Friday, August 24, 2007

Brrr...

I really wish someone had warned me that I would freeze my ass off once I lost my fatty insulation. Damn it's cold!

I've been freezing for about a year now, but I should definitely NOT be this cold in August. It's not right, it just isn't. Since moving to the house, it's much worse. I had forgotten the differences between living in an apartment and living in a house outside the city.

I've decided that I'm going to start posting some of my daily menus again. I've found that I've gotten a bit off track with my blogging and that the focus of my blog has drifted quite a bit lately. So here goes today's menu (which is not a good example of an OP day - I went out for lunch). Please note that instead of eating the 23 that I'm allotted while on maintenance, I've decided to eat 21 points a day because I've gained a couple of pounds and wouldn't mind getting rid of them again, slowly.


Today's Eating Plan: (21 daily + 8.5 flex)

B (4.5 pts) -> Choc Chip Banana Bran Muffin (1), 2 Bodywise w PB (3), Coffee (0.5)

L (9.5 pts) -> Salad Greens (0), Monterey Jack Cheese (2), Chicken Breast (1.5), Avocado Dressing (2), Tortilla Chips (3), Salsa (0), Choc Chip Banana Bran Muffin (1), Diet Coke (0)

D (12 pts) -> Lean Beef Burger (4), Whole Wheat Bun (3), LF Fries (3.5), LF Mayo (0.5), Ketchup (0), BBQ Sauce (0.5), 1 Laughing Cow Cheese Portion (0.5), 1T Thousand Island Dressing (0)

Snack (3.5 pts) -> Smart Pop Popcorn (1), Popcorn Seasoning (0.5), Becel Spray (0), Diet Root Beer (0), 1/2C Frozen Yogurt (2)

Weekly Status: 25.5 Flex Remaining...

Thursday, August 23, 2007

I Hurt ALL OVER!

Every inch of me hurts, every single freakin' inch!

If people don't think that gardening and yard work count for earning APs, they're crazy!

Since buying the house, we've been working like mad to get things cleaned up and the way we'd like them. It's a never ending process, we know, but it's fun right now and we're really enjoying it. I took it upon myself to clean up our front walk way, which is a stone walk way of those interlocking bricks you find at home improvement stores, etc. The previous owners of our house had really not taken care of the yard much (not to mention the rest of our house!), and I love working away at stuff like this, since I'm such a perfectionist.

I started cleaning it up a couple of evenings ago, worked for a couple of hours and was exhausted. Went back at it again yesterday and fell asleep on the couch last night as a result. I never fall asleep on the couch! This morning I woke up sore all over. Even the little meaty parts of my hands below my thumbs hurt!

I'm almost done now though, and I should say, that walkway looks fabulous now! And what a great workout!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Lifetime First Anniversary

Turns out that the anniversary of my having reached lifetime status with Weight Watchers was last week, on August 16th. I guess it must have slipped my mind with the move going on and all. I'm actually about 8 lbs. lighter now than I was then.

The past year has held a lot of ups and downs for me, both personally and with my weight loss journey. This time last year I wasn't even an active member of the Weight Watchers online community. I lost all of my weight without making use of those crazy message boards or the online tracker. Imagine! Now somedays I don't know what I'd do without them!

Maintaining my weight loss has definitely been harder than losing the weight initially. I had NO IDEA this would be so hard to keep off! It makes things a lot harder when you aren't rewarded for your efforts every week with a loss. Now when I have a hard week staying OP, I'm no longer "rewarded" with anything visible. I have to tell myself to be happy with staying the same, which is now the goal. Not nearly as much fun as seeing a loss on that scale!

Monday, August 20, 2007

We're In!

Ahhh...

Well after 5 days of moving, cleaning, working, and dealing with the zillion little things that come with buying a house, we finally live there! Yay!

There was just so much we didn't expect. We knew we'd run into a few snags though, so we were prepared.

First I'll give everyone the update on my previous post - although I was scared out of my wits the evening before my house was to close because we thought we were missing a septic document required by my bank in order for them to release the mortgage, everything resolved itself first thing the next morning. We arrived at the house at 8.30am to do our final inspection before the close, and the document we needed was sitting on the kitchen counter. Whew! Instant relief...

Then the moving and cleaning began - what a huge effort. Five days later, the house is clean, we're moved in, and extremely exhausted, but so happy we can't even explain it.

Our new home is a dream. We have more than enough space for us now. We have a pool, a double garage, and a view to die for. I never want to leave home...

Monday, August 13, 2007

Home Buyers Mistakes, Part 1

CI - PSL = 0
where CI = Calories In, and PSL = Perceived Stress Level (in calories)

Based on the formula above, I can eat whatever I want. In fact, I'll probably need to eat more. Bring it I say, BRING IT...

Holy banana! Actually, more like holy cheeseburger! Can things get much more stressful?!?

As I'm sure some of you know, I'm buying my first home. In fact, I've bought my first home, and my closing date is Wednesday - yes, THIS Wednesday, probably around noon. That's 42:52:00 away. And for the past 7 weeks or so, since I've known that I'm buying this home, I've been skipping my little self along, thinking everything is just freakin' peachy, congratulating myself for being so organized and ready, which is completely out of character for procrastinator-T.

Mistake #1 - When buying a home, never think everything is just freakin' peachy. Never.

I'm skipping along to my lawyer's office this afternoon to sign off on the final papers. (I'm not really skipping, but picture it that way - it's nicer, and I am wearing pink, and it's sunny, so just picture it as if it's a Sound of Music kind of day). He sits me down and gives me said papers. He then proceeds to tell me that there are still some things that he needs from me. These things that he needs, if not obtained by like tomorrow(!), have the potential to hold up my closing date by a couple of days.

This is brought to my attention 2 days (!) before we have a moving truck booked. Awesome.

So now I scramble around, doing outlandish things, all the while in a serious panic at this point. Things are not peachy. They had better be back to peachy by tomorrow, or someone is getting a good swift kick in the shin.

Friday, August 10, 2007

OK, so life has been a bit nuts...

Finally some time to blog...

Life has been nuts lately, seriously. But now I think I'm back. We finally have everything sorted out with the house, and we're almost ready for the move. We're pretty much living out of boxes at this point, which has been frustrating by times, but what hasn't been boxed up yet will be this weekend! We officially get the house on Wednesday, and neither of us can wait!

As far as WW is concerned, things are going well. Since my little breakdown about a month ago, after having been at a 19-point level for quite some time, I decided to switch to maintenance for a while to give myself a break. I'm happy to report that maintenance is going really well now and I may have actually even managed to lose a little since adding the extra 4 points a day!

Running has fallen by the wayside, but only a little bit. It's been very hot here, at least it was last week, so I only made it out a couple of times during the entire course of the week. This week I've only made it out once, but I plan on going again later today. I keep promising myself that I'll get back on track once the move is over with and we're more settled and less busy.