Bad blogger... that I am

I am better at WW than I am at blogging. I seem to have let a few things go lately and I need to nip that in the bud. I have no reason - just a lot going and it's easier to be lazy sometimes. I need to reconnect with the inner drive within.

Since my last blog, I celebrated my 50-pound weight loss! I am now sporting a lovely addition to my key chain.

I have got to get this exercise thing underway. I go to ball hockey twice a week but I should be doing more. I had great intentions of starting the Couch to 5k running program but did 4 runs. I want to get back at it - just need to get motivated. I desperately wish I had someone to do it with and help with that motivation factor. Losing the weight is one thing but there has to be some major toning take place too.

Today was Mother's Day - I had a great day! I received some beautiful gifts from my husband and daughter and had some wonderful family time too.

Time to catch up!

So post the big birthday, we all got a bit of a flu bug. My appetite was pretty poor for a few days and I was not sure how this would effect my weigh in that week. But April 5 was a great weigh in down 4.2! Then I was concerned about keeping it off but this week I was down again so I'm thinking as long as I stick to the program (and I have yet to have a week where I have gone over) it's gone for good. I am now 0.6 away from 50 pounds gone! Watch me go this week!!! I'll be a point counting machine and an exercising fiend!

I have to get my thoughts out here on something that comes up repeatedly at my meetings. There a couple of ladies who consistently talk about what they are NOT ALLOWED to have anymore since they are doing WW. One lady visits her mom once a week. Her mom is elderly and loves pizza. So the lady either brings her pizza or takes her out and now instead of eating it too, she brings a salad for herself. Her mom gets agitated and asks a lot of questions about why she is not eating the pizza. The lady tells us and her mom it's because she is NOT ALLOWED. I have to bite my tongue in the meetings and I don't like the way the leader handles it either by agreeing with them and not telling them another way to look at things.

One of the reasons I decided to go with weight watchers is that it allows me the flexibility to still eat what I want as long as I am conscious of the amount I eat and keeping my eye on the weekly big picture. Don't get me wrong - I know my results are not going to be the same if I use my daily point in take to eat all crappy foods. However, if I want to have pizza once in a while, I can. If I want to have a small piece of chocolate every day, I can. I count it and plan around it - in my opinion, it's the WW way. I truly don't believe there is anything I am NOT ALLOWED to have.

And it makes me wonder if these ladies will be successful in their WW journey? I mean if success on WW for them is equated to not eating a list of certain foods, when they give in and have them, will they fail? Not get back on the WW wagon or have a hard time getting back on? Take a break for a while?

My how fast a year passes...

Yesterday was my daughter's first birthday. Since we have no immediate family in the area, I had a little party with people I met while on leave and some of my long-time friends. These people were a definite source of support through the first year. It was a great time but very busy with so may little ones. There were 20 people here in total. I made Elmo cakes - one for destruction and one for the guests. I also had a few munchies for the guests - homemade blueberry buckle coffee cake, crackers and cheese and apples with fruit dip. Here are some pictures we took...








It was a pretty emotional day. I kept remembering back to that day and at any given hour I would say, "This time last year, I was doing... pushing, getting drugs, in pain.. etc. I also missed having my family there to share in the day. That would have made it that much more special.

As for my weight loss this week... I missed the meeting again this week - last minute birthday party tasks and I could not even get out to weigh in. I am down (according to my home scale) three pounds!!! I had a good week and was pretty careful to stay within my points allowance.

So that means I made my goal of losing all pregnancy weight before the first year was out. Wahoo! On to the next task - my 50 pound token. Now there's some motivation.

Missed Weigh In Today

It was a hectic week. The transition to daycare went well - no tears for my little girl, but Mom was in tears by the time she hit the truck. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. She was pretty tired in the evening so there was some crankies but by Thursday even those were gone.

Our daycare provider is awesome and all week confirmed my decision. She did crafts every day (I now have fridge art!). I also received a daily write up on what she ate, how she slept, what she did and when she went #2!

I stayed OP all week but was completely lazy on the excercise front. I also have had a battle with constipation. I had this problem last time I lost a lot of weight. Back to the daily dose of All Bran for me! That was why I did not weigh in this morning - I was so bloated, crampy and uncomfortable. I just did not want to hear the number.

I am back on track and committed to excerise this week though. Ball hockey starts soon and I need to keep a level of fitness or they'll be running circles around me.

Another weigh in Saturday

Well I was off to WW this morning for another weigh in. I was down 0.2. Definitely in a pattern now. I'll committ to writing things don, staying OP and getting some APs this week and hopefully I'll be rewarded next week.

This afternoon we took my little girl for her first big girl hair cut. She was start to look like a little rag a muffin. With Easter and the big birthday around the corner, I thought she was due for a trim. We thought we would take her to a place in town called Cookie Cutters. They specialize in cutting childrens' hair. They have special chairs and dvd players at each station. More importantly, their hair stylists have more experience than me in cutting the hair of little squirmy 11-month-olds! Mao (our stylist) had the patience of a saint and did a great job of her hair.

An observation on other weight loss organizations...

In 2004, I ventured into the quick and dirty means of weightloss. While I won't use the name, it promised a "magical" solution to weight loss. And it clearly worked. I magically lost 30 pounds. (see Summer 2004 picture)

My downfall came with the onset of warm weather and my summer sports activities. The calories were not enough to sustain me (I mean I was famished ALL the time) and when I asked what I should do (within their program perameters) I was told to eat more vegetables. Yes because they give you that boost of energy you need to get you through a 2.5 hour soccer game. (she says sarcastically) So I managed to maintain for the summer. But I ate more than they recommended and as soon as I stopped excercising as much... the magic ended. I was like Cinderella - I had a short period of time where I felt awesome but than reality set in.

If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

Who knew fairy tales AND weightloss had so much in common.

Renewed my relationship with the scale

I know that WW recommends a once-a-week weigh in so I had put the scale away for a while but I pulled it back out last week. I find I stay on track better when I check-in mid-week to see what's going on (or not going on for that matter). This morning it showed I down a pound! Which puts me at .2 away from pre-pregnancy weight... YAY!

I ventured into the spare room to try on clothes. I do this once every couple of weeks. I try on clothes that I was wearing the summer I got pregnant. They fit. I think they are still in style! Now I just need the warmer weather to hit so I can actually wear them outside.

My little girl had a very restless sleep last night. I'm not sure what was the cause. She has 8 teeth at various stages of coming in but they are all through the gum and teething for her other 8 teeth was really a non-event. I wonder if she is coming down with something or perhaps she just had an off night... we all have them!

All Dressed Up and No Where to Go...

Welll truth be told I was not going anywhere anyway but we were going to have people in. I had planned a surprise birthday party for my hubby and Mother Nature reared her ugly head and intervened. Since the plows have not been out in hours and many people were coming from out of town, it was just not meant to be I guess. I kind of gambled all day thinking that the weather would clear up - who knew the weather forecasts would actually be right this time. I'm pretty disappointed it was sooooo hard to keep it a secret for so long. Not to mention there is all this food here now.

On a positive note, I braved the weather for my weigh in and I was down 2.8! Wahoo!! I had a good week eating wise - I still find it hard to exercise but I am trying not to stress about it. When the warmer weather hits I will be able to take the baby for walks/runs with me. Cross my fingers that should be about a month away.

I learned something this week too - it is illegal to have your registration sticker anywhere but in the upper right corner of the license plate. I received a warning for it (I grew up out East where there are no stickers) - but it happened in Hamilton which means that after I bought the sticker I had to go back to Hamilton to show them I now had it in the right spot. I get there and the officer does not even look at it but says he trusts me!!!! How very nice of you but could you have trusted me enough to let me just make the change and not make the drive back. At the end of the day, I'm glad it was easily resolved and did not cost me any money.

We'll be going through some more change in the coming week. It is my husband's last week at home and our little girl is off to daycare. Seriously, where does the year go? She went once this week and will go a few times next week before starting full time March 17. To help with the transition, I'm going to try and have some meals in the freezer so that we can come home and not have to worry. I'm also going to do what I can to get to work earlier and get home earlier. If I have something to do for work, I will do it after she goes to bed.

Weight in day

So this week I started writing things down again. I wanted to 'pretend' I was starting again. I still have 30 pounds to go so I wanted to keep myself on track. It worked - I was down 1.4 today. Yay!

It's been a quiet week otherwise. I missed my Thursday night workout because I worked late. I had a good meeting with my boss on Friday. I'm trying to drum up some new work these days - I do not like to be idle at work.

I finally found jeans for my little girl at Old Navy.... and picked her up a cute little jogger outfit as well. It was all on sale and I love a good deal. I had been checking out kijiji and a consignment store in town but had not been able to find any jeans that were smaller in the waist. But Old Navy came through!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day (above zero) so we're planning on getting out for a family walk.

A Fish Story With a Different Twist

A year and a half earlier my loving DH had given me a little goldfish for my graduation (WLU MBA). We called him Smarty Pants (Spee for short). God love him he made it through a number of traumatic events in his little life - our vacations, baby being born - where we would forget to feed him for periods of time. Poor little guy. This was supposed to be one of our initial "tests" into parenthood. Oh dear - perhaps if he could have been able to talk he would still be with us today.

So I started back to work in early November after 7.5 months of Mat leave and my husband took over the full time child rearing role for the remainder of the year. It was a BIG deal going back to work and I admit some things got put to the back burner until I made the transition. Well, poor Spee, I only just noticed his absence last week. Uncertain of how long Spee had had been gone - I asked my husband what happened him. I of course was a little embarassed to have to ask and was very worried about what the response would be and even more worried how much teasing I would take over the event. He passed away one week after I started back to work - THREE AND A HALF MONTHS later I notice. Good Lord. Where was my head.

Family Day

Ahhh what a quiet weekend. The weather was so crappy; it was tough to get the baby out and kind of nice just to veg. I am determined to get some APs today - I really need to get on the excercise band wagon. I've kind of got the urge to get back into running - I just wish I had someone to run with. Most of my girlfriends are not excercise people at the moment with babies on the way. I need to find it within me to get at it. I am doing good with the weight loss but I still have a ways to go and excercise will give that extra push.

Well, my little girl just woke up... so I am off to chase an active 10.5 month old!

Food for thought...
We're celebrating our first Family Day in Ontario. I'm not sure how I feel about this holiday - family is important and I like the idea of having a day dedicated to the family. However, what about Rememberance Day? Why not just reestablish that as a National holiday. Was not the efforts and sacrifices of these men and women that enable us to enjoy the life we have today including our families?

Tis the weekend... and a long one at that!

Today is my WI day - and I was up .6. Hmmm could be a pattern forming here. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. We had good intentions for going to a local festival but we could not get nap times to coordinate with the time it was open.
We did get out to pick some much needed baby items at Wal-Mart and then over to Rona for paint swatches. I am dying to get the main level of the house painted and I think we brought home some good options today. Yay - one project off my list for 2008.
Tonight we are just vegging in front of the tube. The baby went to bed early since she only napped once today and she is not quite ready for that yet.

And I've made it up and over the hump of another week

Mother nature reeked havoc again yesterday and got in the way of my means for getting to a good workout. Thank goodness I did not eat my APs before I earned them! I'll be at class on Thursday with bells on!

The week has flown by. I had a wonderful night out this evening with a good friend. I brought my little girl with me so we could have some more time together too. It was a family restaurant that specializes in greek food. Yummy!

Tomorrow my husband is bringing my daughter in for lunch for Valentine's Day. I love that I am able to see her during the day and my husband is great about bringing her in to see me. It's a luxury I will take advantage of as much as possible until he goes back to work.

Finding myself in need of a new challenge

So I'm plugging along in life... the last few years have brought a lot of change - marriage, graduation, new job, baby, back to work. Nothing out of the ordinary and a lot of the activities most of us set out to accomplish in life. The last few days I feel like I need a bigger challenge - my brain is not getting utilized enough. Did you ever have that feeling?

So I find myself drifting onto to the job boards to see if there is anything that peaks my interest. I feel the need to be more creative and feel like I'm adding value and not an after thought. Although as sure as I am writing this, something will land on my plate this week to put these thoughts on the back burner for another day.

Tomorrow I am off to kick boxing. I hope it has a little more challenge than last week. The instructors were not on their game and weren't able to keep up the level of momentum I like. But its a great way to earn 6-8 APs!

Thank goodness its the weekend...

I am so glad to put this week behind me. I was totally off my mark all week - I mean Friday I ended up at the dealership to get my car and forgot my bank card to pay for damages... I mean repairs. Thank goodness they let me take it and return to pay after work. There were several incidents like that all week.
My husband and I went for our first counselling session Friday afternoon and left our little girl with a friend who has a daughter the same age. I was really worried going - I feel like the term counselling has such a negative conatation to it and told others we were going to the doctor. Don't get me wrong - we're going for a reason. My husband is struggling with his relationship with his parents and I want to support him and help him through it. I also want to help our relationship in the process to help us become better communicators and better parents. I felt great after the session - the counsellor gave us confirmation that we were doing some things right but she also gave us some guidance around things we can do differently. I have to say I thought it was very benficial and find myself looking forward to the next session.
On a more positive note, I went to WW this morning and lost 2.2 pounds! Yay me. For a grand total of 40.6 pounds. I have about 30 to go but I only have a little over 4 pounds to lose before I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight. The other weight I put on after the wedding. I am very focused on getting this weight off before baby number 2. I want to start with a fresh slate and gain a normal amount of weight (not 65 pounds!).

Is it Friday yet?

What a week! The car breaks down (and I mean a slow death) in the middle of a snow storm and I am without a cell phone or gloves. Thank goodness there are still good people out there willing to help a girl in a bind. I walked into a complete stranger's house, used her phone and waited till a cab came. And my cab driver even held-off turning the meter on till traffic was moving.
I had the car towed to the dealership and learned that we needed a new battery and alternator. Since the car is almost 6 years old, it was due for some lovin' but what at time we have been having with cars lately. $2500 in repair costs and new tires since the first of December. Oh well - it's only money... right?
Food wise my week has been good. Hungry this week though. Could be the point adjustment from last week (dropped from 25 to 24). Thank goodness for flex points! APs are not so good either - I will get some tonight at kickboxing and I earned some walking on Saturday but that's it so far. I'm off tomorrow afternoon so if the weather cooperates I'll head out for a walk with my little family.

A new week and a continued committment

With two out of three of our little family sick, it was a quiet weekend in our household. I did make it out to WW to find out I was up .2. I had a good week - excercised and stayed OP. A small gain but it could be that I went down a point, TOM, the cold... who knows. I'm just recommitting this week to staying OP and keeping up the excercise. As the week goes on, I'll take it day by day. Best of luck to all of you!