Plate Watchers

There are are pros and cons to making my journey public.   The Pros are wonderful; the cheerleading from friends, the compliments, they really lift  you up.

 The cons, well let me just refer to the biggest con as "The Plate Watchers".  The Plate Watchers are people (people who shall not be named like Harry Potter's Lord Voldemort) who watch everything  you put on your plate.

 Let me give you an example. 

After a birthday celebration (at work) my friend asked me to bring him a piece of cake. I cut a nice big piece of cake and started walking down the hallway. The Plate Watcher says "don't eat that, that's not good for  you".  Now first of all I have not even discussed my journey with this particular Plate Watcher. Second of all this cake was not even for me so I would have really liked to throw the cake right in her face.

Now imagine this....you work super hard over the weekend to reach your goal.  Top it off with "that time of the month" and you are dying for chinese food.  So you get a plate, a smaller plate than normal. I measured the plates...yes, I did....my normal plate would have been 11 inches in diameter. This plate that I used was 9 inches in diameter.  I have some rice, some chow mein, 1 boneless rib, and a fried shrimp.  Much less than what I normally would have. I decide to have some more chow mein and I get the look from the Plate Watcher.  

 Well Mr. or Ms. Plate Watcher you go ahead, watch my plate all you want.  Give me "the look",  tell me I'm eating too much....I say this.....I am in control. I've lost 26 pounds.  I'm eating like a normal person. I know what I have to do.  Thank you for being concerned, I appreciate it.  But I am being accountable.  I get on that scale every morning and I'm ok...I can do this. I will do this and I will not fail. Failure is not part of the vocabulary any longer. 

My promise to  you is this.....If I feel out of control, If I feel like I'm falling off the wagon....I will ask you to watch my plate but until then go right ahead and watch....watch me win!

Girl Scout Cookie (follow up)

We should be winding down now with the amount of Girl Scouts we see trying to suck you in...evil temptresses in disguise. I have no more Girl Scout temptations in the house and I'm happy to report that I achieved my goal of not having a single delicious bite of those tempting, high calorie treats.  Did I miss them?  Maybe a little bit.  Did it kill me not to have one, definately  not. Especially when it really is hard to stop at just one.  As I announced the other day to my daughter that I did not have a single cookie and was proud of my accomplishement, she was so cute as she said "I hope next year you can have one".  Yes, maybe next year I will have just one. It's exciting to think of what life will be like next year at this time...a new thinner me awaits with a brand new wardrobe.

Numbers vs What I see

I love getting on the scale to see declining numbers. Down one more. Yay me. But I wish I could see the difference.  Other people are starting to see or have seen recently.  That's encouraging. But I just don't see it.  I look in the mirror and still see what I have for years.  It's not quite time yet to buy new clothes, hoping that the pounds will continue to fall off and maybe in April I will go get some spring clothes and finally be able to tell. 

I DID IT!!!! (finally)

It took a little sacrifice and a lot of exercise this weekend but I did it.  I hit the 25 pound mark!!!!  I'm very excited.  I can move on to the next 25 pound goal.  Twenty five pounds...thats 25 boxes of butter, or 5 bags of sugar.  If I had to go to the store and pick up 5 bags of sugar and walk around with it I imagine that would be a heavy load to carry. In fact maybe I will try that next time I go to the store.  It feels good to meet a goal.  I'm excited to start the next goal though I'm fully aware that the next 25 pounds will be harder to obtain. I will do it.  There are so many wonderful and exciting things that await at the end of the journey. Though the journey will never truly end it will just take a different road.

The Inner Diva (bad dinner)

Was so looking forward to going to dinner tonight.  Was going to the Country Inn where I would get either scallops, baked stuffed shrimp or scrod. That's what was on my mind. When we got there I found out there was an hour wait. So off we went to DiParma. I like DiParma, I usually get Chicken Marsala and it's delicious. I wanted to get something different, I always order the same thing at the same restaurants.  I thought about the pan seared haddock and I thought about the ravioli with meatballs.  Since I'm struggling with two more pounds I decided to get the haddock figuring that would be the more healthy choice.  When it was put in front of me I had to hold back the Diva in me.  It was so not what I was hoping for, It was haddock over angel hair with some kind of sauce and artichokes and tomatoes.  I hate artichokes, tomatoes not on the top of my list and who wants their fish over spaghetti.  This just wasn't a dish for me. So now I'm totally frustrated and unsatisfied. There is nothing worse than dieting, looking forward to a nice meal and not getting what you want.  I'm moving on though. In the past I would keep looking for something to eat until I found that something that would satisfy me. (Usually I would be satisfied only after eating a bunch of stuff I didn't really want prior to finding the satisfying food).  After dinner I went to the mall to walk. I had every intention of doing 2 miles but the mall closes at 9 so I only got 1 mile in.  Better than nothing.  I think I will try to go back tomorrow and do 2 miles then.  I really need to wake up Monday morning and be able to move on to the next goal. I really don't want to have to beat up the scale again.

Next day guilt

I suppose it's a good thing, I've reached the point that I have guilt for eating something I know I shouldn't have.  Was in NYC yesterday. Had a light breakfast, no lunch, no snacks, but ate almost my whole dinner which was chicken and pasta, appetizer, and a couple drinks.  Also had a few bites of cheesecake.  Really feel like I over did it. Looking back on past eating habits, this was nothing but I'm still in the pursuit of those two pounds I need to reach my goal. Because it was my birthday I gave myself permission to indulge a little.  The guilt still came.  Today is a new day and we are back on track.  Telling myself...let's get this done...2 pounds to 25 and then we can move forward with a new goal. 

Cake, Cake everywhere

Survived one party already this weekend. No matter how big I cut the pieces of cake we still came home with half of it.  Another party tonight and more cake.  I did have a small piece of cake at lunch yesterday which was to celebrate my birthday.  But stayed strong, no  cake last night. Not planning on cake for tonight either. I must say that by the end of tonight I will not want to see another piece of pizza.  Only had one piece last night.  The old Lisa would be having cake for breakfast this morning. I'm just going to go have my peaches.  Staying strong!!!

Tough weekend ahead

Birthday Party weekend is upon us.  Went out for a birthday lunch and my friend got me a cake, I had a very small piece.  It was delicious.  Now we have a party for Lauren tonight, one for Matt tomorrow......I will do my very best to eat wisely.  I'm still trying to get rid of two pounds to hit the 25 pound mark.  I have my doubts that it will be this weekend but I will give it my best shot!  Happy birthday to Lauren and Matt.

Stupid Scale

Mad and frustrated at the scale. I did everything the way I planned. Worked out while we were away. Every day!  The numbers haven't moved.  Hate when that happens. Sometimes you just do everything right and get no results.  That being said...not going to let it bother me. Keep moving on and keep doing what I'm doing the scale will catch up. 

My beautiful daughters words

Last night as Lauren was waiting to go to the dance, looking so beautiful, she looked at me with amazement in her eyes and said "mom you look thinner". If I can borrow an expression from a friend .....that's what's up!

Gym mirrors

So I made it to the hotel in time for my workout that's the good news. It was a great workout. But...let me tell you I've never been surrounded by so many mirrors in my life. I was feeling good about 23 pounds until I was surround by these evil mirrors. Looking forward to an am workout but not the mirrors.

Weekend

The Weekend is upon us.  Will be out of town and that always presents challenges.  I need to lose 2 pounds this weekend.  I really want to get on the scale Monday and see that I've reached the 25 pound mark.  So I guess I need to go to the market tonight and get some fruit to bring with me.  I have to make sure I use the gym at the hotel.  Smart choices need to be made for dining out.  I guess I feel if I write it on the blog I'll actually do it so here's hoping the weekend goes as planned.  Hope everyone has a great weekend. Will be back win or lose on Monday.

Chocolate

Friday night I was at Mohegan Sun for a concert.  Stuck to my plan of what I was going to eat for dinner but it's traditional for us to go to Godiva for a piece of chocolate.  If you have a golden Godiva rewards card you can get one piece of chocolate for free each month.  I decided to get my chocolate.  It was good. It was also good that I really didn't feel like I wanted another. One piece did the trick. 

Last night at work there was a big bowl of Dark Chocolate Kisses.  I love dark chocolate.  I was tempted. I could have just had one and I think I would have been ok. I wasn't sure though. I wasn't sure I could stop at one last night. Lucky for me I had brought a fruit cup with me.  That is what I had, fruit instead of chocolate.  

Of course I had to wonder...there was 70 calories in the fruit cup, how many calories in one hershey kiss.  Weighing the two options, I'm glad I chose the fruit over the candy.  It proves to me that your mind really can be retrained to make better decisions.

Little bits at a time

Another pound gone. Yes!  We are at 23 gone, which means I'm going for two more over the weekend.  Suddenly this task doesn't seem so overwhelming as I'm breaking it out into small goals. Once I reach that 25 pound mark that means I'm 1/4 of the way to my goal.  Each pound gone is an amazing accomplishement.  I would love to be at the 30 pound mark for my birthday. That could be aiming a bit high as I only have 12 days to go. But I say let's go for it.  I'll do my best.  We are away this weekend for dance competition so I must plan carefully.  There is a gym at the hotel and I plan to use it. I'm finding with a little bit of planning I can overcome so many of the diet pitfalls.

Breakfast Bananna Split

I've definately been eating more fruit, which is why I think I haven't been craving sweets, because I'm getting the sweetness from the fruit.  A while back I found a recipe in The Biggest Loser Cookbook for a breakfast bananna split. I changed the yogurt to cool whip because I really hate yogurt but basically it's

1 bananna
sliced strawberries
granola
a dollop of cool whip
a drizzle of caramel syrup

(I also like to add blueberries and raspberries to this)

It's so delicious, the kids love it too.

Random Thoughts

I almost enjoy breaking out in a good sweat while working out...makes me look forward to a nice relaxing shower after.

Fat free candy like twizzlers and swedish fish are still high in calories. 10 Swedish Fish is 1 serving over 200 calories and 4 Twizzlers are over 200 calories.  (Can't believe I'm starting to read labels now). Not sounding too worth it to me.

The case of Poland Spring water I bought tastes like chlorine (maybe it's just in my head and I need to start adding some crystal light to it)

These are the things that go through my head while I'm working out.