Woops

First of all I would like to report.... that I am a total idiot! In my post on the Monday I said that last Friday (the 8th) I had lost 2lbs but I told you the WRONG weight! (Picture me rolling my eyes at my own stupidity.) Last Friday, December 8th I weighed 186.5lbs! So for those of you confused by my math, now you know why. Ugh.

Triangles, spoons, and other thoughts on dieting

Have you ever noticed that sandwiches taste better when they are cut into triagles? This is especially true with peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I also think that milk tastes better when you drink it from a glass rather than from a plastic cup.

Now that I'm keeping a close eye on portions my two new best friends are the tablespoon and the measuring cup. Yes. I actually pour my cereal into the measuring cup before I pour it into my cereal bowl. (Okay, so sometimes I eyeball it, but only with the cereals I've measured a dozen times.) And every now and then I'll still measuring out my peanut butter with the tablespoon to make sure I know what it looks like. In fact, that is what I was doing this evening when it occured to me. What about the peanut butter that is hopelessly stuck to the measuring spoon? Do they somehow measure the miniscule amount when they're calculating calories and whatnot to put on the nutrition label? How exact a science is it? And if they are including that miniscule amount, does that mean I should be adding just a touch extra to my serving to compensate for what's lost in the measuring process? You may be laughing, but when you repeatedly assemble a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that looks just like two pieces of bread stacked on top of each other, you'll begin to wonder too.

Another thing I'd like to know. If I measure myself 10 times and get 5 different results, which one is right? Should I go with the one that shows up the most times or with the one that is the lowest? And what about the difference between scales? Why is it that I can measure myself at home as 187 and go to the doctor's office and be told I'm 193? Which one is right? If I go by the doctor's scale does that mean I was actually 199 when I started my diet instead of 193 like I thought? I mean, 6lbs is a LOT!

While we're on the subject of doctor's offices, I would like to state for the record that it is my opinion that they are all haunted. That's right. Haunted. There is no other way of explaining that I can weigh myself on ANY other scale I like, at any time I like, and I it will ALWAYS be lighter than whatever the doctor's office scale tells me. The only explaination is that all medical offices are haunted by weight adding ghosts who love to get on the scale with you just to screw with your head.

Can someone please explain to me what the heck I was thinking starting a diet right BEFORE the holidays? All the signs point to this being a very bad idea. No, seriously. Have you been to a store lately? Let's start with the candy. Not only is there more candy on the shelves, they've all dressed up in the hopes of grabbing your attention and convincing you to take them home. It's not just that they're wrappers are now metallic, brightly colored things of wonder, but they've even changed who they are. Now they're holiday colored, special variety, gourmet versions of who they used to be, and all sitting right there on the end cap waiting for you to walk by and pick them up. But it's not just the candy. Just walking through the grocery store I'm assaulted with signs advertising every imaginable holiday treat. The bakery is in over-drive preparing special delights for all those holiday parties and until the hosts come and whisk them away, I have to resist the urge to indulge. Thank goodness Luke does most of the grocery shopping. Not that I'm not greatful for this lesson in self-discipline, but a girl can only stand so much!

Random thought: Isn't New Year's the holiday that's all about starting over with a clean slate? So, what does it matter if I do well or rotten from now until then? It'll all be forgot, right? Do you suppose my body knows the point of New Year's? Probably not. Bummer.

Well, that's probably enough ranting for now.
You'll probably want to know that I have done very well over the last 3 days. I've made healthy choices and gotten in at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. Yesterday I was so busy I started my exercise at midnight, but I hadn't gone to bed yet, so I figure it still counts for Tuesday. :-) I finished my exercise by doing the video I got for free from the arthritis foundation which has an excellent stretching focus to it that is almost like Yoga and is extremely relaxing.

Oh. Totally off subject note: Do you know what is NOT relaxing? Being notified by two ear-peircing bleeps at 2:22am that your smoke alarm needs it's battery changed! Only, we didn't know it had a battery since we were told that it was hard-wired. Just the same, when it went off again at 6:20am Luke unscrewed the thing but couldn't find a battery. That is, he did this after I jumped instinctively out of bed crying "Get Ethan!" So when I got up this morning I called the leasing office and this afternoon maintenance came and showed me the hidden compartment in the side that holds the battery which is supposed to be a back up in case of power outage. Would have been nice to know before Luke stuck his head out in the hall to check for flames, before I stood beside Ethan's crib sniffing the air for signs of smoke, before I lay awake at 3am wondering why in the world my smoke alarm had gone off in the wee hours of the morning with no smoke or flame within sight or smell! Well. At least it's fixed. And now I know.

Stumble & Recovery

First of all, I want to report that not only did I get in all 5 of my 30min exercises, last Friday my weigh in was 189.5lbs!!! That's another 2lb loss for a total of 6.5lbs lost so far!!! Yeah! :-D

However, that was Friday....

I have to really kick my butt today (Monday). Not only do I have a TON of housework that piled up over last week's busy schedule, but I also ate like a pig this weekend. My husband and I had our first "date" in months Saturday night and we went to Olive Garden where I ate better then expected (just 2.5 breadsticks, salad, and one piece of chicken) but I did have 2 glasses of full blown coke (my greatest weakness) then I had about 1 cup of M&M minis when we went to the movies...definately not good. Then yesterday, my sister-in-law had her 19th bday party yesterday and they ordered chinese take out for lunch. I resiste having more soda, but then "dinner" was a slice of homemade apple pie and a scoop of icecream that I let them talk me into and immediately regretted eating. So when I got home I was still hungry and had the left over piece of chicken from Olive Garden and a HUGE plate of garlic green beans cooked in a little bit of margarine. Ugh. I could feel the effects of so much junk on my body before the weekend was over. So, like I said, back to the grind stone. I'm going to eat especially healthy and focus on fibers to clear my body of all that junk that's got me feeling yech, and I'm going to work my butt off exercising and cleaning. So... better get to work, huh? :-)

BTW does anyone else feel the effects of poor food choices the way I do? It's almost like feeling sick... it definately drains my energy. The soda is especially bad for my body, I've reluctantly noticed. (I used to say, "I don't drink coffee, I drink coke". There was a time I was drinking 3 cans of coke, or more, EVERY DAY starting before breakfast!! Now I try to only drink it on special occasions and limit it to one or two glasses.) If you drink a lot of soda but haven't noticed this, you might experiment with going without it for one week. I didn't have a clue how much it affected me until I went without it for a while and then had it again. I've noticed that, for me, colas effect me worse than clear sodas and it doesn't seem to matter whether it was diet or regular (in fact, diet is sometimes worse). Obviously some people will be more affected than others since we're all different, but I would try it, if you haven't.

My hope today, is to do by my 1hr Richard Simmons video AND my 30min Denise Austin Video- both of which can really kick my butt. Add to that, dishes, running & folding laundry, vacuuming, and picking up toys & other stuff, and I'm hoping to burn many, many calories today!