Size 10 and other news :)

-3 pounds.

YOU GUYS!  I lost 3 pounds again!  God I love weight watchers.  Sitting here now, I'm berating myself for ever quitting in the first place, and/or for ever being so reluctant to start the new program.  Yes, it was a little touch and go/a whine fest when I realized how many points bread slices are, but that's okay!  Its been 3 weeks and I'm down 6 pounds!

In other amazing news, I went to Savers the other night to poke around for clothes.  I was looking at the jeans since we're heading back to the Mainland next week, and decided to give a size 10 a try to see how far I had to go.  THEY FIT.  I CAN FIT INTO A SIZE 10 JEANS!!  I didn't actually buy any, but I stopped at the Salvation Army the other day, and ended up picking up a pair from Vanity for a buck!  Size 10 jeans, AND they were crazy cheap!  :)

I really want to try paddle boarding.  Justin got a board last Sunday while I was at work, and said he loved it.  And my manager pointed out paddle boarding is by far the greatest workout for your abs and tummy, and you don't really even know you're working out (until afterwards, of course!)  :)  Hopefully Justin and I can both get a day off after we get back from Seattle and go out.  If I love it, we'll probably end up investing in them!  :)

My uncle emailed me the other day, and pointed out that I had officially lost 1/3 of my former self.  How crazy...haha.  :)

Oh, and we're totally going to see The Hunger Games tomorrow!  I finally earned my movie!  yay!  I haven't decided what my next goal will be, but I'm actually closing in on my final goal weight.  :)


Current weight: 146 pounds
Going to the movies weight to lose: 0 pound
Weight to lose to meet final goal: 16 pounds
 TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS:  78 pounds!

successsss! :)

The points graph is very helpful for me.  Saturday was St. Patty's Day, which I went a little nuts, and then the day after was hangover day, which also led to a lot of eating.  Nonetheless, awesome visual.  :)

YAY!  I lost 3 pounds!  :) :) :)

I weighed myself a little early, but I was feeling skinny this morning, and I was super anxious to finally see something happen on the scale.  And it did!  :)

I love this program.  I love the points and how it gives me the ability to really ponder what I want to eat.  And, if I give in and eat a sample at work, its an automatic 3 points (self-calculated...haha.)  So I did have a bite of carrot cake yesterday, and it was so worth it.  :)  We did get mochi into the store, and they're only 2-3 points each.  YUUUUM!

Totally going to see Hunger Games next weekend!  I'm so stoked.  :)

Current weight: 149 pounds
Going to the movies weight to lose: 1 pound
TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS:  75 pounds!

Weight watchers week 1

-0 pounds.

Oye.  At first, my gut reaction was something along the lines of, adfkgfdsjk!  I wanted to whine and feel bad about myself because I worked so hard this week and didn't get anything out of it.  But psshhh...what kind of shit attitude is that?

I feel excellent.  I've eaten more fruits and vegetable in this past week then I have in quite a long time.  I made it to water aerobics twice, and went hiking twice as well!  :)  Aside from one taste of the peanut butter banana bagel, I did not eat one sample or have one sip of the leftovers in the blender.  I'm proud of myself!  :)

For a majority of the week, I only used my daily points.  I earned 12 activity (exercise points), and didn't eat them.  :)  St. Patrick's day I may have indulged a bit, butttt....do you get points back if you throw them up?  lol, just kidding.  Well, not about the getting sick part, but no, I didn't give myself any of the points back.  A light beer is 4 points, and a shot of tequila is 4 points as well.  They really don't want you to drink, do they?  Haha.

Today at work, two of my co-workers told me that my face looked skinnier.  :)  And I feel like my work shorts are just a tinyyyyy bit looser.  :)  So I'm not discouraged by the scale this week.  I'm actually more encouraged to try that much harder at getting the numbers to go down.  Do you think I could pull a 4?  I would love to go to the movies next weekend.  :)  Haha, just kidding.  I'll be going to the movies in 2 weeks!  :)

Current weight: 152 pounds
Going to the movies weight to lose: 4 pounds

Health things

Its day 2 of the new Weight Watchers program, and overall, its going well!

The new points system is a little harder for me to get used to, but I know deep down that these changes are all positive and goal-oriented.  I may have had a minor meltdown in the grocery store when I realized that bread has a lot higher point count than it used too--mostly because the new point equation takes carbs into consideration.  (Bread is my kryponite...I've never given it up, always said I've wanted to be "well-rounded" and not cut out any food groups.)   But I'm coming around to the idea of less bread.  People that eat less of it lose weight, right?  Haha.  I ate my chili stuffed turkey burger on two pieces of lettuce with a side of teriyaki vegetables, and was sufficiently satisfied.  :)

I get 26 points everyday.  I'm finding that I'm blowing through these pretty easily--3 meals a day plus 1 non-fruit/vegetable snack, and I'm out.  (Oh, and a small vanilla latte--no one said anything about giving up coffee!)  Then, I have 46 flex points that I can use throughout the week.  I can either divide these points evenly up each day, or I can splurge and use more of them on one day.  I feel like it is a testament to my will power, but I'm trying not to touch these extra points.  At least not at first.  Yesterday I used all 26, and as of tonight, I have 1 left for the day.  Trying to conserve my points is making me ultra aware of everything I'm eating and/or snacking on, ANDDDD...I didn't eat ONE sample (food or coffee) at work today.  Didn't want to waste my points!  :)  (Weight Watchers only seems to work for people who care about their points.  I'm trying not to become neurotic about them.)

In other news, these past couple of weeks I've really been focusing on my overall health, not just my weight loss journey.  As some of you may know, I've suffered from chronic stomach pain pretty much since I started my weight loss journey back in late 2009.  My doctor at school never really seemed to figure out the problem.  They thought it was my uterus, ovaries, IBS, ulcers, kidney stones, ect ect.  Justin and I ended up paying way too much for doctor's bills that told us nothing.  I gave up, and moved on to pain management.  I figured out that if I take 1 pro-biotic pill a day, I generally have little to no stomach/intestinal pain.  So that's what I've been doing for the past year or so.  I've talked to lots of people with similar issues, and have gotten lots of theories.  Recently, I've stumbled upon 2 pretty likely culprits:

Either, I'm gluten sensitive (or intolerant), and gluten is destroying the natural bacteria in my intestines, orrrrr...
the Splenda that I've consistently been eating in my coffee, coke, and desserts is essentially doing the same thing.

Either way, these both seem like easily fixable (though a bit daunting) problems.  I've been doing a lot of research on Truvia, the new "natural" no calorie sweetener that has recently hit the market.  So far, there doesn't seem to be any adverse side effects, and humans seem to be able to digest it and poop it out without problems (unlike Splenda, which apparently builds up in your body for years...uggghhhh.)  A recent university study showed that feeding Splenda to mice destroyed pretty much all of the good bacteria in their stomachs, and even worse, the bacteria didn't come back for 12+ weeks of no Splenda use.  Awesome?  Why didn't anyone tell me I was eating chemicals?  Okay, well, I know a couple of people have tried to tell me, but I was too stubborn to listen.  So I think I'll be giving Truvia a try, and selling my Costco sized boxed of Splenda on craigslist!

As for the gluten thing, I can get tested by a doctor, IF I can ever get my paperwork at work changed and filled out.  I get health insurance through them, I just don't currently have it.  I would love to get a gluten sensitivity test, to find out if maybe that's the cause (or an added cause) to my pain.  Going gluten free would be a pain in the ass, but something I could definitely adapt to if it meant no more pain!  A person who is adversely affected by gluten can have a healed stomach in as little as 6 months after changing their diet.  I guess its good to know that even if you abuse the bacteria in your stomach for years, its still willing to come back!  :)

Well, that's all I've got.  Here's to hoping I have an excellent weight loss week, and also to hopefully getting some answers soon!  :)

Hello old friend!

I just signed up for weight watchers online.  Its time to get back to basics, and finish this journey.  :)  Then I can just spend the rest of my life maintaining.  :)

The past two weeks I've had zeroes.  Nothing happening.  Also hadn't been exercising.  Justin discovered that there is a 3 day a week water aerobics class at the local pool.  Its even free!  (but the instructor asks for donations, since she's doing it for free too)  :)  We went on Wednesday, and even though we were the youngest people there by at least 20 years, I still loved it.  And its deep water aerobics, which makes it even harder.  I was going to go today, but I'm an idiot with sunscreen and have a nasty burn on my back from our hiking expedition yesterday.  (Read about that on our paradise blog, if I ever get around to putting up pictures...haha.) 

I think I've also been letting temptation get the best of me, especially at work.  Samples are my downfall.  And emotional eating?  I don't ever remember being an emotional eater, but I have been.  One certain person at work has been stressing me out a bit, and I wanted to slap myself when I realized what I was doing.  NO MORE!  :)

But I think with consistent water aerobics, and Weight Watchers holding me accountable for how much I'm actually eating, I will find my success!  We did go on a hike yesterday, which was the first one in nearly a month.  It was refreshing (minus the sunburn), and today, I feel like I can't move.  Which I'm taking as a positive sign.  :)

I'm going to go update the other blog, and then explore all the stuff on Weight Watchers online.  There's so much!  And so many recipes!  I'm stoked to get this started again!  :)  And I gotta get it done in 3 months, so I don't have to pay for a 4th month!  Haha.

Current weight: 152 pounds
Going to the movies weight to lose: 4 pounds