Day 1, Sunday, November 10, 2002. 25 Points today. Dinner was - Lean Generation Pork 5½ oz baked potato 1 tbsp Brummel & Brown spread ½ cup butter beans.

Day 2, Monday, November 11, 2002. Veterans Day Walk Away the Pounds 3 mile and 1 mile This evening, dinner will be chicken and veggie soup and a salad.

Day 3, Tuesday, November 12, 2002. Dinner tonight was a chef salad that I prepared for myself at my local grocer's salad bar. Here is a great tip! I take a ¼ cup measuring cup AND a tablespoon measuring spoon. I do not limit myself on the zero Points veggies, but I measure out my chopped ham and cheese and my sunflower seeds. I ended my dinner with fresh pineapple and strawberries. I have been craving pumpkin pie, spice cake, gingerbread. If you are having a craving for something specific, seek out something that will satisfy you. My leader mentioned to me that the Baker's Breakfast Cookie comes in a Pumpkin Spice flavor. Tonight I picked one up, it is 4 Points for the whole thing, 2 Points for half. I split it in half and am now completely satisfied. One slice of Pumpkin Pie can run you 6 - 8 Points. (not actual size) I'm reading "Get With the Program" by Bob Greene and am re-evaluation my exercise regimen. "Walking is a great way to lose body fat..." Read the TIME magazine article about walking here

Day 4, Wednesday , November 13, 2002. Treadmill walk, 40 minutes, random inclines level 2, mostly 3.7mph lower body strength training 15 minutes Lifecycle, levels 2 and 3 200 crunches Dinner was a hamburger made with 8% fat beef, mixed with onions and red pepper. 1 Potato Patty, and butter beans.

Day 5, Thursday, November 14, 2002. Increasing the intensity of the cardo, but not exercising for as long each session. Treadmill walk, 430 minutes, random inclines level 2, mostly 3.7mph and 3.8mph 15 minutes Lifecycle, levels 2 and 3 200 crunches Dinner tonight was light because I'm trying to have a bigger breakfast now. So I had a Smart Ones (Peppersteak - 4 points) and some fresh cut veggies, and apple sauce, followed with an apple and some peanut butter. Tommorrow is weigh day! I hope I will at least lose what I had gained the past 2 weeks. This week (including the weekend) has been the best WW eating in three weeks. Oh yeah, I was thinking of how nice it would be if I had some cream cheese icing to go on the Pumpkin Spice Baker's Breakfast Cookie. So, I took a wedge of "Laughing Cow" and mixed on a packet of Splenda and smeared it on top of half of the cookie this morning. It was really good, though one wedge for half was a bit much and took away from the taste of the cookie. But I enjoyed it, beats breaking the Points bank on real cake and icing.

Day 6, Friday, November 15, 2002. -0.6 Not what I had hoped for, but still a step in the right direction. Goals Current Weight Your weight is 196.6 lb as of 11/15/2002. Weight Goal Your goal is to weigh 185.8 lb by 12/20/2002 Goal Progress You are currently 10.8 lb above the target weight. The deadline for your goal is 35 days (5 weeks, 0 days) away. To meet your goal you need to lose about 2.16 lb per week. Okay, this is very unrealistic for me. The past few weeks I have had my struggles and I'm working my way through things. If I can make it to 190 by Friday the 20th of December, that will be good enough for me. The cool thing about a goal is that even if we don't make it in the timeframe that we desire, eventually we make the goal anyways. Eventually it will happen. Not sure what dinner will be tonight. Treadmill walk, 30 minutes, random inclines level 2, mostly 3.7 and 3.8 mph lower body strength training 220 crunches Diner was Applebees, blackened chicken salad. No dressing, no bread. Had fresh strawberries and pineapple for dessert.

Day 7, Saturday, November 16, 2002. Took a "Mix-it-Up" class at the gym today. 1 hour of cradio and about 220 crunches. Dinner at the Outback tonight. I chose the Chicken & Veggie Griller. It is one big smashed breast, served with veggies and rice and some grilled pineapple. I did not eat any rice. I'm never sure how to count this, I am guessing 8 for the chicken, 3 for the side salad (no dressing), 1 point for the pineapple. www.dwlz.com does not list this, so I can only estimate. I drank water and had no dessert. Well, dessert at home was half a Pumpkin Spice breakfast cookie. Yes, I'm hooked on them, can't you tell? Overall, this has been the best on program weekend I have had in a long time, I am extremely pleased with myself. I'm also pleased since I rarely exercise on Fridays AND Saturdays, and I did so this weekend. I will probably give myself a day of rest tomorrow, though. If it dries off here, I might just enjoy doing some yard work.

Day 8, Sunday, November 17, 2002 Dinner tonight is boiled potato, green peas, and, "Beef, round, eye of round, separable lean only, trimmed to 1/2" fat, prime, raw" according to Fit Day amounts to about a point per ounce, which makes me happy. Great tip, one of the receptionists at my center said that if you order a steak off a restaurant menu, if it says 8 ounces, that is the raw weight, so that brings it down to 7 ounces cooked. Today is a day of rest, what a great day for it. Rain all day! I do look forward to my Sunday night *special* coffee at Starbucks! I'll have either a Tall Caramel Macchiato made with skim milk- 3 points OR a Tall Gingerbread latte made with skim milk- 4 points (thanks go out to "marie_46" for getting the nutrition info on these items!

Day 9, Monday, November 18, 2002. Treadmill walk, 35 minutes, random inclines level 2, mostly 3.7 and 3.8 mph, 5 minutes at 3.9 mph walked 2.26 miles, including 1 minute cool-down lower body strength training 225 crunches Dinner was "breakfast" tonight.

Day 10, Tuesday, November 19, 2002. Treadmill walk, 35 minutes, random inclines level 2, mostly 3.7 and 3.8 mph, some spurts at 3.9 mph walked 2.28 miles, including 1 minute cool-down Yard work vacuuing Dinner is chef salad and fruit at sald bar

Day 11, Wednesday, November 20, 2002. I so did not want to go to the gym today! Treadmill walk, 35 minutes, random inclines level 2, mostly 3.8 and 3.9 mph walked 2.29 miles, including 1 minute cool-down lower body strength training 225 crunches Not sure about dinner tonight, probably something quick-n-easy, like breakfast. I'm meeting a couple of gals for a Wednesday evening WW meeting! Dinner, yep, breakfast. A 3 ounce slice of ham, 2 eggs, a potato patty, and peas. Yeah, peas. Not exactly breakfast food, but gotta get in those veggies!

Day 12, Thursday, November 21, 2002. No exercise today Dinner was chicken tenders sauteed in 1tsp olive oil, then topped with italian stewed tomatoes and ¼ cup mozzarela cheese melted on top. And green peas.

Day 13, Friday, November 22, 2002. -0.2 I need to eat more. I have lost just -3.4 pounds in the past 8 weeks, I may be in a dreaded plateau, but I'm as determined as ever to break through it! I went to my DR for shoulder pain that has been bothering me for a while, as well as mysterious neck pain. My appointment was at 4:15 today. Shoulder: Impingement Syndrome/acromioclavicular joint injury. I'm taking Vioxx and have to do a crapload of exercises, like 10 of them, 50 reps each, each freaking day! If I still have pain after 3 weeks of this, I'm getting a cortizone injection and will continue with the exercises. If that doesn't take care of it, I will have to have surgery to "clean things up" blech! Of course, in 4 weeks I'm going on a cruise, I sure as heck hope it gets better between now and then. The mysterious neck pain is, thankfully, not connected to thyroid, and is likely a muscle spasm. I don't talk much during the day, but then at night I talk a lot and in the past few weeks it has started to bother me so much that at times I can't speak at all. DR says the Vioxx will probably help with that, too, but that I need to shut my trap and give my neck and throat muscles a rest, ha ha. The cool thing...my DR is so freaking happy about my weight loss. He was almost in tears when we were talking about it. He also laughed his ass off when we were talking about my goal weight. I told him my personal goal is 165 and that my tummy tuck should bring me down to my official WW goal of 150 pounds. He laughed and laughed while I told him how I have the body of a woman who has given birth multiple times but have nothing to show for that. No kids, big belly. Maybe I was abducted by aliens and gave birth many times and was sent back with nothing but a belly to show for it. Anyway, I lost a whopping 0.2 today. Terry says I need to take my own advice and eat more. So I have eaten more today. I had a normal 7 Point breakfast and 7 Point lunch and then for dinner went to the Waffle House and knowing that I wanted serious dessert tonight, I had a grilled chicken sandwich with cheese and no mayo. Hashbrowns. Coffee. Then at home I had 2 Peppermint Skinny Cows and a 3½ ounce slice of cake. Oh, cool thing about the Peppermint Skinny Cows. The vanilla ones are 2 Points for one, and 5 Points for 2 of them. The Peppermint Skinny Cows are 3 Points for one, and 5 Points for 2 of them. Very much worth it, though I don't care much for the vanilla cookie part. Edy's, which makes the Skinny Cows, makes a Lite Peppermint ice cream, I think 1 cup is 4 Points, I think I'd have been better off to go with that instead of the Peppermint Skinny Cows. Hopefully the weight loss will start up again.

Day 14, Saturday, November 23, 2002. No cardio today, but I was a good girl and did my exercises for my shoulder, took me about a half hour. Whoa, after that I did not feel like doing any exercise! Went out for dinner, had a steak & cheese sandwich (no mayo, onions and peppers, though), which was very light. It came with "fries" but I am pretty sure they were baked, not fried. It was kinda a fru-fru restaurant. I'm really excited, I finally broke down and bought a new winter coat tonight! It is beautiful, and a size large!

Day 15, Sunday, November 24, 2002. I worked in the yard today for 3 hours! Barely made a dent in the leaves situation, darnit! Roast for dinner, green breans, broiled potatoes.

Day 16, Monday, November 25, 2002. Started new job. Had leftover roast beef for dinner. From here on out, my dinners are going to be very simple and basic because I'll be working until about 8:15 at night, so I will be packing dinners each night. I'll be working some Saturdays, too, especially the next few weeks, so I'll have lunch and dinner at work those Saturdays. THANKFULLY, I'll be able to stick with my Friday Weight Watchers meeting and GREETER job! **YEAH**

Day 17, Tuesday, November 26, 2002. Work in the yard about an hour and a half. Dinner was simple, a ham and cheese sandwich, apple, pretzels.

Day 18, Wednesday, November 27, 2002.

Day 19, Thursday, November 28, 2002. Happy Thanksgiving

Day 20, Friday, November 29, 2002. No weigh-in, center closed

Day 21, Saturday, November 30, 2002. First Day of Hanukkah

Day 22, Sunday, December 1, 2002.

Day 23, Monday, December 2, 2002. Well, here I am. Sorry I got lost in all the holiday buzz, that and my new job are keeping me busy. I have pretty much lost motivation to exercise, after all, it doesn't seem to be helping me that much these days. I did, however, rake some leaves and brought in lots of firewood today. As predicted, because I'm working until 8pm every night, my dinners have been repetitive. Carrots, apple, ham & swiss on lite wheat, pretzels...I actually like this. I like the new schedule, I am being forced to eat out less and hopefully the weight will start to budge and I'll escape from the 196s on Friday.

Day 24, Tuesday, December 3, 2002.

Day 25, Wednesday, December 4, 2002.

Day 26, Thursday, December 5, 2002. Shovel snow, half hour

Day 27, Friday, December 6, 2002. -3.4 Got my star for 110 pounds lost. Finally!

Day 28, Saturday, December 7, 2002.

Day 29, Sunday, December 8, 2002.

Day 30, Monday, December 9, 2002.

Day 31, Tuesday, December 10, 2002.

Day 32, Wednesday, December 11, 2002.

Day 33, Thursday, December 12, 2002.

Day 34, Friday, December 13, 2002. -1.4 Yeah, I think I have gotten out of my little plateau! I have not been doing any exercise, with the exception of my physical therapy stuff for my shoulder. I am still eating at the top of my range! I've been working lots this week and have so much to do to get ready for the cruise and Christmas. Suddenly, my clothes are all too big for me, so, on top of Christmas shopping, I need to buy some new clothes for myself!

Day 35, Saturday, December 14, 2002.

Day 36, Sunday, December 15, 2002.

Day 37, Monday, December 16, 2002.

Day 38, Tuesday, December 17, 2002.

Day 39, Wednesday, December 18, 2002. Went shopping today, bought me a cute purple mini-skirt, size 14, and a size large sweater. I also bought another outfit, long black skirt and a long lavender blouse that had belt in the waist, both size large, unfortunately, another 15 pounds or so and that one will be too big, but I need the clothes NOW!

Day 40, Thursday, December 19, 2002. Greetings. I did about 2 hours of work in the back yard today, boy I'm gonna be sore, too. This is the first activity I have really done in a while! I'm hoping that I'll get a chance to go to the gym on Saturday, get a little pre-cruise activity cushion going on. I can't believe we leave in just 3 days! So much to do, so little time!

Day 41, Friday, December 20, 2002. Stayed exactly the same this week, and I'll take it, especially considering I had a somewhat "off" week. Well, last Friday I had pizza that was not planned for, and then Saturday night I had an unplanned 11 Points snack from the vending machine at work. Not to mention the mints that I could not stop eating all weel, yesterday I made it through the day with having just one. Today is a bust, too, I just had a slice of cake and a piece of pizza. I think there must be something mental going on with me, the cruise is day after tomorrow, but I feel like I'm already on vacation, somebody stop me! Ah well, it is okay. This has been a great year. I won't weigh-in next Friday, but I'll post when I get back from the cruise and all. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Day 42, Saturday, December 21, 2002. First Day of Winter

Day 43, Sunday, December 22, 2002. Leave for cruise!

Day 44, Monday, December 23, 2002.

Day 45, Tuesday, December 24, 2002.

Day 46, Wednesday, October 25, 2002.

Day 47, Thursday, December 26, 2002. First Day of Kwanzaa Get home from cruise at about 10PM Oh man, I'm baaaaaaack! Got in at about 7PM this evening and am sad and miss being on the ship! It was an awesome trip, I have so much to say about it, but I'm extremely tired and plan to get up to go to weigh-in in the morning, so I have to go to bed!!! This picture is from the Christmas Eve formal, be looking for lots of cruise pictures, coming soon!

Day 48, Friday, December 27, 2002. +5

Day 49, Saturday, December 28, 2002. Click on the star to go to my cruise pictures

Day 50, Sunday, December 29, 2002.

Day 51, Monday, December 30, 2002

Day 52, Tuesday, December 31, 2002.

Day 53, Wednesday, January 1, 2002. Happy New Year!

Day 54, Thursday, January 2, 2002. I usually make a resolution to make no resolutions for the new year, but I really need to start back with exercising more consistently. I feel and look more healthy when I am exercising. Also, since I'm going on another cruise in late April, I would like to have lost 16-20 pounds by then. Unfortunately right now I am nursing a cold and my energy level is low, but hopefully I got on top of the cold early and will feel like getting back to the gym by this Monday.

Day 55, Friday, January 3, 2002. -3.4 Current Weight Your weight is 193.2 lb as of 01/03/2003. Weight Goal Your goal is to weigh 175 lb by 04/25/2003 Goal Progress You are currently 18.2 lb above the target weight. The deadline for your goal is 112 days (16 weeks, 0 days) away. To meet your goal you need to lose about 1.14 lb per week. So there you have it, my new short-term goal. When I look back at the past 9 weeks, my progress is very disappointing, I have lost just 3.6 pounds! But, I know that if I were not following the program, I would be headed in the complete opposite directon. Last January, January 4 to be exact, I weighed 244 pounds, and today I'm 50 pounds lighter. I have lost a total of 110.6 pounds with Weight Watchers in 93 weeks, and will make it to my goal weight eventually.

Day 56, Saturday, January 4, 2002. Family Christmas party.

Day 57, Sunday, January 5, 2002.

Day 2, Monday, January 6, 2003. treadmill walk 30 minutes upper body strength training 150 crunches 15 minute walk January 7, 2003. treadmill walk 30 minutes lower body strength training, some physical therapy for right shoulder 165 crunches 15 minute walk "Walking is a great way to lose body fat..." Read the TIME magazine article about walking here January 10, 2003. +0.4 Well, the week was a bomb, actually, I was off program Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, but at least got in a few days of activity. The remainder of the week I was tired and fatigued due to this cold sticking around, but my eating became more balanced and on program. I have done poorly with veggies and am fine with my fruits, mainly getting the junk, from Saturday's holiday party, out of the house is the best thing. Anyway, with all the carrot cake and chocolate and pizza and rolls that I ate over the weekend, I'm shocked I did not gain 5 pounds! I ate more over the weekend than I did the whole cruise, but no alcohol, thankfully. I have begun to worry that I have lost my "spark" for the program, getting bored with the program after almost 2 years of doing this, but I have not lost my motivation, and I think there is a difference, and as long as I do not lose motivation, I will be okay. Last night I was folding up my black jeans and held them out and said to myself, "I can't believe I fit into those things." When I look at the pictures of myself from the cruise, I can hardly believe that it me! I know that even if I lost just anotheer 10 - 20 pounds, what a big difference that will be for me in how I look and feel, and these small and short-term goals are going to be the goals that help carry me through to getting to my big goals. So I'm still plugging away, very little progress over the past 10 weeks, but far better than not being aware of myself and what I'm doing, that is for sure! Happy Birthday Mom! Dana January 11, 2003 treadmill walk 30 minutes upper body strength training hip abduction thigh adduction 200 crunches 15 minute walk January 13, 2003. treadmill walk 30 minutes lower body strength training 230 crunches 15 minute walk January 14, 2003. treadmill walk 30 minutes limited upper body strength training, some physical therapy for right shoulder 230 crunches 15 minute walk. January 15, 2003. Today, I had a consultation with a plastic surgeon. For many months, I have had the desire to seek out as much information as possible about abdominoplasty, so I went and had a lot of my questions answered. If you are considering surgery, I highly recommend going to www.plasticsurgery.org, there is a plethera of information on that site. Basically, I am a good candidate for "abdominoplasty-high lateral tension," and some liposuction, as well as a "thigh-buttock lift." I certainly have a lot to think about. January 16, 2003. I went to the DR today, I have a sinus infection!!!! January 17, 2003. Snow! We had a "big" storm last night and this morning's early WW meeting was canceled, I just got a call that we are open for the 11 and 12:30 meeting, but there is not much turn-out expected, so I decided that I will stay in and out of the cold (not to mention wind) and spend the better part of the day snoozing by the fire that I shall make in the fireplace. I did weigh on the home scales, 192.5, which is a pound down from last week. My scales are very accurate, usually just "point" this or "point" that off from WW scales. Hopefully this is the start of a losing trend! January 20, 2003. zero energy January 21, 2003. treadmill walk 30 minutes limited lower-body strength training, 275 crunches 10 minute walk. at night, physical therapy for shoulder January 24, 2003. 191 Finally, I am below my pre-Christmas weight, not by much, but I'm happy to weigh less than that 191.6 from 12/20, and I just hope I can kick the 190s to the curb as soon as possible! January 25, 2003. Have you had a look around here lately? There are new pictures! treadmill walk 30 minutes lower-body strength training, (leg presses, leg extensions, hip abduction, and thigh adduction, etc.) 275 crunches 15 minute walk. at night, physical therapy for shoulder January 27, 2003. treadmill walk 30 minutes upper body strength training arm curls, tricep presses tricep ectensions arm press, seated row physical therapy for right shoulder 230 crunches 15 minute walk. January 29, 2003. treadmill walk 30 minutes lower body strength training 230 crunches 15 minute walk February 7, 2003. Let it snow, let is snow, let it snoooooooowwww. Blah! I'm so very sick of winter. I think this is our 4th snow since returning from the cruise! Anyway, so I am not going to WW today. I called the 800# and they were not showing that my center was closed, but said thay are advising people not to go. I told the woman that I am the greeter, and so I called our center directly and got the answering machine. So far, no one has called back, so I just had my unofficial weigh-in of 190.5 pounds on the home scale. Now, if you knew what kind of day I had last Friday, you would be cheering for me right now. Last Friday I woke up "on the wrong side of the bed." I woke up not feeling healthy in any way shape or form. I called WW to let them know I was not coming, and then I proceeded to eat my way through the entire day. I ate, and ate, and ate. You know, sometimes we have bad days. This was not just a bad day, I don't even know how to really put it into words, but trust me, it was not pretty. Saturday I recommitted myself to being on program 100% and I have had an awesome week! I feel very good about what I'm eating and doing, yesterday I even had 6 servings of fruits and veggies! Hopefully I can keep this going and will be in the 180s next Friday! February 14, 2003. -3.1 (well, actually, I lost 3.6 from my last official weigh-in, ha ha) I can finally say goodbye to the 190's! I can't say I'll miss them, 4 months of being pals was enough! Here I am in my new dress! What did I do differently this week? 1) No exercise! 2) Increase water! 3) Ate all my points only 2 days, the other days I ate 24, 25, 26 points, but not 27. 4) Ate 3 balanced meals, my only snack being a 24 cup of decaf with 3 flavored creamers from 7-11 5) No BLTs! (bites, licks, tastes) Click here for Valentine's Day ideas! February 21, 2003. Stayed exactly the same today! When I don't lose weight, I crave cake. Today is my 100th week weigh-in and I am celebrating by NOT eating cake. Not gonna do it! Here is a run down of my points intake for the week. Friday the 14th - 24 Points Saturday the 15th - 26 Points Sunday the 16th - 25 Points Monday the 17th - 24 Points Tuesday the 28th - 25 Points Wednesday the 19th - 29 Points Thursday the 20th - 24 Points. At 22-27 Points a week, that means I can have between 154 and 189 Points for the week. I ate just 177, so technically, I have 12 banked Points. I did not even mean to do that! Wow. So yeah, I can actually have a piece of cake, but I don't think I will. I think I'll gave me a cone of soft serve from DQ or something. Anyway, eating your Points does make a difference! Hopefully next week I'll have a nice loss! Anyway, since it is my 100th week weigh-in, I thought that maybe I should write something really profound here or something. The thing is, people are always writing to me and asking me for "the answers" and the truth is, you can only figure this whole thing out by finding the answers within yourself. The answers are there, you just have to do some dusting off. Ask yourself questions and don't always look to someone else to figure things out for you. You can do it, but it is going to take time and effort. Sometimes wanting "it" is just not enough, and "it" will not happen on its own, so you have to do some work, and sometimes a whole lot of work, but the payoff will be worth it, just give it time! No matter how long it takes you to achieve your goals (You have set goals? Haven't you?), you are worth the investment. February 23, 2003. Bad day Friday, February 28, 2003. Well, I chose to not weigh-in today at WW. I guess I needed a mental health break from the scales, which can be a good thing. Have you seen the "pass" that WW gives now? You pay the weekly fee, but you don't weigh-in, and it is "no questions asked." More than likely I would have maintained again today, which would have been fine, but it would also have made me feel like going out and doing something bad, so hopefully this "break" from the scale will pay off in that it will help me to stay on program for the next week, and that there will be a payoff on Friday, March 7. I will probably be changing the format of this page over the weekend, since I'm not really doing much in the way of exercise these days. I really want to start walking again, at least a few times a week, but this weather has just been awful, and I have not been very motivated to get out there in the cold. Day 56, Saturday, March 1, 2003. Just playing with this for now...

View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook