. I can take the heat... if I have popcorn to wash it down with.

* name changed to protect the innocent

~ photo retrieved from www.fanpix.net

Tuesday's Trials and Tribulations

FG#1 checking in. I lost .8 this week, which truly shocked me. Total now is 16.4 lbs down. I lost 3.2 last week with that stomach virus, and fully expected a gain this week. When I weighed last week I'd not eaten in three days (three!) so I fully expected to put some of that back on. To my surprise I not only didn't put it back on but lost past that. I was on the phone with Julie a little while ago and she commented that I ought to not complain about a loss. While that's true to a degree, there is a danger in losing too quickly.

Last time around I had to eat approx. 48 dailies to maintain my goal weight. Yes, 48. Plus flexies. Plus APs. I'm almost loathe to even mention that, because if you do the math you'll realize I have to consume a HUGE quantity of BAD stuff on a regular basis to gain. Right? Well, there it is the truth in all of its ugliness. I suspect that after I turn 35 I can kiss some of that metabolism goodbye, so I'm prepared for that. I've only got five months before D-Day then, so I'd better get as much good mileage out of this metabolism as I can, right? So I'm rolling this around and I think I'll drop into the next lb bracket next week. I think I'm going to just not adjust my daily pts target to try to counteract this fast loss thing. Wouldn't it rock if I could get to goal without losing any more pts along the way? I think so.

FG#2 and FG#3 are away from their computers for a while today, so we're all just waiting patiently. :)

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FG#2 here, finally back from my marathon trip to Cary! I lost just 0.6 pounds this week, but that finally puts me having lost all that I gained a couple of weeks ago, plus a fraction, so still headed in the right direction. My total loss so far is 5.4 pounds. I'm happy with that. I'm actually just 11.6 pounds from my original WW goal. I might want to try to go 5 pounds further than that, but it really depends on how difficult it is to get to the first goal. Once there, I'll worry about whether I want to go further.

I am pleased that I am able to do this with a more free-form means of eating (meaning not keeping close track of points but just trying to be aware of what I'm putting in my mouth--and how much). I've been experimenting some with how much I can eat and still lose. I've found that I can have little splurges and it won't cost me a whole lot weightwise, and then I'm not feeling deprived either. For my lifestyle and the way my brain works, I think doing it this way will result in a much better long-lasting lifestyle change. Now please don't make me eat my words!

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FG3, up about a pound and half for no good reason. I was actually down 1.5 pounds earlier in the week. I think a salty weekend is making me pay for the moment (even though i got tons of APs over the weekend) and expect to be down again pretty soon. I hit my lowest weight since we started blogging during the week, so that's good. It's always easier to get back once you break the ice, sort of.

What's for Dinner?

I'm bored. Being unemployed sucks, I'm out of Netflix DVDs, it's raining again, and I'm wholly uninspired foodwise today. I absolutely loved the chicken noodle soup (uh, to the tune of eating it for lunch and dinner for two days straight), but a girl cannot live on CNS alone. I need to do something for dinner, and I can't seem to come up with anything fun or different. I'll probably trek over to the grocery store today, so I'm open for suggestions.

As a side note - I ate a couple of truffles (homemade by the groom's father) at the baby shower I attended on Saturday. Now all I can think of is chocolate. I'm telling you, it is the ONLY thing I want. For reals. Get in my belly.

So. What's for dinner? I don't care what it is - comment, or ETA, but puhhhhlease give Laura some ideas.

ETA: #3 here --
I'm thinking quesadillas at my house but it depends on whether or not i get to FINALLY go get my new dog picked up.

I'm feeling a little discouraged at WW right now but staying the course. The weight pattern is just so different this time around. I much preferred the constant small loss over this constant creep up with a big drop every once in a while. I worked my behind off all weekend but am up almost 2 pounds today anyway, sheesh. I expected to be up yesterday, after splurging on points some saturday, but not today.

ETA: FG#2 here: Since Robin mentioned quesadillas, I won't be able to get them off my mind now. Come to think of it, I think I have a couple of chicken-black bean quesadillas in the freezer. Laura, that's a good recipe out of that WW magazine, so you might want to try it. My favorite so far is the chicken sausage apple recipe, but it is a little pricier. I could eat it practically every day! Of course if you decide to get truly wild, there's always LaBamba, and I could have my arm twisted, lol!

And Robin, I hear you on the loss thing. For the first time ever when doing weight loss, I'm weighing every day and I can see why it's not recommended. For example, I would love for this morning to have been weigh-in day. I really fluctuate A LOT from day to day and since this morning was a "down" morning, it's entirely possible that weigh in won't be so great. Over the past week the difference between high and low weights has been two pounds, with the highest day being the day after weigh in and the lowest a couple of days ago. And actually the scale registered a pound difference between yesterday and today. That could just drive a person crazy! And unfortunately I don't think you can ever rely on splurge one day = gain the very next day. Sometimes it takes a couple of days to catch up.

Today I'm struggling with wanting to put anything and everything in my mouth. I'm sure it's the combination of crappy weather and the depressing situation of being without a job, like, forever. On the sunny days at least I seem to be more willing to get up and move and food doesn't take center stage--at least not as much!

Heck, what's for lunch?

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

My Mom's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup:

1 chicken thigh quarter (skin on, bone in)
8 oz (1/2 bag) egg noodles
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 to 10 cups water (estimated)

Fill up a large stock pot (8 quart) with water, and add a chicken quarter. Boil the chicken for a couple of hours, and then remove it from the pot. Add noodles and extra water to bring the pot to about 2/3 full (if needed). As the noodles are boiling skin the chicken, and then pull it off of the bone and into bite sized pieces. As the noodles finish add the chicken back in the pot and reheat through. Add the can of cream of chicken soup, and any water needed to make it as soupy as you like it. Keep in mind I do most of this by eyeballing it (water-wise) so you'll just have to play around with the water.

I got approximately nine 1-1/2 cup servings, at about 3 pts per cup. If you get 8 servings it's more like 4 pts/serving. A cup and a half serving is very ample.

Cost analysis:

Chicken - $3.00 per 10 lb bag at $0.27 per quarter. It was on mgr's special
Egg Noodles - $1.00 per 12 oz bag, I used 8 oz so approximately $0.64
Cream of Chicken soup - $0.49 per can
Water - negligible

Total pot of soup: $1.40
Per serving: $0.16

Admittedly this isn't a very exciting bowl of soup, but oh so yum when it's cold, rainy, and you're needing some comfort. Sometimes I like my chicken noodle soup more clear, and with onions, celery and carrots, but then sometimes I like the simplicity of this one. This is one of those that you just... do. It doesn't take measuring or anything, you just throw stuff in the pot and cook. Try it!