Back to the Grind

I have noticed in the last month that I have gotten much more lax about my eating and have been allowing myself WAY more junk food than I need. Thankfully I haven't had any of the days where I just want to eat anything that gets in my way, but my routine has changed and I need to make the necessary modifications to continue my weight maintenance. My routine changed because we were on vacation the last week of December/first part of January and then returned home to my husband going back to day shift after having spent the last 3 years on the 3 to 11 shift. Don't get me wrong, I am LOVING having him home in the evenings and being able to eat as a family and cuddle on the couch in front of the fire each night. BUT on the flip side, hubby is an awesome cook! When he was working nights, the kids and I generally ate dinner with my parents who are also dieting so my suppers would be pretty low calorie (meats, steamed veggies, etc.). But now that hubby is home to cook, he has been making fabulous suppers that have had me being tempted into "just a little more" seconds, something I haven't done in a very long time. This is okay every now and then, but not on a routine basis. One night he also made a delicious red velvet cake with cream cheese icing for dessert. Hold me back! lol Sweets are my weakness and something I have to constantly be careful with. We rented movies the other night and ran by the pharmacy to grab something and I was in the mood for M&M's. However, instead of being semi-good and getting the little pack, we got a 3 lb. monstrosity. Why??!! I sure as heck didn't need that many M&Ms sitting around the house calling my name, but we got it anyway. Big mistake! HUGE mistake! Ate way too many that night, some more the next day, and you know how it goes. lol Thankfully the kiddies have nearly wiped those babies out (of course daddy and I have done our part to help with the cleanup process...it is our parental duty you know), the cake is down to only 1 slice (which my daughter most likely finished off today while she was home from school), and I have vowed to clean up my act. My weight is still doing okay. I'm averaging 137 lately which is okay, but not within the "range" I really want to stay in. My own fault and that's fine. On a positive note, figure I'd doing pretty great metabolism wise if I have been splurging way too much and still have been mainting around 137. Anyway...it's time to get back to the grind, get back to limiting my portions to ONE ONE ONE, and stay away from the junk food except every now and then (every night does not constitute "every now and then"). I had a lot of motivation to continue on my path of weight maintenance over the weekend. I have finally signed up for Facebook at the urging of several good friends. I was pleasantly surprised how many of my former classmates are on it and have had a blast reconnecting with them and catching up with how they are all doing. You can post pictures of yourself, family, etc. so I postd some of mine. I got several messages from old classmates telling me how great I look and one went even farther to say it looks like I just stepped out of high school while every one else has aged! Boy this made my head swell just a tad! lol It made me think back on the years before I lost weight and how back then, I would not have even THOUGHT of posting my picture, and if I did, it would most certainly have been a head shot only, which still would have embarrassed me beyond belief. But now, well now I was actually proud to post my picture! That feeling along made me remember how so very worth it every good food choice and every day at the gym or walking really was. I will forever hold onto that feeling of pride and accomplishment that I was reminded about when my friend sent me her message. Hope you all are doing well and continuing to fight your battle! The end is SO WORTH THE HARD WORK!!!

Productive Weekend

Hubby started his new schedule of being back on day shift last week and his off days are now Wed/Thu. This got me in the mindset of making the most of my being off and home alone on Fridays now. I got up at 6:30am and started my day of cleaning. Got the kiddies off to school and continued with my "to do" list. I literally spent about 13 hours that day cleaning the house and about 3 hours doing errands (groceries, donating clothes to the local nursing home, donating odds/ends to the Waterfront Mission, donating empty printer cartidges to the school, going to the bank). I didn't even stop to sit down and eat breakfast or lunch...I just made it and sat it on the counter and took a bite as I passed by the plate. lol Hubby took over making dinner while I continued to clean. Saturday I got up around 8:30am and started cleaning again. This went on all day except the time I took my oldest to/from the skating rink and to go out to dinner. I didn't stop until 11 that night. Sunday was more of the same until around 10pm. I'd pulled my back a bit on Sunday so I stayed home from work yesterday to relax. Didn't get up for the day until after noon and then I had lunch and did the remainder of my laundry. I am so proud when I look around at my immaculate house!! Ahhhh! It's been way too long since I took the time to really de-clutter and organize and it feels wonderful! With the hours and hours of cleaning I figured that more than made up for not exercising this weekend. Did you do anything that made you feel like you accomplished awesome things?

Family Response to the "New Me"....

....Or I should say the "new us" as both hubby and I have both lost weight since they last saw us (me the 150 lbs or so and him about 75 pounds). Thank you Karyn for the reminder about including this on my blog. They weren't completely surprised as we had sent out photo Christmas cards a couple of weeks before Christmas but were still shocked to see us in person as the card photo was pretty closeup so no one had the "full effect" until we arrived. Gary's mom talked about how tiny I was and how proud they were of what I have accomplished. I wish they'd made a bigger deal out of what my dear husband has done too but I made sure to point it out when no one else did! Granted he isn't at his goal weight yet but he has worked hard and I am so proud of him and want others to recognize his success. His sister was amazed too but unfortunately I think that made her feel worse. I say this because she has a lot of health problems that have contributed to her gaining at least everything I lost, probably more. I will continue to pray for her that the drs. figure things out so she can start to lose some weight soon. Hubby's other brothers haven't seen either of us since several months before we started losing weight, other than the photo card. We had a dinner for them the day after we arrived and the first thing one of the girlfriends said to me was 'OH my gosh...I have to ask, did you do it on your own or have the surgery??" I was so proud to be able to say it was all done with diet and exercise! I saw her again the day before we headed home and she showed me her "before" pic...before being before she gained weight. And she was talking about starting a diet too. While I certainly hope and pray that no one sees my weight loss and thinks badly about themselves, I am thrilled if I can be a small part of someone's motivation to get healthier! I couldn't help but feel so proud to go to family functions while up north and be the smallest one in the room (other than the kids), or to easily sit down in my husband's lap when all the chairs in the room were taken. I think that is always going to be one of my favorite things about having lost weight!

Back to the "Real World"

Vacation is over and I today was my first day back at work. It was sure rough getting out of bed this morning when the alarm went off (or truth be known, 5 minutes after the alarm went off when my dear husband lovingly dragged my lazy butt out of bed laughing the entire time). But thats okay, the "real world" isn't horribly bad and it was nice to get back to my own home. Our Christmas was wonderful as I hope was the same for each of you. Our day was very relaxing and enjoyable with all of our family. We left that evening heading north to Michigan and all was well until the last 60 miles when we hit ice...and ice in a HUGE way! At that point our speed began to average 10 to 15 mph IF we were lucky. Thank God for answered prayers and a hubby who grew up in that mess and remembers how to handle it. About 30 miles out we were caught behind a bad wreck that had us sitting for over half an hour. We gave up and tried alternate routes, the first of which was axed due to the interstate we were heading toward being closed. Back the other direction and ended up on a 2 lane road with horrible conditions but we were able to make it thru...instead of arriving at 830am as we expected, it was nearly 3pm. Then later that evening we got stuck 2 houses from the cottage we rented on Lake Michigan. Ugh! AND hubby and I both fell on the ice, I ended up with 2 nice bruises and we thought he broke his hand, thankfully he did not. Once hubby's family came to help out with the problem and get our car down to the cottage, I could breathe a little easier. Though I did tell him if the weather and roads did not get better, my butt was NOT leaving the cottage all week and if anyone wanted to visit us, they could come to us!! lol Thank God for more answered prayers in the way of rain all night which helped to clear the roads. The rest of the trip was great with much visiting but also lots of time spent with just Gary, me and the kiddies by the fire. AHHHH....relaxing! We headed home last Friday morning, stopped to spend 5 hours at a mall in Nashville and arrived home by midnight. Then bliss...two whole days to relax before going to work today. A perfect way to end a vacation!! I was a bit scared to get on the scale but I was pleasantly surprised that I was basically the same as when I left. How I"m not sure since I surely didn't worry too much about diets up north, but thats okay. Now I'm home and back to watching what I eat more closely. Also back to the gym during lunch today and though it was brutal and I wanted to quit early, I trudged forward and finished the entire workout. Tonight hubby and I will be continuing the routine we have started of spending some time on the Wii Fit the kiddies got for Christmas. I hope that each of you made some special memories this Christmas and were able to enjoy the holidays in moderation!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town....

Can you believe its almost that time for the jolly man to ride into town on his trusted sleigh pulled by those amazing little reindeer?? This year has passed so very quickly and it's hard to believe it is almost over already. It's been a good year though full of wonderful memories and many successes. There have also been the normal family tragedies that all families must endure, but those unfortunately are to be expected. So far I am handling the holidays well. I do partake of the seasonal goodies but within reason! I think I have a handle on the whole weight maintenance and feel more secure in that thought with each passing day. I went to our company Christmas party on Friday night and most of the employee spouses hadn't seen me since last Christmas, about 45 pounds ago. And it felt wonderful to hear all the compliments (I'm not conceited by no means but a girl does enjoy being complimented lol) about how amazing I look. It's great to finally be at a place where I can hear a compliment and mentally agree rather than think to myself "does he/she need glasses" or "are they simply crazy or trying to humor the fat girl". I am still the person who gets on the scale AT LEAST twice a day but I no longer freak out at the number staring back at me. I simply take it for what it is and go about my day. The scale is now a tool to help me stay focused on the end picture, and that is to continue to maintain my weight loss and never find myself overweight and miserable again. In short, the scale is my friend. Never thought I'd say that! lol I hope each of you has a wonderful Christmas full of memories that will last a lifetime. The family and I will be heading out on Christmas afternoon to drive 15 hours north to Michigan for a week with hubby's family. They haven't seen me since I was in the low 200s on my journey to lose weight so I am excited. Let's all remember to enjoy the Christmas goodies without depriving ourselves but at the same time, remember to eat sensibly and make the decisions that you won't regret once the holidays are over. Merry Christmas!!

New Family Pics

Hubby and I recently had a new photo shoot with our lovely girls. I thought that I would share a few of the pics we had taken. This is the whole family and the pic we used for our Christmas card this year.




This one is my dear husband and I. Since I've lost weight I absolutely LOVE to sit on his lap!!

And here is one of my favs of me and my beautiful daughters!

It still feels strange to me to look at all these pics we had taken (nearly 300) and be PROUD of them and to think I look good in them rather than to cringe with embarrassment when I'm forced to look at my size in a picture.

Losing Weight vs. Maintaining Weight Loss

I was really good over the last week and am thrilled to say that I have gotten rid of all those Thanksgiving pounds and am safely back within the lower half of the maintenance range I set for myself months ago. Whereas my range is 125 to 135, I feel more comfortable within the lower half of that range...I guess because I feel that it gives me more of a cushion to fluctuate without going out of it. I have now been officially "maintaning" my weight loss for 6 months and it feels great. I have always heard that losing is hard work but the real test comes with keeping the weight off. I can so easily see how that could be the case. Once you achieve your goal, you feel like you can finally relax and splurge more often on the foods that you tried to stay away from during your weight loss journey. I can definitely see that I have a bit of a different mindset now than I did while actively trying to reach my goal. Back then if I had dessert at a restaurant, it was only the smallest piece, more often I would concentrate on fresh fruit as my dessert. I don't know if I ate more than 4 or 5 chips during my entire 18 month losing process, but now I feel more comfy to partake of a serving with dip at a cookout. And don't get me wrong, I love being able to have that different mindset now and to be able to relax a little bit, but I can see where the same thing could get a person in trouble if they are not careful. I have mentioned before that I am a scale junkie and weigh every single day, truth be known, I weigh more than once each day (I know, I know...but its just me). Where this behavior could sabatoge some people, it helps keep me on track. After Thanksgiving when the scale wasn't so nice to me, I didn't beat myself up over the fact. I just thought, yep, enjoyed the goodies for Thanksgiving and now its time to get back on target. So for the last week I tried to watch closely what I ate and track all of my calories and go to the gym as I was supposed to, even when I didn't WANT to. My thanks is that here I am back to my desired weight and I was able to splurge for the holiday and not worry about calories. 6 months into weight maintenance I see that this will easily be something that I can live the rest of my life doing. You simply HAVE to have that accountability to yourself and realize if you splurge and gain a couple of pounds or so, you are going to work extra hard and eat extra well in order to return to the desired weight. When I lost weight years ago before my life fell apart after the hurricane, my problems started when I no longer had a scale and I couldn't weigh and physically SEE that number, physically SEE that I was gaining weight. Of course as clothes got tighter and I had to buy larger ones I KNEW I was gaining, but because I didn't have to really see the "number", I was in denial. If I'd been forced to put a number to my enlarging size, I don't think I would have gained as much weight back as I did (try ALL of it) and had to start back from scratch. This time around, maintenance is all about the motto: Enjoy the occasional splurge (be that one meal or a couple of days or even an entire vacation) but understand that you have to immediately get back on track when its over and lose any weight that you gained. So far its working!