Post op weigh in

I did it. I weighed in tonight. And I'm up 7 pounds.

I'm not "counting" it, as a lot of it is still swelling and fluid retention. It was a nice reset now. And I can look forward to a good weigh in next week.

I'm on plan now and will be for a while as I want to get this off quick!  Lots of protein, water, low salt, I think I can have most of it off in 2-3 weeks. By then I should be able to get really exercising again, then I can work on the last 5 pounds before goal!  Woo hoo!

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a fantastic mothers day yesterday! My husband isn't the most romantic man in the world, and it wouldn't be fair to expect that of him. So I've learned to be happy on Mother's Day, my birthday, our anniversary etc. He remembers it, plans for it, follows the "rules" (Mama pee's alone, doesn't change diapers or do housework) and usually surprises me somehow. I love him so much for his efforts!  I really don't want to be the wife who get disappointed by expecting over the top confessions of love, showers of presents, rooms full of flowers, that's just not Tom. And I'm glad he's not that. He spoils me in his own way :). Usually there are presents, but this year with him in school, me off on short term disability right now, there were no presents (previously decided). 

This year, this is how it went. 

I woke up ungodly early for a sunday as per my usual, around 7:30 had a shower, did my hair and got our 2 year old out of bed as she's a morning person too. We hung out, had oatmeal, almonds and apple slices and watched Disney Junior until the 4 year old woke up, around 9:30. We decided to wake Daddo up at 10:10. The girls gave me handmade cards and a huge hug and kiss!

I'm such a lucky Mama!

We got dressed and all went to the local diner for a big, protein filled breakfast!  I got a beautiful rose from them!  The other one was from my thoughtful sister in law Courtney :). Thanks sis!

We then took Toms grandmother and the girls over to go visit my mom in Continuing Care. She was so happy for the visit!  Then we stopped in and dropped Grandma off at Toms moms house. We then went for a drive house dreaming and future planning!  The girls were great in the car for the entire 5.5 hour car ride!  

On our travels, we stopped at Crawford's bakery for Coconut cream pie!  Crawford's pie is 10/10. And I only have it a few times a year!  So bad!  But so good!

We ended the day with Calzones and veal Parmesan from a local pizza joint, I had a glass of wine and we watched the Toronto Maple Leafs even it up in game 6 of the Stanley Cup play off semi finals!  GO LEAFS GO! (I'm so glad they won!  It would have been unfair to have a cranky husband on Mother's Day!). We then had some much needed Mama/Daddo time ;)

Such a great day!  Too much food, but whatever, it was Mother's Day. 

Happy Mother's Day to all of my Mama readers!!!

Excuses excuses

Well I'm 11 days post breast reduction today and starting to feel a little more normal!  I still have pain, but it's more like I got a bad sunburn in a couple of very unfortunate locations!  Remind me never to sunbathe upside down in the nude!!!

I've not been on plan at all really in the last couple of weeks. I'm eating everything under the sun, binging really, and using swelling as the excuse for the number on the scale. Yes I'm still retaining water from the surgery, there is still some obvious swelling and this will take weeks to go away, but the number drops, then I have a binge full day and it creeps up again. So it's more the crap I've been eating!

The lowest point was my last weigh in day, at home that morning I weighed 162.6. By urns day just before surgery I had gotten that number (by pre surgery binge) up to 163.9. The day of surgery I had been pumped full of fluid and the swelling had started, I weighed in the next day at 169.3!  Even after the had taken more than 2 pounds of skin and tissue off of my breasts!  As you can see over the next week, the number would drop, then I'd binge and it would go back up again, definitely not swelling causing that!

Now that I'm feeling better and knowing that life is starting to return to normal, I'm feeling the pressure to start working on my weight loss again. Weigh in day is tomorrow. My plan was to miss 2 weigh ins then weigh in 2.5 weeks post op. I'm toying with the idea of weighing in tomorrow anyways.  More for the reset than anything.  I really don't want to see a 4-6 pound gaining the books though, but I need to face the music. I'm definitely going to the meeting, maybe that'll be the reset I need.  I really don't want to see the next week as a free for all.  So maybe I'll talk to our leader and see what she says.

On the weigh watchers Canada website, I'm part of a mediate board called "100+ pounds to lose". The people on this message board have been a huge support to me in this journey!  On there I lead a daily thread called "100 days of tracking". Except the past 2 weeks someone else has been doing my job while I sit home and "eat to heal". Today I started the thread and promised to start tracking.

100 days from now will take me to August 20th. If I want to reach lifetime by August 20th, I need to reach my goal by July 9th. That would give me 8 weeks from now to lose all of the water weight, water retention for not eating well, and the last few pounds of stubborn fat. I think I can do it!

Ok I've talked myself into getting back on the bandwagon. I love how I can talk to myself then call it a blog post, lol!

Post op appointment

Day 6. Doctors appointment today for follow up. The tapes came off!  Quickly. With some scabs attached. I had a quick peek at some really thin, well healing incisions!  Then the tape went back on. I have significant bruising below my breasts on my rib cage, the doctor said more than I should have, but that he's not concerned about it. I however, find it uncomfortable to have a sports bra resting on the bruising. So Walmart stretchy sleep bras it is!  

I did a quick trip to a thrift store to get a couple of tops. I have no summer clothes!  I was excited that everything fit and all of the options that are now open to me!  I only got to try on a couple of things before I started to get sore. I really can't wait to get healed and get shopping!  I'll post pictures of my finds when I'm comfortable enough to do a fashion show!

I'm still quite swollen, under my breasts and under my arms are the worst. Strangely my breasts aren't as swollen as the rest of me. I'm still up about 5 pounds (or 7 when you count what was removed surgically). Hopefully that'll go down in the next week or so, then I'll be more comfortable!  I did not weigh in today, for obvious reasons. Hopefully I'll be feeling better next week and can go to the meeting if nothing else. I feel quite removed from the whole weight loss and weight watchers thing!  I'm looking forward to getting back into the weight loss groove!

Bored and braless

I'm really not made for laying around!

I'm catching up on a lot of shows I never get to watch, but laying in bed is doing me in!

I am now bandage less!  This poses a problem though, none of the sports bras I own are anywhere near comfortable!  The elastic on the bottom of the bras rub on my under boob incisions. Not fun!  Looks like some bra shopping is in my future :)

This one is most comfortable, but it still puts pressure on my incisions. I guess it's bearable though.

Nice to see I'm still boobalicious :)

Before and after

I won't be posting any nudie pics on here, but here's a bit of a before and after from yesterday!

Well I survived!

And holy hell they're tiny!  I'm covered in gauze and tensor bandages, but I've been able to sneak a peak.  Itty bitty!  That's for sure!

I'm uncomfortable, but not in real pain.  The worst past is the tight tensor around my chest and the gauze that has hardened with blood and putting pressure on my ribs.  Hopefully I'll be able to get the dressings changed when Tom comes home from work tonight.

Last day with the "girls"

Weigh in yesterday netted me another 1.4 pound loss!  for a total of 89 pounds lost!  yowza!

Less than 12 hours to go until my breast reduction surgery!  I'm nervous and excited. Excited for many many reasons, mostly clothing related :P. Nervous mainly for how my kids are going to react to me being "sick", nervous about how my youngest will take not being able to climb all over me like she does. I'm thinking I'm going to have to just keep a big pillow over my chest just in case. How the hell do you keep a 2 year old off your lap!

I got a really good cuddle in with Zaryah tonight, with a huge long cuddle/hug before I laid her in her crib and it made me sad that I won't get that cuddle for a few weeks :'(. I hope she doesn't take it hard!

He he. When I was getting ready to leave work, the girls at the front desk asked me for updates tomorrow to let them know I survived surgery :). One of our older "oblivious to the goings on" doctors happened to walk into the conversation and asked what surgery I was having. I told him I was having a breast reduction and he nearly choked on his popcorn and said "I'm sorry to hear that!"  Lol!

Ooh ooh!  A big NSV!  I have NO summer stuff, nada, nothing. It was a nice warm day yesterday so I went to Walmart and tried on some Capri pants!  You'll never guess what fit!  They zipped right up!

I had to take a picture so you'd believe me, lol!  I hardly believe it myself!  Size 8' $16 is the price!

Since its the eve of my surgery, I thought I'd leave you with a few pics of the girls!  I'll post comparisons when I'm able and I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing!

My running, less bounce, option. 3 bras!!!  And I still end up with black eyes!

My "pretty" bra. Popping out of a 36 F!

Date night with the girls on display

Date night with "neck cleavage". Sexy!  

Highs and lows

I had one of those days today

First off I didn't sleep well. I had a nightmare. My hubby and I and the kids were in a warehouse type store Christmas shopping. We were walking out and out of the corner of my eye I saw a man take Lara's (my oldest) hand. Tom grabbed her and I turned round and realized Zaryah was missing. I woke up shortly after that. I woke at 2:30 and needed to distract myself from bad thoughts (you know where your mind goes after dreams like these!) and I didn't eat back to sleep for an hour!  Then I woke again at 4:30 to pee, then again at 6:15 for no reason, then I managed to go back to sleep until my alarm woke me up at 6:45.

Work was busy but good. I only have 2.5 more shifts until I'm off for my surgery and between trying to fit patients in before I go and trying to organize everything and tie up loose ends, I don't have a lot of time to dawdle!

We went out for lunch today on the doctors tab for staff appreciation day!  Out for sushi!  Now I've never been a fan of sushi. Well, I had one piece at the mandarin a couple of years ago and it was gross. So I figured it wasn't for me.

My husband loves sushi, as do many of my family. So I really wanted to give it another try (that and it's really low in points!  What a perfect opportunity!  I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully one of our doctors took over and ordered a crap load of different things!  I tried pretty much everything, all except the ones with avocado, I know I'm not a fan of avocado!  Believe it or not I really enjoyed it!  My favourites were cooked eel teriyaki and sushi pizza with raw salmon on it!

It's safe to say I like it now. My hubby will be very happy!

I had a not so great visit with my mom tonight. She's been moved to "Complex continuing care". Where my Dad was for 12 years. Yesterday she was able to hold a conversation with me. Today, she was more in her hallucinations than she was in the real world. It's hard watching her come and go like that. We can only pray that the fact that the bad days are getting further apart is a promise that she'll come back to us eventually.

After getting home, we were able to have a Skype visit with Tom!  So that made me feel better. I miss him greatly and I can hardly wait until he gets back!  Only 4 more sleeps!

Even with all that's groin on, I'm still on plan. My great loss on Tuesday really kicked my butt!  Here's to a quick loss of the last 6 pounds!

Burning the candle at 3 ends

Life is definitely stressful right now!

 Tom is in Honduras, he left last Thursday morning, so I've been a single mom with a full time job, with an ailing parent and spring cleaning before the big surgery!

No surprise when I hopped on the scale and saw a 3.2 pound loss!  That leaves only 6 pounds to goal!  Thankfully I had a food plan for when Tom was gone and  stuck to it. I don't think I would have fared well without the freezer full of pre-made meals!

I'm definitely on plan. Tracking, getting in my good health guidelines and drinking my water. I really want to be on my "A" game when I'm off having surgery. The last thing I want to do is gravitate towards comfort foods!

It's been hard with Tom gone. I give lots of credit to single parents'. This job isn't for me!  I definitely prefer having my partner in crime to share the load!  The kids have been good, but we all get tired out and cranky easily. Lara has had some separation anxiety the past couple of days. That's been a struggle. Thankfully we finally got to Skype with Daddo tonight!  Hopefully that helped some. It certainly helped me!

Speaking of doing double duty, I managed to type this all out with my right hand (I'm a lefty) while cuddling with Zaryah watching a show before bedtime!  I'm super mom!

Struggling... kinda...

Let me say first off, that I am just devastated hearing about the bombing at the Boston Marathon. It baffles me that someone would target such an innocent event. My prayers go out to those affected :(

I seriously have no momentum right now in the weight loss department. I have 9 pounds to lose. You'd thing that I'd be doing just about anything to get there. I want it.  But I just can't seem to keep it together.  On the weightwatchers.ca 100+ pounds to lose message board, I lead a daily thread called 100 days of tracking.  Today I mentioned that I wasn't expecting much at the scale tonight.

One response was

    " Eva, I have heard you talk about a red satin coat and let me just say I think it must have a big "S"     on the back for Superwoman/mom/friend/nurse/wife.... "

Another was,

     "Eva whatever the scale says you know some of that is stress related. Stress adds water retention so keep that in mind."

My friends on there really take care of me :). I really am under a lot of stress right now. And as much as I'd like to think I can handle it, it is affecting me. My resolve is shaky.  My willpower is paper thin. The temptation to choose comfort foods over healthy foods is great. And that's ok. These events are fleeting and I'll get through it. 

Weigh in tonight netted me a 0.2 lb gain. No big deal. 

Freezer meals

I got up around 7:30 and spent most of the day cooking. I'm hoping that if I have pre-portioned meals ready and waiting for me, I won't be tempted to just do take out instead of cooking for myself and the girls while Tom's away. Hopefully it'll help us out while I'm recuperating from surgery too.

I made 44 meals worth of food today!  Potato soup, lasagna, spinach and ricotta canneloni and shepherds pie. The house smelled so good!

I'll be adding to it this week too.  The big bag of tomato sauce will turn into something, I'm making chicken stroganoff tomorrow in the crock pot, then sometime this week I'm going to make crock pot chicken quesadilla filling (it makes a MEAN taco salad!).

Over the 12 days that Tom is gone, I'm planning to get this house in tip top shape. As I won't be able to lift anything heavier than a bottle of water for 6 weeks, Everything needs to be in order so I won't be tempted :). We'll see how far I get with that, lol!  Maybe I'm a bit ambitious!

Planning ahead

Tom leaves for Honduras this coming Thursday and will be gone for 12 days. When he gets back we'll have 2 days together then I have my breast reduction surgery. Life is hectic right now with trying to get everything sorted before he leaves, work is crazy as I try to settle everything before I'm off for the better part of the month, and my mom is still in the hospital, not getting much better.

I have Ten thousand thoughts going through my head at any given moment.

Thankfully we got some stuff crossed off the list today.  Toms packing list is complete, we've picked up everything he needs, I found a front closure sports bra (not as easy as it sounds!) and planned out and bought groceries for a bunch of freezer meals.  Tomorrow will be full of cooking and I'll feel much more prepared for the challenging few weeks ahead.

I'm still on plan and tracking. Now that I've picked a goal weight and I'm so close to it, I don't want to do anything to sabotage getting there soon!

Oh. I went to Value Village and bought a nice burgundy roots sweater in a medium!  A WOMEN'S MEDIUM!

Goal weight update

I had my doctors appointment today to discuss the weight watchers BMI rule, where I am right now and what my doctor thinks I should be weight wise.

Weight watchers says I need to choose a goal within the BMI for my height. For me this would be 146 lbs. this doesn't take into account muscle, bone density or structure.

I'm feeling close to goal. Besides my dangly boobs and stomach skin, I'm  happy with how I look. My arms and legs are skinny and muscular. My butt is non-existent.  No really. When I sit down in the bathtub, it's tailbone on porcelain!  My double chin is gone, my back fat is gone and my hands look tiny. My husband even said he thinks I'm where I should be!

My doctor thinks the BMI is unrealistic. She thinks if I aim for that I'd end up looking malnourished. With the extra skin hanging around my middle, she thinks I should be around 160. She she wrote me a Drs note!

Weigh in was today too. I went early to the meeting and spoke with Sue, our leader. She said she was actually thinking of talking to me about this and thought herself that the BMI was unrealistic for me. That made me feel much better!  I felt a little like I was cheating going in there with a "the doctor said so" note!  I'm glad she agrees!  So now my official goal weight is 160 pounds!  And with a loss of 0.2 lbs today, that's only 9 pounds away!

I was pretty impressed that I was down this week!  With mom being hospitalized for the past 2 weeks and my life being so chaotic, a week ago I was up 5 pounds on the home scale. So with deciding not to track and just focus on power foods and doing my best to eat healthy, I managed to lose all I'd gained!  I'm actually pretty proud of myself for that!

A new development in the "Car accident story line" from November. My insurance adjuster called and with the money left in my claim, she offered to pay for a year long gym membership "to keep me at a functional level where I finished off with physio". So guess who's going to the gym again!  My office is in a superstore and there is a Goodlife Fitness Women's only gym there and a couple of the girls I work with go on lunch, so I figured I could join the pack!  It's free, why not!  I even get 6 sessions with a personal trainer to put together a plan :)

Mom is still in the hospital, she ended up having a stroke while there and Hasn't been doing well.  Today we noticed a bit of improvement, but we don't think she'll get back to where she was. So prayers and good thoughts are much appreciated!

My beautiful Zaryah is TWO!!!

Yesterday was Zaryah's 2nd birthday!  She started it off with a bang too!  She woke up shortly after midnight screaming, took an hour and a half to settle and get back to bed, then she woke again screaming at 3:30 and was up for an hour then.  I dragged my butt out of bed at 7:15 and managed to get to work on time with a lunch box full of healthy :)

This was our first happy birthday picture.  At 1:30 am.  Once she stopped screaming.  Pardon my messy hair and smudged mascara...

I can't believe she's two already!  Whenever she hears the word birthday, she yells "I two!" and attempts to stick up two fingers. :). With mom sick and us going back and forth between home, work, school and hospital, we had a quick celebration at home for her special day.

She had spaghetti for dinner and chocolate cake for dessert!

A pro at blowing out the candles!  We relit it a half a dozen times!

She didn't care that it was a store bought cake. I'll make a cool one for the family party.

She got a new scooter from Mama and Daddo, she looks so teeny!

Lots going on

I'm sorry for the lack of posts (again).  Things have been hectic here.

On Wednesday last week my mom (who lives with us) had a stroke, thankfully when my husband was home.  She's been in the hospital since, it's been a roller coaster!

My diet hasn't been great and the stress level is up to my ears!  I didn't even get to Weight Watchers yesterday.  So needless to say, I haven't had time to blog!  I'm trying to keep it together, most of my issues are because we haven't had time to grocery shop, which I'll do before I

With the bad, there is some good though, I have a date!  My breast reduction is booked for May 2nd!  OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) approved me for the surgery!  This is a big thing, up until recently, they would never have approved me because of my weight.  Now they didn't batt an eye at approving me!

The surgery is about 2.5 days after Tom gets back from Honduras!  So We'll have a couple of days between before things get hectic again.

Now starts the whirlwind of arranging time off, babysitters, pre-op appointments etc...  I'll be taking most of May off, my first day back to work will be May 21st.

Simply Filling Technique

So I'm trying something new.  Since Tom will be away quite a bit in the next month, my life is going to get very busy.

Weight watchers offers you two options for tracking.  Track everything you eat, using daily points, weekly points and Activity points.  This means measuring out everything you eat and keeping within the daily points target.  The other option is Simply Filling Technique.  You eat power foods until you're satisfied and track all non power foods using your weekly points and whatever activity points you earn.

Power foods are foods that are low in fat.  Chicken breast, other lean meats, most veggies and fruit, fat free dairy, low fat/high fiber grains etc...  I looked back in my tracker and most days I eat mostly power foods anyways.  Some days I only eat a few points of non power food foods.

I think this'll be easier, and the fact that I'll need to use activity points to get more points will help me get in more activity!

I won't be posting my tracker anymore. It's just way too difficult to try to do from my iPad. I will try to at least discuss what I ate during e day, especially if it were. Cheat meal :). Today I ate well, even went out for a quick lunch with my hubby and the kids after he got home from being away all weekend.  I had a fruit bowl and half a cup of cottage cheese. I did eat the lunch I brought to work too, tuna salad made with heluva good dip over salad. Dinner was a roast chicken from the super store, rice and salad.

My treats for today were a drink To, poured for me tonight and a butterscotch pudding :)

Weigh in is tomorrow, I'll be down, not sure how much though. I'll be happy with whatever it is. My legs are still really sore from the 30ds and my weight is up a bit from the water I'm retaining from that, but I'm not worried. I've been pretty good :) it'll come off eventually.

30 days of pain???

Yup. I started Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred yesterday.  I'm hurting so bad I can't even sit on the toilet comfortably, lol!  Even though I was sore, I still got my butt out of bed to do it again today!  And I plan to do it tomorrow too!  Yup I'm nuts. But I know I'll get results from it, it's quick, it's right in the next room, i dont have to get dressed and it only cost me $5.

I had a weird weekend food wise. I was good all day Saturday then had 3 slices of bread with dinner, then today I ate we'll up until after lunch when I had 3 timbits (donut holes for my American friends). Then I was seriously exhausted and too sore to cook, so I actually ordered in a pizza for me and the girls.  I had 3 slices of the small pizza. With a salad. With doing the 30ds and the over an hour walk (pushing both girls in the stroller) I know I had lots of activity points to cover most of it, but I really don't want to make a habit of it!

Yesterday I did something I was really dreading doing. I tried on my sisters knee high boots. My sister has skinny legs and they did up!!!

I have a picture but I can't get it on here!  Stupid.

Well it's bedtime, my poor body needs some downtime :)

(Really having issues posting pictures from my iPad!)

Goal weight?

I've been pondering today, well for a while now.  Weight watchers wants us to pick a goal weight. They recommend choosing a weight inside your healthy BMI range. For me at 5 feet 4 inches, that range is between 117 and 146.

 I've been all over the place with what I want my goal to be.  Lose half my weight to be 125 lbs, 135 lbs because it sounded small, then I talked to a personal trainer who was smoking hot and weighed 165 lbs, so I chose that, then I figured it sounded cool to lose 100 lbs and get that 100 pound medal, 145 lbs is just within the 100 lbs lost and the BMI range.  So that's been my goal for a while.

I hate that weight watchers makes you choose a goal.  I love the program and plan to go to meetings for the rat of my life.  I get so much out of them. But I really want to lose this "gotta get to goal" mentality!  I've lost 84 pounds!  I've already won!  If I'm healthy, eating well, staying active, living life, isn't that where my goal should be?  The number really shouldn't matter. 

The past few weeks I've been staring at that 145 lbs like its so far away. I feel great in my body these days. I feel comfortable in my size 10's and M/L's. I'm confident, I feel healthy, I can do everything, move without pain, run up the stairs, around the block, with my kids. As far as I'm concerned, I'm at goal!  So why the hell do I need to struggle to lose another 23.4 pounds to reach a goal that I'm going to probably take 2 years to get to, then struggle to stay at.

I'm wondering if that weight is unrealistic for me.  I've been comfortable being in the 160s for a while now, my legs and arms are skinny, my collarbones stick out and my butt is so boney it hurts to sit on anything hard!  I do still have a great deal of extra skin. My family doctor said a couple of months ago that that skin weighs more than I think it does.

I'm thinking of asking my doctor what she thinks my goal weight should be.

I don't want to meet my goal weight because I want to start cheating more, I don't want to give up.  I just think my body is choosing a healthy weight.  If I choose a weight goal, I can still lose beyond that if my body so chooses.  I just think it might be coming time to close the weight loss doors and open the maintenance one. Live my life on plan and whatever my weight ends up being, that's what it'll be.

My husband suggested I pick a goal date instead of a goal weight. Follow program in the weight loss portion, then when I hit my goal date, whatever my weight is on that day, is my goal weight.  He thinks my goal date should be early summer.  That way I have the summer to maintain and will hit lifetime around labour day. He might have something there!

I'm sure I'll hem and haw over this for the next few months. In the end though, I'll be at goal weight no matter what the number is :)

Your thoughts on the matter are appreciated!  Love you all!

Highs and lows

Today was a weird day.  I woke up with the same headache I went to bed with (for the record, that headache prevented me from eating the pudding I'd tracked, saving me 3 points) choked down my breakfast after sleeping in and went to work. Thankfully I didn't have a busy day and could pay attention to what my body was telling me. I had a dizzy spell around 10:30, didn't feel like having my snack, my headache was making me nauseous.  I took my blood sugar because I was curious if my dizziness was related to my blood sugar (remember I'm a Nurse Diabetic Educator) and yes it was!  My blood sugar was low!  So I choked down my yogurt and tested again a few minutes later and it had come up.  After lunch I felt crappy again and checked my sugar and it was even lower!  I didn't have an afternoon snack packed (very unlike me actually) so I had to have whatever was on hand.  A couple of store brand chocolate chip cookies. It brought it up a bit, but now my curiosity is peaked and I'll be monitoring my sugars for a while.  I have checked my sugars here and there, and they've been low/normal, but the fact that I have dizzy spells that my doctor can't figure out the reason for, I think it's worth the second look!

I didn't get any activity in today with feeling gross, but I intend to really start ramping it up over the weekend once the weather gets better.  It looks like the forecast is going to catch up with the season here!  Check out this forecast!  Above freezing and sunny all week!

Here's my day in food :)

On the ball...mostly

I felt pretty good all day about starting over.  I really want to just do this and get it over and done. I'm done with stressing over small losses and how long its going to take to lose the last 20 or so pounds. So I spent today on plan!

One of the girls I work with brought these in, yes that's golden grahams, chocolate chips and peanut butter in those babies!  Right up my alley!  I decided I didn't need it though because I had a plan to make my hubby's favourite dessert, my banana cake. So I decided to save my points for that.

I ate we'll all day, didn't get the walk in at lunch that I wanted to do, there was a flash blizzard!  I made the banana cake when I got home, and the whole house smells awesome!  But when it came down to it, I didn't feel like using 7 or more points on a teeny piece of  (awesome if I do say myself) cake, that would only taste like more, so I had an apple and a pudding instead :). I might bring a piece to work tomorrow for my snack though!  I did sneak some chocolate chips though!

Now I'm going to relax and have some sleepy cuddles with Tom before he's gone all weekend doing overnight observer shifts in an ambulance!  I'm going to miss him!

PointsPlus™ Tracker entries

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Morning
12  nut(s) almonds	2
1  large fresh apple(s)	0
2  oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon	8
Subtotal	10
Midday
3  oz cooked ham, sliced, cubed, or shredded	4
3  oz cooked baby potatoes	2
2  serving(s) heluva good dip	3
1  serving(s) cheese string	2
1  large banana(s)	0
Subtotal	11
Evening
2  slice(s) bread	4
1  Tbsp Miracle whip calorie wise dressing	1
3  oz cooked ham, sliced, cubed, or shredded	4
2  cup(s) uncooked cauliflower	0
Subtotal	9
Anytime
1  serving(s) dark chocolate chips	2
1  serving(s) pudding	3
1  medium fresh apple(s)	0
Subtotal	5
Food PointsPlus values total used	35
Food PointsPlus values remaining	0
Exercise

Apologies

I'm still here I promise!  I'm sorry I haven't been blogging a lot in the past 2 weeks.  Life is busy with Tom coming close to finals and needing to study more, I end up alone with kiddies!  I think I'm finally over my cold/sinus infection, the exhaustion that followed and the side effects of the antibiotics, but I have to admit, I got out of the habit of blogging through all of that.

I'm ready to get back into the swing of things.  My diet control has been lax, not blogging, and my weightless is stalled.  So as of today I'm back!  I'm going to start logging my food on here again, It might be a day late, or two days at a time, but it was really helping me before and I think I should start again.

A bit of a disclaimer though, with the chaos that is life these days, I likely be too tired to post some days.  I'll do my best though!

So weigh in was tonight and I was up 0.2 lbs.  I'm pretty happy with that, I had a food filled weekend and ended my week with a 31 point deficit!

Even with the bad weekend, Tom and I are continuing the Tuesday tradition of chips, dip and chocolate.  We both find planning in a good treat helps us be more on plan the rest of the week.  It's working so far!  Well, except for this past weekend :)

Here's my food log, I figured out how to do it on my ipad!  I'm learning slowly but surely!

Weigh in day

Weigh in was tonight. I ended up going alone, my co worker weighed in at an earlier meeting, my sister Becky, a teacher, is away on March break vacation and little sister Annie, also on March break, forgot it was Tuesday :). So I sat in my "Sheldon spot" all by myself.

It turned out ok, I participated as I always do (I'm sure I look like a know it all keener, but no one seems to treat me like that!). I was actually approached by a couple of newer members for help after the meeting!  I really like sharing tips and tricks.  I feel I've been successful at weight watchers and I'd like to share what I've learned!  After all, this was my 74th weigh in!

I had another successful week, down 0.4 lbs!  For a total loss of 84.2 lbs.  Not as much as I was hoping, and still haven't lost all of the gain from 2 weeks ago, but I'm still recovering from ding sick and still experiencing side effects from the antibiotics, so I'm not surprised.

Well, onward and downward!  I'm exhausted and have to get the kids up early tomorrow :(

Nite!

I'm back!

I really intended on still blogging, but my cold turned into a bad sinus infection and this is really the first time I'm able!  Each night I'd just fall into bed and not get to even read a blog, let alone write one!  Not that my throbbing face was conducive to seeing straight!

Well I'm still losing.  On Tuesday I was down 0.6 lbs!  Not quite making up the gain from the week before, but my body does weird things when I'm sick. Namely retain water!  I'm hoping for a good solid loss this week even though I haven't gotten in much activity besides a couple of walks.

The weather is nice here at the moment and should be staying fairly mild, so I'm going to finally start a running regimen!  (You hear that body???  No funny business!!!). I'm wondering if I can actually do the couch to 5k now. I tried last summer but found I didn't have the stamina at 200 pounds. I can run for almost a mile, but then my lungs give out.  Maybe if I try the interval approach with c25k, I'll work up to being able to run longer after the 8 weeks.  I was trying to just run until I couldn't, but then I couldn't finish the 30 mins walking because I'd need to go home and get my puffers then cough like crazy for an hour afterwards (yes my doctor knows, and she insists I can run, and should!).  Maybe the intervals will give me the break my body needs in between runs and work up to running a longer distance.   I don't have a 5k race goal at the moment to train for, the one I wanted to run is around the same time that I'll be having surgery.  So I just want to continue to work on my stamina.

Today Tom and I used our winnings from A fundraiser we were at in December.  We took the kids to my mother-in-laws and drove out to Burlington to use our gift certificates to The Purple Heather Gastro Pub. It's a pub, but with a reinvented menu, everything is gourmet ish. They have all of the typical English pub foods, but with a neat spin on them.  To be honest, I was a little Leary of the menu and what I'd be able to have, but the worry was needless.  I ordered a near zero point meal, right off the menu!

Roasted spaghetti squash with sautéed vegetables in tomato sauce. 

It was really all veggies, the tomato sauce was crushed tomatoes and spices, I counted a tbsp of oil, just in case, but even with that it wasn't very many points.  It was seriously really good!  and you could tell that there is a very good chef working here because the blend of spices was unique, a little different, but very well done and delicious!  Because this was such a low point meal, I shared a buffalo chicken flatbread as an appie, and a omgitwassogood brownie for dessert. I would seriously recommend this restaurant to anyone and we will certainly go there again!

We then went on to Hamilton,parked the car and walked around downtown until it was time for the hockey game!  It was such a beautiful day!  

Here's the token Tom and Eva shot :)

The hockey game was pretty good!  It was two AHL farm teams of rivals to our Maple Leafs, so we just enjoyed watching some good hockey and time together. We walked during each intermission to work off our drink and popcorn :). I earned a whopping 8 activity minutes with all of the walking I did!  

All in all it was a really good day!  A successful one for a date on weight watchers!

Weekend away

Despite being sick, hubby and I packed up the kids and headed to Niagara Falls Friday morning!  We tried out a new hotel, a cheaper one, trying to save a few bucks and it worked out nicely!  We stayed at Country inn.  They have an indoor pool, fitness room, free wifi and offered a free full breakfast.

We had a great time!  The hotel was nice, quiet for the most part (there was a room across the hall whose occupants were rowdy and kept yelling out in the hall, but it cleared out after we called the front desk). The kids had a great time in the pool, I took advantage of pulling them around the pool and got some exercise in there :).

We walked to dinner carrying the kids, more exercise, I ate well, a cannelloni, a small salmon fillet, lots of vegetables and salad, plus a glass of wine and a piece of chocolate mousse cake :)

Breakfast was pretty good for a free one, hubby had waffles (make your own in a waffle iron), the girls had cereal and a bagel, plus some fruit, I had my usual!

Oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon, 2 plain eggs and a banana!

We took the girls to the Butterfly conservatory too!  Lara was so excited, she kept talking about butterflies the whole day leading up to us going!  Zaryah thought she was excited, never having seen a butterfly, she just did whatever Lara did :). Once in the conservatory though, she decided they weren't for her.  I've never seen a toddler master the "duck and cover" like she did!  She really didn't like them flying around her! 

On the left you can see her recoiling from the butterfly, on the right she's getting up close and personal with a king cobra!

Usually when I travel, no matter how short or long the trip is, I gain.  Today when I stepped on the scale I was pleasantly surprised, I weighed 0.1 pounds under when I weighed myself on Friday!  

If I can keep it down, I'll be set for a good loss on Tuesday!

Sick day

I stayed home from work today because of my sinus cold.  I'm glad I told work yesterday that I wouldn't be in to day because I slept in until 8:00!!!  Doesn't sound early, but I went to bed an hour earlier than I usually do, and woke up 2 hours later than I normally do, so instead of 8 hours of sleep, I got 11!  After the past few nights of restless sleep, waking every time one of the girls coughs, thinking their going to wake up, I really needed a good solid nights sleep!

Tom didn't go to school today because we were snowed in.  He has to drive an hour on a good day and judging by the foot of wet snow outside, it would have taken him forever!

Even though I was sick, I couldn't let Tom shovel the whole driveway himself, so we packed up the kids and all went outside to help.  The neighbour across the street god sick of the heavy wet snow and borrowed a tractor from someone, lol!  

The girls had fun, but the snow was so deep they had a hard time moving around.  I took the time to show them how to do snow angels!  Is been probably 20 years since I've done one of those!