Friday, February 25, 2005

Day Thirty-Nine

Throwing My Weight Around

Hooray! It’s FRIDAY!!!

I am actually excited about my weigh-in yesterday. Down 1.4. Yes, I wish it was coming off faster, and yes, I wish I had lost more. But the reality check is- I haven’t been exercising. I have been horrible about following Core and eating within my points. My “week 3” booklet was, in fact, still wedged in my membership book, which I hadn’t even opened. I have not been counting anything, writing anything down, measuring anything, reading anything…you name it. If you’re supposed to do it, I didn’t. Until last night.

What a rude awakening that was! I measured and pointed out ½ cup of my low fat, sugar free Breyer’s ice cream (the best damn stuff on earth- only two points a serving!) I have just been scooping that crap into a big, shallow soup bowl with a wide brim. The better to stack ice cream in- I could probably load that thing up to the rafters. Anyway, what I was estimating as one serving was probably more like uh, four or five. Possibly more than that. (Yes, I am ashamed.) Behold, the delusional power of wishful thinking!

One little serving looked so sad and lonesome in that humongous bowl. So I broke down and got out one of my cute little teacups and put my ice cream in there. It was about ¾ full, so it didn’t look remotely as puny. And now I have yet another tool for portion control. That ice cream is going into a teacup from now on. I’ll just use the big-ass soup bowls for uh- soup. Or something.

Back on Core today. I have decided to make another vow- I can keep doing Core, as long as I am losing weight. If I have a week where I gain, it’s back to Points I go. Not as a punishment, more as a reality check. Wow, that sounds so responsible!

I also joined Put Down The Donut last night, for info and support. They seem like a fun bunch- I can relate to them alll too well!

Day Thirty-Nine Summary:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, Banana
Snack: Cottage cheese, SF Lime Jello
Lunch: TBD (some kind of salad)
Snack: Ruby Red grapefruit
Dinner: TBD

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Day Thirty-Eight

Throwing My Weight Around

So, I am taking my sweet time.

I weigh in at WW today. My diet buddy wanted to (re)kick start with a “juice fast” so here I am, on day 2 of 2. I know it’s gimmicky, I know it’s lame, but I went along for the ride. I didn’t bother with that Hollywood crap, I just bought Orange Pineapple Banana juice (concentrate) and supplemented with fiber (Mmm, fiber) and my One-a-Day vitamins.

Considerably cheaper, and somehow, it seems to be working. I am not starving. I did break down and have “sensible” snacks last night when I got home. Sensible, but plentiful- and slightly odd. My hubby was giving me some odd looks, and I don’t blame him. I actually ate pickles, which I usually hate. Granted, they were the little mini-teeny-wuss ones...and then I had low-fat sugar free vanilla ice cream. I didn’t mix them together, it was later on!

I guess he has a right to be concerned. Hell, I’M concerned. That’s just plain weird. I also had some hummus and celery, pretzels, some green olives, a peach, and a little bit of smoked salmon. Man, that just sounds disgusting. Or, now that I think about it, like I loaded up on hors d’oeurvres at a cocktail party. But it was what my body wanted at the time. And none of those things taste too much like orange pineapple banana juice, which might have something to do with the randomness.

I am enjoying my juice today (I know, it’s horrifying), and also drinking green tea and lots of water. Any exercise I get is going to have to be in my considerable travel time back and forth to the bathroom. Sit-ups and workouts also re-start this weekend, once I am back to eating actual food on a full-time basis.

I have a bicycle/picnic thing tentatively planned for this weekend as well, if this beautiful weather continues. Joy! I just have to fill up my bike tires with air, and get hubby to adjust his bike height…I think a good eventual reward for me is to get a bell, basket, and chrome fenders for my Schwinn cruiser. Just so it looks a little more retro- although thinking about it, I might be more inclined to ride it if there was less of a chance for there to be a muddy stripe up my back.

I also made a pact with my dieting buddy, Bobbi. No new shoes, purses, or accessories, unless the weight keeps going down. No new clothes unless they’re a smaller size. We’re also automatically banishing the bread basket at our celebratory post WW dinners. Pretty schmoove, huh?

I got a wonderful compliment from a co-worker who hadn’t seen me in a month or two- She asked if I had lost some weight, and I said, “Just a little bit” and then she said I looked great and she wanted to know what the hell I was doing to my face because my skin looked “beautiful”. Holy Toledo!

The thing with the skin blew me away. I have struggled, and by struggled, I mean fought like hell, with my skin since I was 17 years old. Multiple dermatologists. Tetracycline, sulfur masks, too many topical ointments to list, tea tree oil, and the granddaddy of them all- Accutane. TWICE. Plus dermabrasion and Cool Touch Laser treatments that hurt like a mofo (and didn’t work! They had to refund my money!) to try to reduce the appearance of cystic acne scarring.

I finally decided, towards the end of last year, that come hell or high water, I was going to find something that works for my skin. I am THIRTY, for god’s sake, but my skin thinks it’s 13 years old. It’s super oily, I have big-ass pores, and I am prone to blackheads like nobody’s business. While this is great in the wrinkle department, because I have managed to avoid even the telltale “squinch” marks around my eyes that most women have by age 30, it sucks in the makeup department.

I am half Armenian. Let me tell you- Makeup is just part of the deal. We’re practically born with it on. I went through a “no lipstick” phase for approximately a week in college. When I came home to visit, my mom asked if I was trying to bring back the 60’s. I think my father commented at dinner that I looked “washed out- like I was sick.” That was the end of it. I went running right back to Revlon’s “Cherries in the Snow.”

When your skin is like mine, and you live in Fresno CA- Whoa Nelly! It can get up to 105- 110 degrees here in the summer, and heat just makes oily skin worse. Your makeup slides off unless you sit directly in front of an air conditioner 24-7.

I wore indelible lipstick (the kind that you have to remove with baby oil) and had my eyeliner tattooed on. But foundation and powder- fahgeddaboutit. I was a shiny mess at the end of the day- the worse my skin got, the more makeup I wore. And of course, the more makeup I wore, the worse my skin got.

So, I had the skin epiphany late last year, and I looked in the yellow pages, and found someone who did facials. I called ResurFace simply because the ad specified “acne facials”. Man, that was a lucky choice.

I went to see Jen for a consult, bought the cleansing products she recommended and came back two weeks later from my first facial…and I have never looked back. Her products are great, the treatments are affordable, she’s a joy to talk to, and my skin has never looked better. She’s even honest with me when I want to buy stuff that I don’t need. That’s freakin’ amazing.

God, I sound like a commercial! But she is absolutely wonderful.

OK- WW tonight. I am crossing my fingers now (which makes typing a little difficult, but hey…I need all the help I can get.)

Day 38 Summary:

Breakfast- Juice
Lunch- Yet More Juice
Snacks-Still More Feepin' Juice
Dinner- Blackened Salmon, French Onion soup, baked potato, broccoli

Weigh-in- 242.8 (Down 1.4!)

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Day Thirty-One

Throwing My Weight Around

Holy Moly- It’s been a month. One. Month. Exactly.

I am not sure what I have accomplished- I go in to weigh tonight. Finally! I must face the music. I have been slightly more careful the last couple of days, but I doubt it’s been enough to shift the scale towards a downward trend.

At least I can say I am sticking with it! I am so freaking determined to do this. And…I’m not the only one.

Last night at my Knitting Meetup, out of 5 of us at the table, 4 were doing WW. The fifth was getting ready to go back.

Evidently, Knitter #5 just tried L.A. Weight Loss, and absolutely hated it- this is the second person that has told me how much they charge (the amount practically made my eyes pop out of my skull) and how rotten they are to their customers. Anyway, this woman had to threaten to get a lawyer involved to get out of a contract that she (luckily) didn’t even sign and get her money back.

My current diet buddy at WW says she was doing OK with them, until they kept trying to get her to buy their “nutritional bars” in bulk, (about $700 worth!) and when she refused politely several times, finally stating point-blank that she couldn’t afford it after she’d just paid their exorbitant membership fee, they still kept pressuring her until she literally burst into tears. Of course, she never went back.

So- back on track. I have decided to set things up at work so I can have oatmeal every morning, which is better than toast because it doesn’t cost me points -big plus there! Tonight is crazy, as usual- to the vet, to get the doggie cleaned up, clean the fridge, then to WW, then possibly out to dinner, or I will just grab a bite at home and go directly to the grocery store to re-stock the fridge (which is beginning to resemble a lab experiment gone awry, along with the rest of my poor kitchen.

So far today-

Breakfast- Oatmeal
Snack- Apple
Lunch- TBA
Dinner- Ditto
Snack- Microwave 94% Fat Free Popcorn.

WW Weigh In- Up .4 That was it! I could sing, but I won't inflict that on anyone.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Paint Your Wagon- just don't fall off.

Throwing My Weight Around

Um yeah- so, I fell off the wagon?

Egad, it’s been an awful two weeks. I’ve been so sick, I haven’t wanted to do anything, and so busy, I haven’t made it to WW at all- I am going with Bobbi today, on pain of death. I just can’t keep sitting on my butt in denial, surreptitioeating leftover Valentine’s Day cupcakes. So I am trying my darndest to get back on track here. What derailed me? In the last two weeks:

1. My great-aunt passed away. She was almost 101.
2. My family visited one weekend, then they came back into town the next week for the funeral.
3. The dogs escaped, one of them cut his leg up and had to get stitches. We’re going back to the vet every day to change the bandage.
4. I had this awful cold that settled in my chest and totally zapped my will to live.
5. I went to Disneyland for the day last Saturday. The pedometer reading: 10,133 steps.
6. I have seen my husband for approximately 45 minutes this entire time. He’s working and going to school.
7. I still have not gone grocery shopping.
8. I don’t even want to talk about work.

So, I have been busy busy busy, eating way too much take out and fast food and restaurant stuff. I am seriously starting to feel sluggish and yucky as a result. Grocery shopping and WW must happen today. I am under oath to Bobbi that I will go!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Day Seventeen- 2/2/05

Throwing My Weight Around

Raaaaaargh!
Sneezing. Sniffling. Of course, the weather turns beautiful, and I get sick as the proverbial dog.

So I am sitting here, at my desk. I refuse to give up on healthy eating and exercise. I don’t have a post for yesterday- but I did do the Carmen Electra Cardio Striptease Workout. I can honestly say that it made me feel dumber than dirt, but in a positive way. If that makes sense. There was one memorable move that caused me to fall over- not once, but twice. But I stuck with it- even though the part where Carmen advises you to “commit to your finger” was a little too bizarre for me. Also- there’s a lot of gratuitous butt-slapping. But hey, it’s Cardio Striptease- what the hell did I expect?

DH was informed on pain of death not to enter the living room while this was taking place. He’s definitely not seeing any of these moves any time in the near future. Because, somehow, falling over on my butt makes me feel the exact opposite of sexy.

Anyway. Ate fairly decent food yesterday, and am keeping up with that so far today. I also woke up early this morning, did a BellyDance Quickies (Abs) workout, and walked the dogs. I feel like I am ahead of the game. Aside from the fact that I forgot the pedometer (yet again).