Darn...

Had to cheat today....migraine warranted the necessity for some regular Coke to have with my ibuprofen. Otherwise, I would be stuck with the said migraine for a couple of days. Here's hoping I got to it on time...

Temptation Town

Happy Valentine's Day! May you all find different ways to make your loved ones feel special! Especially ways that don't involve food. I myself find that difficult since it has always been a favorite thing to do: let them know you love them with chocolate...or candy....or brownies, cookies, etc. Difficult not to partake, but so far so good. Here's to making it through today without giving in! Those thank you brownies LOOKED divine, and thank you, son, for wanting to share your Hershey Kisses with me. But today I feel strong...what am I saying...I AM strong! So all you eaters out there, enjoy it! And don't feel bad for me....I've already decided that this Saturday is my valentine's day :-)

So Much For A Great Start....

After last Sunday's Superbowl victory (mine!), the week just went downhill. Lots happened: First of all, I was totally PMSing and craving chocolate and anything else I could get my hands on EVERY DAY. On top of that, a bad incident occurred with our beloved pooch and we had to have her put down. Add to that the feeling of walls caving in 'cause there's just so much to do in the next 2 weeks.....and I lost it. I panicked and lost control. Of everything. Instead of getting more things done and being super efficient, I shut down and seemed paralyzed, stuck, unable to do anything.
This resulted in me allowing myself a small handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips once a day. Then Wednesday rolled around, and due to unforeseen circumstances, couldn't start thinking about dinner until quite late - 6:40pm on a school night - which resulted in me picking up pizza on the way home. Thursday was my birthday....so more chocolate, and Friday was reward day in my classroom which meant ice cream sundaes at lunch.

So in the end, this is what I've learned and decided:
1) I took the week off, and it's ok. It does not put me back at the beginning, just put off my progress for a week.
2) Sometimes life happens and even the best intentions get flushed down the drain.
3) The scale has not really scared me this week. It was actually better to me than I thought it would be.
4) A week off is just a week off, nothing more. Time to get back on track tomorrow, and when it's all said and done, will I even remember that I took this week off?
5) Lastly, don't be too hard on yourself. It's ok to falter along the journey - as long as you get back up, and keep moving forward.

There you have it. Back on the saddle domani - and looking forward to it!

Hurray for Small Victories

Well I survived my Superbowl party with, get this, withOUT breaking the eating plan! The solution was.......raw veggies to nibble on, delicious chili for supper, and two small glasses of wine. Not only did all this fill me up, it followed the rules. Yippee!!! Easy peasy...not! Especially with all that OTHER food that was laid out, and I sure did miss my beer, but I did it. Hubby decided to take the night off the plan and partook in all of it: chips, beer, chili, pizza, whiskey shots; but I resisted. I actually think that I was mad at him for not sticking to the plan, so I'll be damned if I don't follow it. Funny how it just seemed to give me more resolve. At any rate, I consider it a small victory!

Just Dance!

If you had asked me last week how the whole weight loss thing was going, I would probably have sighed....and answered sssllllllloooooowww. But then, I made one major decision, and one great discovery. No - I haven't changed my mind about weighing myself everyday 'cause I'm kind of addicted to that -am finding it encouraging this week actually. However, I thought a lot about the new way I'm eating, and realized that is it a huge improvement....and that I should be proud of that. Kicking the sugar habit is not easy, and yet I'm managing it quite well. That being said, I also think I'm eating too much, so without being too drastic, I decided to decrease my portion sizes a little. After all, a friend of mine has recently lost 20 lbs. making just that one adjustment to her diet. I've started doing that, and I'm not hungrier so I'm sticking with it.
I've also made a great discovery! My daughter just celebrated her 14th birthday and for the first time ever asked for a video game which we got her: Just Dance 2. To all you wii owners out there, if you don't own this game yet, get it! It is so much fun, plus it's an excellent workout if you follow the whole body movements. Especially if you choose Rasputin and Body Moving! So hubby and I have committed to "playing" 30 minutes a day. What a fun way to work up a sweat!
All in all, am pleased with my progress so far. My family has remarked that my belly is smaller and my jeans look too big - thank you for noticing, and more importantly, for mentioning it! So nice to hear! As for my sometime friend the scale, yesterday was pivotal 'cause I finally saw my first benchmark target-woohoo! First 10 lbs. gone! Thirty more to go.... I prefer to say I'm one quarter of the way there.....and that's something to dance about!