I'm the Loser of the Week! (And, that's a good thing!)

Tales from the Scales (listed in my side bar) has selected me as the "Loser of the Week." (You should have heard Hubby's reaction when I told him - he wasn't sure if it was good news or not!) :o)

Each week they highlight a person who is losing weight and this week's selection is me. I am so excited, shocked, and thrilled to be selected. My posting for them is below.

First of all, I am excited (and shocked) to be highlighted this week! Thank you for selecting me!

I have posted about the reason for my weight loss journey here. Having been a yo-yo dieter for all of my twenties, I truly feel like I have made some major strides in my journey in my latest endeavor. It's not easy! Like all of you, I have thought about every bite that has gone into my mouth. I have spent more time thinking about food than any other subject! My official start date was September 9th and since then I have lost 17.5 pounds. I know that's a little quick, but in all honesty my starting weight was what I weighed in the evening and ever since, I've been weighing in the morning. (I just want to be fully honest here!)



What have I been doing that works for me?

• Consistently eating breakfast (my personal faves: scrambled egg sandwich on toasted wheat, Slimfast Meal Bar (Bob Green of Oprah fame recommended these and the chocolate chip is great), and my latest find is Jimmy Dean's Delights. They are lean meat, egg whites only breakfast sandwiches with cheese that heat up in 90 seconds.)
• I have not forced myself to have a mid-morning snack because my breakfasts have been filling. I do, however, keep fruit on my desk so that I can grab it if I need it.
• Reasonable lunch - typically, leftovers from the night before or a turkey & swiss cheese sandwich on wheat. I try to have a cup of veggie soup and a 100 cal pack of chips with it so it is filling and nutritious.
• Mid-afternoon snack keeps me from arriving home ravenous and grabbing whatever's convenient.
• Lean meat with tons of veggies for supper. I don't like a lot of veggies, but I am experimenting to see if I can find more that I like. Green beans are a big fave (and quick and easy!) and I may have a salad or whole grain rice with it. I try to limit myself to seconds to only the veggies. I've even served green beans with soft tacos just to make sure I get filled and have veggies in me.
• I can not keep ice cream in the house. Just can't do it! They now have 100 cal packs of ice cream with fudge ripples in it. Just can't do it. Can't stop at one. Or two. So, I leave them at the grocery store.
• Plan, plan, plan my meals. Then, I don't get stuck having to fix only what's available. I've decided 2 or 3 days ago what I'm having tonight so that I would remember to leave out the chicken to thaw.
• I don't let myself get starving. That's when I'm more likely to make a bad decision!
• Drinking lots and lots of water everyday.
• Exercising! I try to find something I enjoy doing, but when the weather's bad or I just don't feel like it, I make myself do it - it's part of the process!
• I have a "treat" EVERY SINGLE DAY! I do not do well with being deprived. I find what I like and try to limit my quantities. I mean, truly limit the quantity. I may have a 100 cal pack of a cookie I like (fudge stripes!) or 2 bite size bars (not even a mini bar, a bite size bar!) of 3 musketeers just to enjoy the chocolate taste. I've even bought a few packs of Halloween candy because the portions are small. I keep them in my closet so that I don't just pick them up without thinking about it.

If you visit my blog, you'll see a ticker that shows I have 15.5 more pounds to lose. That's completely accurate and completely misleading. That's my goal for Tales from the Scales, not my life goal. It is my goal to be under 200 pounds at the point this weight loss challenge ends. That's right, I weigh 215.5. I am not strong enough to post my complete weight loss efforts on the ticker, because I know I would want to give up. Knowing that I have a reachable goal helps me to stay focused on my current goal - losing 15.5 more pounds by the end of the year. My true goal is to weigh 160-165 pounds. At my height, I would be around a size 10 at that weight.

This is how I'm doing it. It is my desire to be able to continue with my success. I know how to lose weight - most overweight people could write a book on what to do to lose weight. The hard part is sticking to it! I'm enjoying my weekly weigh ins at TSFTS. The accountability is there. I enjoy reading how all of you are doing. You all encourage me so much! Thanks for letting me share my view. I hope to be asked to post again (maybe I'll even post a before and after picture) when I am closer to my true goal. I want to be a success story!

Weigh In - 10/17

I nearly did a double take on the scales this morning. Truthfully, I went back and weighed myself a total of 3 times!

I am down 3 pounds!!

I lost weight while on vacation!!

Let me tell you about my week.

Hubby and I left Thursday afternoon to go to Tennessee. We went directly to Chattanooga and had dinner at a Mystery Dinner Theatre. That had an Italian dinner buffet. I basically filled up most of my plate with salad and a touch of dressing, then added some pasta (2 small servings). I went back for 2nds on salad only. Dessert was brought to the table, I had one bite and gave the rest to hubby.

Friday morning, we just picked up McD's for breakfast where I had 2 egg mcmuff!ns, no meat. Lunch was a Sl!mfast Bar and dinner was Chick-fil-@ (chicken wrap and soup). We spent the day walking around Rock City, Ruby Falls, and other highlights in town. Saturday, we ate breakfast at Cr@acker Barrel. (They offer turkey sausage as a meat choice.) We then rafted down the Ocoee (lots of paddling!) and hiked some just as we crossed back into Georgia. Dinner was Wendy's - baked potato with small chili on top.

I know we didn't eat at "nice" places on our trip (except Thurs), but that's not because I was watching what I ate, it's because it was convenient. We didn't have to wait for a table and we could continue our sight seeing. My goal was to lose one pound this week. I am so thankful to have done more. I guess I got in quite a bit of cardiovascular exercise on this trip, which is obviously helpful.

Another thing I am using to my advantage right now - Halloween candy! I know that sounds surprising, but these little boxes are automatic portion control! I currently have Nerds, Junior Mint$, and Sugar B@bies at home. Just enough to curb a sweet tooth. I do not keep them in the kitchen - it's too easy! I keep them in my bedroom closet. I know it sounds silly, but that way if I am on the couch watching tv, I'd have to go to the closet to get them. Plus, I don't think of them near as often. I know some people can't deal with the temptation, for me it helps. Whatever works, right?

These little treats also came on my vacation, too. I can skip dessert at a restaurant if I know as soon as I get in the car, I can have a bit of something.

Another thing I found this week are J!mmy Dean Delights. (or something like that) They are in the frozen section of the grocery store. They are a breakfast muffin with a egg (white), slice of cheese and your choice of 3 breakfast meats. I couldn't find info from their site about this product, but the nutritional info is 260 calories 7 g fat 2 g fiber 30 g carbs 18 g protein for the turkey sausage. The canadian bacon and black forest ham are lower in fat by 1 gram. Super good and super fast!

That's my week - I hope you had a great one, too!

Weigh In - 10/10

Woo-hoo! I'm down 2 pounds!

This week has been especially challenging. Hubby's entire family came to our house for dinner Saturday and it was Homecoming at our church on Sunday. Homecoming. At a church in the South. There was ham, fried chicken, and an assortment of vegetables in casserole form. Not to mention 2 tables covered in desserts.

So, I had to come up with a plan: I brought green beans, broccoli casserole, corn casserole, and whole grain rice. I knew I could eat my side dishes and stay on plan. Then, I had one or two tiny pieces of turkey. For dessert, I had 2 bites of what was on hubby's plate. I can't always change my circumstances, so I just have to come up with a plan for where I am.

This weekend will be my most challenging yet. Frankly, I can get a little anxious just thinking about it!

Hubby and I are going out of town for our anniversary. (yeah!) We're having dinner at a Murder Mystery Dinner house one night - food: buffet of Italian food! What to do?? The rest of the time we'll be hiking and walking around some national parks, but, I do worry about meals and snacks. I'm going to bring some fruit and 100 cal packs for snacks, but when we're eating at local places, I won't really know if there's any healthy options until we're inside looking at the menu.

So, a week in advance, I am worrying about next week's weigh in. Well, that and I'll be retaining water at that time, also. Good times!!

Any traveling tips you'd like to share?

I hope you had a good week!

Food Journal - 10/4

bfast-scrambled egg sandwich on toasted wheat
lunch-turkey and swiss sandwich and baked chips
snack-black bean chips with hummus

had a hair appointment last night and it took forever! (nearly 2 hours!) Got home too late to eat. I know I didn't eat a lot today, but only because it was crazy and hectic.

Food Journal - 10/3

bfast-Sl!mfast bar
lunch - turkey & swiss sandwich on wheat, chicken noodle soup
huge rush at home (Dr's appt, then church) no dinner, went to
Steak & Sh@ke with friends and had a strawberry yogurt milkshake

No exercise today - I hiked 1.5 miles Tues, but that was it. We've had plans every single weeknight and it's just hard to make time for it. We're also going hiking Saturday, so I'm getting it in sometimes. Truly, I need to get up earlier in the morning and do a WATP dvd, but that's just hard. I need to focus on exercise this week!!

Works for Wednesday, the Question Edition

OK, people. I just want to know how CVS cards work. I hear about the great savings and I am oh so interested, but I just don't get it.

I just don't get how the reward program works, especially in regards to the money they give back with certain purchases.When you purchase certain things, you get "bucks" or something. Do they actually mail you a check? Do you get a credit in that amount, which you can use the next time you shop and they scan your card? Are you required to keep up with receipts from prior purchases?

Any help regarding the CVS rewards program would be much appreciated!
Thanks so much!


Want to help answer other people's questions? Wondering if others have questions similar to yours? Visit Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer.

Weigh In - 10/3

I'm down 1.5 pounds this week - and I'm thrilled!! My total weight loss is 11.5 pounds since beginning mid September. (Weight falls off quickly at first, then stabilizes.)

I have learned several things this week:

1. Posting my food journal daily is important to my success. I didn't do that this week and I felt kind of "out of sorts." I try to be "super" good 98% of the time so that 2% of the time I can treat myself and it not affect my weight loss. Without a food journal to look over, I can't remember how good or how many treats I've had.
2. The experts are right! Exercise really does curb my appetite. I was starving on my way home last night, but I knew that if I wanted to exercise outside, I would have to do it first thing because it is now getting dark earlier (darn it!). I went out and hiked about 1.5 miles and on the way home, I wasn't even remotely hungry.
3. I am able to go through the motions, even when I don't feel like it. This is a big one for me. We had a hectic weekend and I wasn't sure how I did (see #1 above). I weighed Mon. and had lost .5 pounds. Out of curiosity, I weighed Tues. morning also. I was up .5 pounds. I know I didn't gain a pound in a day, but it kinda bummed me out. (I try to only weigh once a week, but I this time I made an exception.) I was thinking of all the bad things I was going to eat since this "just isn't working." But, I didn't. I didn't feel like sticking with it, but I did. Just like I don't always feel like going to work, but I do it anyway. I stuck with it, the scale balanced out, and I ended up with a 1.5 pound loss for the week.
4. Don't let one reading on the scale affect my whole outlook. See #3.
5. Exercise is key, but I have to make it something I enjoy doing. However, if the weather is bad, I need to suck it up and just do an activity (workout dvd, for example) just because I have to do it to reach my goal.
6. Finding a non-food hobby is helpful. I am learning to sew. I have a few hobbies that I enjoy doing that make it literally impossible to eat while I'm doing them - rubber stamping, crocheting, sewing. I definitely can not eat while I'm doing any of these things. This really helps late night cravings. I am distracted, plus I am doing something productive.
7. I am really encouraged when I read other people's blogs about their weight loss. If I'm feeling unmotivated, I can go to read them or just learn that I'm not alone when I feel like I'm struggling.

That's my take on the week. Thanks for reading - I hope you have a great week!