Just Wondering...

how is everyone doing? I'm doing ok. but not great. I'm maintaining the four pounds I lost about a month ago. So at least I have that. If I stuck to it again I wonder if I could lose four more. Then I would be done!

mom has crashed on the information highway

I'm not reporting on health stuff; just venting about my agitated state of mental health. It's been a techno nightmare today. I've literally spent this whole day trying to make some sense of my pictures on my camera, get them uploaded to my computer and organize them in folders. Not one ounce of success. A totally wasted day. Ever since I transferred them from my old computer they're so disorganized in mixed up in several places and I can't drag them from one folder to another like I used to. The transfering from camera to computer is also more complicated because the manual instructions don't match the screens when I open up the transfer software and it's far from user friendly. It's still a huge mess. I had no problem with the old camera and I'm really not as incompetent as you think I am; I'm not stupid. I had to go to Best Buy twice, Radio Shack once and finally Fred Meyer to get a cable problem resolved. My new camera's USB cable , that I'd never used until today ( to charge my battery and upload the pictures) was the wrong one - it didn't fit the camera's port.Must have been packed wrong at the factory. Best buy was going to charge me $58 for a new cable (because the only one they had that fit was in a package of five different sizes of cables) but after I called Paul to find out where he bought the camera, I ended up at Fred meyer and luckily they still had another of the same model camera on hand and they gave me the cord out of that box. I also spent a half hour on hold at two different times trying to reach the Tracfone people to ask to transfer my old phone number to the new phone. It's advertised in the paperwork that you can do that. They never answered me and I then tried to do it on line, but it required that I set up a new account, and led me in a circle. I then had to reset my name and password for both the blog and my e-mail. I'd always just opened them by marking them as favorites but it wasn't recognizing me today. I have all my user names and passwords written down in a WORD file and with that sheet printed out in front of me, I know I wasn't using the wrong ones. I'm giving up for today.

Amy--staying steady

Somehow I didn' t gain any weight back this week. During the week I was up two pounds from last week but somehow they came back off by this morning. Not sure how cause I was off WW last week. So I've still lost 4 pounds total. I'd like to lose 6 more. I am back on starting today.

Anna's Results Week 4 and the New Points Plus Program.

It seems that every week I gain back half of what I've lost in the first part of the week over the weekend.  I weigh myself almost every morning so I'm looking pretty good by Friday, then on Monday some of it comes back.  That's ok though I guess, it's all part of the week and this week I lost 2 pounds.  Slow and steady wins the race.  I've been back on WW for a month and I have lost 6 pounds.  I could do better but I'm still hoping that by the end of the school year (8 weeks from now!) I will have lost my targeted 15 pounds, so 9 more in 8 weeks???  Yeah, I can do that but there is a certain weight that I can't seem to go lower than (at least in the past) and I am 4 pounds away from that, so if I can break past that barrier I'll be pretty excited. 

I am starting the new Points Plus program with WW this week with some hesitation.  I am only doing it because my phone app won't let me use the old calculator anymore.  It looks like a smarter program because it includes carbs and protein in addition to fiber and fat without using calories at all.  Fruits and veggies are all FREE. The way the new calculator works makes meats worth a little bit less and a lot of packaged WW products like their yogurt, cookies and ice cream bars will cost more points.  Fiber one bars used to be 2 points and are now 4 because of so many carbs. The new system also allows more points in a day and in a week (everyone gets 49 flex points per week now) so it all seems to balance out to me.  My only hang up is I'm not totally positive how many points per week.  I have the thing on my app to figure it out but the last question to determine my points for the week just says to enter my "adjustment" which they give as examples: 3 or -2 but I don't know what that means so I just put 0.  I hope its right cuz if I operate under an incorrect assumption I might gain!  I get Anyhoo, I'm going to try it.

I don't know how you would do this without the calculators and formulas because I have it on my phone.  If you have sliders or other calculators for the old program I guess I would stick with that until the program gets more widespread and more people put info online.

Don't know how.....

But I lost one pound last week! I didn't do what I said. Had some stressful days and two days where Dave was home and for some reason it's so hard to stick to WW when Dave is home. And mom, hang in there. Everyone has bad or staying steady weeks. Just know you are doing great with the exercise and I guess just count each point and measure the portions. It's so easy to go over a portion size...especially with cereal. Anyway, what I'm saying is don't give up.

dinner

Any good healthy dinner suggestions? I need new ideas.....

Amy's Report

I lost three pounds! Yay! That's with a couple bad days, too. Maybe this is TMI but the week prior I had been retaining water.. was bloated...maybe that was one reason for not losing anything that week. I'm sticking with it and am going to try really hard to not cheat this week!
Can't wait for next monday.....

Week 3? or is it 4? Staying Steady

Despite the overeating on Tuesday-Thursday, I have managed to stay steady by staying under my points the remainder of the week and doing a little bit of working out.

Hoping for a couple pounds lost by next Monday.  Keep it up folks!  Would love to hear more from y'all if Mom can figure out how to log in again! ;)

Results are looking Grim

The last 3 days have been rough!  (Only for eating; the rest was lots of fun).  We went to spend a couple of days with Michael's old mission companion who lives about 3 hours from here in Pima.  They live WAY out on a country dirt road in the middle of nowhere.  It was cool because the boys got to play outside a lot and we went on lots of walks and whatnot.  They built a beautiful southwest style home out there so it was really comfortable.  Michael and Tim hadn't seen each other since they were in Australia, it was really cool to see them together.  They had a great time!  It was fun to listen to them reminisce.

The rough (but tasty) part was the eating of tons of food!  They treated us like they were a bed and breakfast and served up big country breakfasts with waffles and all the toppings with bacon and scrambled eggs and biscuits with gravy.  It was crazy good.  I actually tried to keep counting my points but at some point it was pointless (no pun intended!)  We had dessert and BBQ chicken and we also did the Tim Tam Slam as it was a tradition they picked up from their mission.  (suck hot chocolate through a chocolate coated cookie like its a straw...it's sooooo good and I went too far with it).
I am HOPING that SOMEHOW the next 3 days I can recover but I doubt it.  I bet I will be back at square one when I weigh in on Monday.  :(

BK response

Oh I know there is no room for fast food. But I was taking the day off for sanity reasons. And that's where everyone else wanted to go. I had a chicken sandwich no mayo. Just lettuce and the chicken. But it was still probably high in points. I didn't even look it up. And of course I had fries, too. I'm doing well again today and yesterday. I feel good, I don't feel like I have to suck in my gut even though I probably do have to. But I feel lighter. So that's a good thing I think.

Keep up the good work everyone!

bk

I just looked up bk's WW points and found medium fries are 9 points and a small cheeseburger is 9 points.

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week 2

I hate to say it Amy, but I really don't think that there is room in the WW allowance for fast food. Especially burgers but I don't know what you ate. I always do really well Mon through Friday and through weekends are hard.

Thus week I was in track to lose 2 but I only ended up losing 1 but its more than I was losing when I was doing Whatever I wanted.

The one pound I gained back was from party food...fried cheese sticks and chips...not even worth it :(

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Weekly WW Results--Amy

Well, I did pretty perfectly Monday through Friday. I weighed myself a little early...on Friday to see what I was at before the weekend. I had lost two pounds. Then I didn't count on the weekend and we went to BK, I had some chocolate, didn't count any points. Keep in mind I had those extra 30 points which I'm sure I went over. But anyway, I gained them both back when I weighed myself this morning! So I guess there is NO ROOM for cheating for me. I don't know if I can keep that up forever. I know I will cheat here and there. I'm not going to give up. I'll still eat perfectly and be a little careless on the weekends and see how it goes after a month. I'm sure I'll get results by then, right?

Day 3 of Success!

Day three in a row! Whoo hoo! I'm trying to save my extra points for the weekend. I think I can do it. I hope I lose at least two pounds this week.

Amy's WW Report

I've had two days of complete success on WW. So far so good for today. I'm starting to be less hungry throughout the day and I did something right yesterday because I still had five points to use after work which was so nice! I got to use up those points without the guilt. I hope I can repeat that for today.
I would love to lose ten pounds. I don't have a certain date in mind....just sometime.

Week 1 back on WW

I only lost 2 pounds but that's better than nothing.  If I keep plugging along I am hoping to lose 10-15 pounds by the end of the school year. 

Weight Watchers

Maybe I'll jump on the WW bandwagon too. I need to find my slider thing-ee. I put it in one of my cookbooks when I thought I was moving. Good luck girls. I admire your perseverance.

WW Help

Anna,
I'm not having success with anything right now. So can you teach me all you know about ww? Do I need to actually sign up as a member and pay? Or is there a way to go online and find the point values for foods? Anywhoo....let me know.

WW

FYI, I am going back on Weight Watchers on Monday...it was the only thing I really had success with, so back on the wagon I go.

This week's exercise--Amy

Hello all!
I ran four times this week and did one strength training dvd at home. Pretty good! I hope I can keep this up! I still want to lose 10 pounds! I think I need to keep up the exercising and with the weight I'm at now and the amount of pounds I want to lose I think I have to eat nothing but fruits, veggies and lean protien. Very boring and I don't know if I can stick to it but I have to be very strict if I want to lose those ten pounds. It's why I haven't lost anything yet. There is no room for cheating....unfortunately. Also, yesterday's run was very stressful. This dumb dog followed me and Owen the whole way! Well, almost. I lost him half way through after hiding behind a tree. It worked and I saw him going back towards his home. But when I came back to that spot on my way home there he was! So he followed me again! This dog knows nothing about cars and he about got hit three or four times. I'm yelling at him to go home, leave me alone and stay out of the road the whole time! It was very annoying. I ran it back to where he started following me and the owner opened her door and let the dog in. So I went up to her door and told her to watch her dog closer cause he was gone for about 45 minutes with a total stranger and it was very stressful and annoying for me to watch some strange dog. All she said was, 'Oh, sorry.' Dumb Dogs! And my stroller tire went completely flat before we got home. Needs to be fixed......

here I go again-

Sorry it's been so long. I'm back from a kind of hiatus but am exercising again several times a week. I'm glad it's getting lighter in the evenings now so I can take the bus to work and walk home.

I should be washing clothes in my own house by this time next week - or Saturday. It's been very costly but I think it'll be worth it.

My new favorite TV show is Harry's Law , with Kathy Bates. Monday nights at 10:00 on NBC if anyone's interested.

Random Stuff

Amy...really cool that you did the half marathon.  I could NEVER do that!  My body was not made to run that far.  And Ben, I like the less food equals less need to work out.  I haven't been able to get to the gym in a long time and it seems easier to avoid food than to do work!  I DID do some hiking last week for the first time in a LONG time. I hiked the big bad Camelback last week and will try to do another one this weekend.  I want to hike the "7 Summits of Phoenix" in the fall.  It is an event in which loads of people hike the 7 most prominent peaks in the Phoenix Valley in one day.  It's ambitious...maybe it can be my half marathon. :)

Ben, do you still follow SeriouslySoBlessed?  I was so sad to see TTMN is apparently signing off for good!  

 

Part Time Student

Amy, I'm only going two days a week at ASU in Tempe...I'm a Sun Devil!  It's going to take me 2 years to get my Master's.  My goal is to get the degree so I can do something in education that isn't in the classroom.  I really like curriculum philosophy and design so I'm going with that.  I'm still teaching full time, no change there.  You should really consider a private, hidden, fake name facebook account.  You'd be more in the loop. ;)

WHAT?

How come I had no idea my sister is going back to school? Why has no one told me this? What happened to teaching? Are you still doing that? What's the 411!?
I am still exercising and trying to eat right. I ate the last of the chocolate that's in the house and I'm not going to replenish.....right away. I've been execersing about 4 times a week with the goal of 5 or 6. So I'm doing just ok I guess. Dave and I have really been in to our magic bullet these days. We have been making fruit smoothies and I add spinach to most of mine. I have added cucumbers and brocolli as well and they are both fine in them, too. So that's one health tip we are working on.
I guess that's my update for now. Not much..but it's something. I plan on doing two workouts today. One aerobics and one 20 minute strenght training. That is the plan!

I'm Still Here

Hi y'all...I am still here and still trying.  Christmas was a doozie of sweets.  The worst part is that I did it all to myself.  I'm considering not making any Christmas cookies next year.

I'm hoping that going back to school will help me focus on a better eating schedule...that being said I'm only on campus one time a week but the rest of my week may be structured around reading and writing.  Maybe.

So yeah, I'm in the Masters in Curriculum and Instruction program at ASU with the hope of becoming a Curriculum Specialist in a few years.  I'm really liking it so far...I feel like a college kid again (minus the skinny jeans and beanie), I even take the train to campus!

Getting Real

Congrats Amy. It's nice to think that you'll never get too overweight if that is your Christmas tradition.

I'm not working out any more at all. However, I am getting really focused on counting calories and keeping it pretty low.

Just think...in a normal break-a-sweat 30 min workout you might burn 350 calories. That RARELY happens with me. BUT, just not having a third big slice of pizza will eliminate the 350 calories entirely. Just by cutting out a couple scoops of ice cream or "seconds" at dinner, I get as much weight-loss benefit as if I'd had a hard work out! I know, I know, it's heart-healthy to work out and it's good for the mind. I totally believe that. However, let's get real, I'm not doing a work out, so this is the best thing I CAN do every day with ease. Plus, your heart and body will really really benefit from not having to carry around 25 extra lbs every day.

I did it again!

A week ago tomorrow I did the half marathon again. I did it slower than last year, but still not bad for not training. I did it in 2 hours and 26 minutes. It was FREEZING this year. Way colder than last year by far! I ran half the race with a friend but ran the last half alone. They didn't stop for water when I did at the half way point because they all have fancy water bottles that velcro to their gloves. I don't have things like that. But I listened to my music and ran alone. Which is sometimes better because then you don't have to worry about talking and you can just focus. All in all it was a good race and I will be returning next year.