Celebrating weight loss - the twilight zone

every Wednesday morning, Nate and I seem to have this conversation.

Nate: man, I lost x amount of weight. wish i had lost more.
moi: thats great! and if you lose over 2 lbs you know WW is going to give you a warning that it's not healthy.
Nate: I know but I earned all these AP's and didn't even eat them.
......
Nate: I feel like we should go out tonight and celebrate.
moi: why?
Nate: well, I just weighed in and want to eat out.
moi:...inserteyeroll...were you just not complaining you didnt lose enough!? and you want to go out to eat?
Nate: yeah but there is something about just having weighed in that wants me to go out and eat!

now, if you've read for a while, you'll know Nate and I used to eat out a lot. we love to eat out at least we did until we started watching our pennies and our Points, so the whole going out to dinner didn't bother me what bothed me was this....

Nate: I feel like we should go out tonight and celebrate.

It's that I am working very hard at changing my thinking. Thinking that has gotten me to where I am today and unfortunately Nate isn't tackling that same problem. We don't need to call going out 'celebrating' when we aren't celebrating anything. It's just eating out.

Weight watchers issued an interesting article regarding this what they call the twilight zone, a specific amount of time where once chooses not to count Points or calories, and instead indulges uncontrollably. This usually is the result of too much restriction or deprivation that has occurred during the week.

I have spoken of this before that my reward on Fridays would usually be a Diet Coke and preferably a pound of peanut M&M's, it's taken time to ween myself off of those addictions physically as well as mentaly. I'm finally getting to a point where I can enjoy a good time/experience without resorting to food.

Now, all I need to do is to get Nate to change his thinking. Hhhhmmm...maybe losing weight will be easier! =)

The good, the bad and the ugly of BlogHer09

Oh my gosh...where to recap?! I guess I should start at the beginning..

Got to Metro way tooo early, aren't you supposed to be there 90 mins early?! well, got there, got bumped from my 1st flight, at 5, because the 3 oclock flight had been switched to a smaller plane so some people had been bumped to the 5 oclock. anyways...i was not going to let that dampen my spirit and i made it out on the next flight at 5:35 to Midway.

Arrived at Midway in the same amount of time that it took my man to drive home from work, 45 mins., just enough for a quick powernap so that i'd be ready for the long evening of parties!!

Now, the plan was to take the Metro, and that I did happen, however.... all I had was a $10 and now I have $7.75 left over in a Metro ticket... =( oh well, Lesson Learned: always bring dollar bills!!!

Got to the hotel where Amy was already waiting for me and off we went to dinner at Bice which I would recommend for its cute patio and fabulous home-made pasta. Thereafter, we headed back to the hotel for the People's Party and Room 704 party. Lemme tell you, there was so much swag, I can't believe how much I didn't haul home. You really had to decide at one point, what you wanted and what you could leave behind..I mean, how much free stuff can one person really need?!

Saturday started off early with the newbie breakfast and quickly went into the sessions, it was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time, met PastaQueen at the first session, Bloggers are Pioneers in a Post "Employee" world. Went and attended Blogs & Body Image: What are we teaching our kids to meet MizFit and Roni and let me state this was by far one of the best discussions we attended. The room was intimate, the audience small and the speakers passionate! It was very moving.

Pepsico was a huge sponsor for this event and I must admit that everywhere we turned we were offered drinks, snacks, etc. by handsome waiters in tuxes. If that doesn't make you feel special...

Dinner was spent at Niu, an asian fusion restaurant that I would also recommend even though my lettuce wraps were eh...the sushi however looked fabulous and instead of just plain 'ole water, you receive water with a slice of thin cucumber in it. It was interesting tasting, for sure.

After that we walked the strip and headed back to the hotel, we hadn't rsvp'ed for any parties and ended up back in the room around 10. Party animals eh? and I think I fell asleep around 10:30ish - 11.

Saturday we got woken at the a$$ crack of dawn by the concierge desk...hope someone didn't miss their wake up call! Headed down to breakfast, and then another full day of sessions. Amy and I had decided to attend more Geek sessions because they offered more informative information pertaining to what we had wanted to learn. A highlight was the Birds of a Feather luncheon where we got to have lunch again with Roni and a few of the other panelists. Amy and I decided we need some fresh air and headed down to Navy Pier before we had dinner at Fox and Obel. Thereafter we went to BowlHer where I got the chance to bowl with workoutmommy and then to the Cheezeburger, Cheezeburger party. Both fun and fabulous in their own right.

Throughout the entire weekend there was an expo which offered not only more swag but also a chance to meet Paula Dean and Tim Gunn. It was definitely a tad overwhelming and exhausting, with that I want to offer some insight into my first BlogHer experience.

My goal for going had been to pick up some pointers on how to take my blogging to the next level. Maybe learn some things that I am not aware of. Did that happen? Not really. I felt the sessions were largely geared towards people who already do this for a living if not full time job.

That leads me to the 2nd point, the majority of the attendees appeared to either be mommy bloggers or people who were pimping their business/product. Fitness/Lifestyle bloggers are definitely under represented.

Yes, I did get to meet some really cool bloggers but actually getting to know them was a tad harder. It seemed like they already had their friends and breaking into that circle was tough. Who knows, maybe I could have tried harder?!

and finally, it's a lot of money: $200 for the early bird ticket, $350 for hotel (this was my portion since Amy paid for the other half), $100+ for the airline ticket, another $100 for dinner... it can add up real fast. Think about that.

Few tips I wish I would have known:

1. Bring business cards. Everyone wants one. (I did have them thanks to Amy giving me the heads up!)
2. Birds of Feather luncheon - you have to sign up for that at the sign-in desk.
3. Bring an extra suitcase because even if you dont want the swag, your mother just may!

Don't get me wrong, I had a good time. Glad I went but would I do it again? Probably not but had I heard this from another person, I probably wouldn't have believed them. At least I would have been warned.

Consider yourself warned....;)

Traveling while Weight Watching and Week 3 Weigh-In, 9 More to Go!

Wondering what I lost this week....? Read to find out!

So..this isn't the full recap of the weekend but me focusing on how I handled my eating while in Chicago.

Let me state how anxious I was about the weekend. I don't do well when I don't have a structured routine but...this was going to be worse because I had no control over the food that was being serve...so how did I do? I made fabulous choices!! I'm still in awe about myself, mostly because it came natural. I saw what they had to offer, thought about what to do or eat and then did it, no inner beast fighting me on every decision I made.

Lets start with Thursday, I should have packed better snacks for the airport. I had some carrots and a nectarine which got so smooshed I had to throw it away because well... yeah I can't eat smooshed fruit so by the time I got to Chicago I was starving! I made it to the hotel and dropped off my bags before Amy and I sprinted to dinner at this little italian place off of Ontario, Bice Ristorante. I had been determined to have a salad but alas they did not have any great entree salads so instead I went with the pasta, delicious home made pasta, and I don't regret ordering it however it didn't sit right in my stomach. I'm not talking about food poisoning, I'm talking about the fact that my body just can't handle lots of complex carbs that late in the evening. Did I overeat? Yes, it was so delicious and the portion actually seemed normal that I ate it all and then just had this huge clump in my stomach all night.

Friday, I started my morning off with an egg sandwich, but it was so rubbery I just ate off the eggs with a side of fruit and coffee. Lunch was sponsored by Ragu which ehh... had me fumbling a bit but I quickly recovered loaded up half my plate with salad, dressing on the side of course, and maybe a 1/2c. portion of red beans and rice. I passed up the upside down pizza and chicken parmesan. Desserts were cannolis and other stuff but it wasn't calling my name so I easily turned it down. Strolling through the expo I did stumble upon mini-cupcakes and had 1... it was so delicious, oh so delicious. holy moly... i love cupcakes! Snacks and drinks were sponsored by PepsiCo. so waiters were walking around all afternoon offfering soda, Sobe, green tea etc. and besides my 3 liters of water I drank a day, I had one or two Sobe's. For a snack I had 1 package of Smart Food carmel corn and 1 serving of Quaker Oat Tortillaz. Dinner was at Niu, a new asian restaurant, 1 Raspberry Mojito...numnum..and an order of lettuce wraps.

Saturday morning I had 2 servings of unfrosted Mini Wheats, mixed fruit and coffee. Lunch was half a plate of salad topped with pico de gallo and corn salsa. 1/4 c. rice, fajita chicken and some guacamole. Now, my snacks were another story... I was hungry so I had a yogurt with some Life cereal, a banana and 1 bag of Pop Chips except that I had the Pop Chips first and then when I realized I wasn't full, at the jogurt and Life Cereal, which I should have had first because that really filled me up! Dinner was at Fox and Obel, a grocery/cafe, very swank and I had the Grilled Flat Iron Steak salad...talk about delicious...it was so simple, lettuce, corn, beans, some queso fresco and grilled steak with a delicious cilantro lime vinaigrette.

Two situations happened that I feel like I need to further explore:

1. While at the Cheezeburger,Cheezeburger party Saturday night I had a cheeseburger. Now here my out, I'm not upset about the fact that I had the cheeseburger, I was upset by the fact that I bit into it, didn't like it and still finished it. Errrr...why?!
2. I didn't realize until late Saturday afternoon that a bottle of Sobe Lifewater is not calorie free! I think the entire bottle came out to be like 150 maybe?! Seriously?! I didn't need those calories, I had packed Crystal Lite packets. Good thing to remember, double check the nutritional information!

oh well, c'est la vie...but onto the exciting stuff....after a fun weekend of food...I was still able to eek out a weight loss of.... drum roll please....

1 lb!!!

whoot whoot... my plan had been to eek out a half pound loss but when I saw this, I was ecstatic! I mean, it just goes to show you, when you put your mind to do something and do it, it can totally be done!

More importantly, did I lose out? Is there anything I regret from the weekend?

Not really, I felt great the entire weekend. I experienced none of those feelings (uncomfortableness, uncontrollably full, too tight clothes) I felt while in Germany. Sure I would have drunken more but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do and I still had a great time without the drinks!

Goal for this week: another pound!

Onward and downward sistahs!

Hi! from BlogHer

Just wanted to wanted to say Hi to any new readers!! and thank you for stopping by.

For all those bloggers who didn't make it this year... you must go next year!! It truly is such a great opportunity to meet fellow bloggers and the sessions so informative.

Full recap once I get back home!

it's not about the food or the drink

i cant believe its already Thursday!!! the week just flew by!

i'm all packed and ready to go...working till 2 and then off to the airport, arrival in Chicago at 5 and then metro-ing it to the hotel. I love public transportation systems!!! Detroit unfortunately only has a bus system that is shady at best.

yesterday was somewhat of an emotional day for me. now hear me out...i've mentioned before that when it has come to my eating/working out habits i've been very inflexible. once i set my mind to it, i hate veering off that path and if i do, i'm typically angry/resentful and can't even enjoy the event that derailed my original plan.

wwwweeeeeellllllllllllllllllllll, nate really wanted to go out for sushi and since i am going to be gone this weekend i felt like i owed it to him so off we went. something had to give last night and it couldnt be packing or my nail so it was the gym. i'm still a tad miffed about it but it's not like this week is every week and as a coworker so nicely pointed out, it could have been my last dinner with nate because we all know planes are dropping from the sky lately. great...thanks...thats really what i needed to hear. and needless to say, we had a great time last night, granted things got a tad stressful and heated once we got back but it was nice and i'm glad we went but this mornings 4 am wake up call came way too early.

i jumped outta bed, into my workout gear and off to the gym i went and i feel great now!

ready for a fun weekend, i'm trying not to stress about the food that will be served and i figure if there isnt anything healthy, there's a grocery store a few blocks from the hotel where i can grab some fruit and carrots.

Jogger made a wonderful comment about how I need to trust myself and I think I've proven myself that I can eat healthily when faced with past loves. This weekend is about meeting people I've only gotten to know over email or text, it's not about eating or getting smashed. I can have a good time with minimal drinking and healthy eating.

I can and will do this!

No clever title today!

i had this huge post written about how stressed i am with trying to figure out how to fit in working out (i'm shooting for 5 times a week), peeps wanting to eat out, including nate, and just not having enough time in the day.

and well.... i just had a 'boss' sitting in my office crying because i may be let go.

hell, if that doesnt sober you up, i have no clue what does.

so yeah..i'm stressed and now i dont care. im not angry or upset...remember...i've been living with this since February so now I've come to terms with it. I had some things on the backburner and I may have to dust off that resume and it will be ok.

wow...I actually feel pretty frickin' great now!

so...lemme pull some non-serious stuff from my post that i had originally intended on posting..

has anyone tried these yet, Candy Bars by Weight Watchers? oh my god... they are to die for! they taste like those frozen Snicker bars...the vanilla ice cream is more yogurt-y than that of the real Snickers and its not as caramel-y but i will definitely be buying me some more!!!

and for a HUGE NSV.... last night, i met up with a gf who chose Bravo Cucina Itialina.. a decent place but not so great for a WW however I was not going to let it ruin my evening or make me stress 0ut. I ordered a salad with the cheese and dressing on the side, which then did not happen and because I fear returning things to the kitchen after a few horror stories I've heard, I ate it. I didnt stress or get upset, I dealt with it and ENJOYED IT!! The salad was truly delicious, over-priced but delicious and I think a very healthy option had I been able to have the dressing on the side. and...drum roll please....NO BREAD! seriously...it was burning a hole in my head but i told myself that if i still wanted a piece when my salad came, i could have one piece. well, thankfully, i didn't even want it once i started eating my dinner. i felt like such a rock star!! I focused on the conversation instead of the food so I left feeling great all around. No guilt, anger or resentment.

ooohhh, and don't forget to follow me on Twitter, that's what I'll be using to update while at BlogHer!!

food, food and more food

i cant say i got food on the brain but it has been a subject of interest as of late.

lets flashback to Saturday, and let me give you some back story. we went to KidRock with 2 couples both of whom I get along with but I dunno, I'm not as chummy with the wives as they are with each other. now, I understand that they are a few years old than I am, have kids that play with each other and they live around the corner from each other so I already have some odds stacked against me but I didnt expect this...

so, I'm standing in the kitchen preparing my snacks, carrots and some trail mix and my mom asks me if i plan on bringing this along with me. uhm...duh...yeah. so she then goes on to say that i am crazy and no wonder i'm not that close with them because i'm a freak! so now i'm questioning what i am doing because she made a valid point that in the past i've said no to this or no to that and i'm still as ____(insert fat, chubby, robust, etc.) as i've always been. so yeah... i am embarrassed by that. no doubt. sh!t and to think i have a blog dedicated to my constant battle with weight.

needless to say, i did bring my snacks and no, it's not like i whipped them out while sipping a stoli and tonic but the snacks were eaten.

so... my questions to you all is this...
how do you handle your healthy eating in social settings?
have you ever been known to bust out your measuring spoons?
do you bring your own snacks to events?

and the reason i ask this is that next week we are spending the entire week with nate's family and i am considering bringing up my food scale/measuring cups. the majority of our meals will be eaten at home, i'm assuming a come and help yourself to whatever you want whenever you want type of deal. i'm pretty good at eyeballing portions (to an extent) but i'm on a roll and goshdarnit this time i'm doing it!

Help!!!

Week 2 Weigh-In, 10 to go!

shoot...where did the weekend go?! seriously... i think this weekend was just a preview of how this week is going to be.

ssssooooo...your wondering how Saturday went....GREAT!!!

We headed towards Detroit at 2:45, had packed some sandwiches that we ate before making it downtown so that we would be at least full for a good portion of the afternoon. Once we got there, I had 1 sprite and stoli, water, another sprite and stoli, water and at this point it's 6ish so we head into the stadium on the prowl for food because all that they had at the block party was burger and hot dogs.

Once inside we head straight to the food court while munching on carrots, and decide on Mexican. I had 2 soft tacos minus the sour cream. Drank water at $3.75 a pop throughout the evening and then after the concert, which was fab...went back out for 1 more drink and some gambling...which means I had a total of 3 drinks in a 12 hour span!!! knowing that we'd be hungry on the way home, we had some snacks in the car so that a Taco Bell run could be avoided.

now I am proud to say that I lost....drumrollplease...2 lbs!!!

uhm...what happened to the old Rebecca!? shoot...don't bother sending her back because this one's on a roll.....

this week is going to be a stressful one:
Tuesday: early morning workout, lunch and dinner out
Wednesday: nada
Thursday: early morning workout and then to BlogHer!!
Friday: BlogHer
Saturday: BlogHer
Sunday: heading up North to spend the week with the fam at the cottage...

can i keep this momentum and dedication up!? you betcha!

have a great start to your weeek!

it's Friday bitches!!

wooohooo!!!!

is it anyone else but this Summer is just flying by!? seriously, i feel like we just got back from Germany and now it's less than one week till BlogHer! anyone else going? i would love to meet you!

not a whole lot planned tonight which is fine since i want to save my Points for Saturday when I will be at the Kid Rock concernt!! not the hugest fan but I heard he throws an awesome show and there is some block party downtown Detroit and i love Detroit.

seriously...for all the bad rep it gets, it's one pretty sweet city. Granted not all parts are great but i think every big city has that and when there is Tiger's game going on... party x's 100! because if its one thing us Detroiters can do, it's par-tay!!

determined, oh so determined to have a fabulous weigh-in on Monday which means I just may end up being the DD tomorrow, which is no biggie. what can i say?! i just love the summer and weekends..and who needs high calorie cocktails!?

Have a great weekend everyone!!

what?! are we in HS?

last week, my fam took a beating.

i'm sure everyone is like, huh?!

well...lets go back a tad...

it was Nate's and mine's second week of vacay, shoot over 2 weeks ago!, and we went up to Doelger for afternoon coffee and cake. we just happened to run into Juliane, the town gossip, who invited us to sit with them. we did. no reason not to.

now. .. fast forward to two Saturdays ago, when we got back and sitting at dinner with my mom in Chili's!

Mutti: so....did you guys see Juliane?
Moi: (automatically on the defensive because my mom had texted me earlier she was 'joe jackson mad'. am i the only one who didnt know what that meant!? anyways... i had just assumed i hadn't done something right...once again....and was going to hear about it) Yeah. We bumped into her at Doelger with Opi on Monday.
Mutti: well, Karin called me today and asked whether you and Nate had gained weight?
Moi: what?
Mutti: so I asked Karin what she meant. like recently? since last year. and Karin was like sure. I dont know. so I told her that you hadn't gained any weight. you haven't have you?
Moi: Uhm...well, since last September no since December yes.
Mutti: well, I guess, Juliane was at Christa's (Karin's sistah) and she couldn't believe how fat you two had gotten and that she couldn't believer a Germany company would hire fat people because that's just unhealthy.
Moi: ..soshockedihavenocluewhattosaybecausedopeoplereallytalkaboutthistootherpeople....
Mutti: so of course Christa is all worried now because Sabrina (Christa's daughter) has gained some weight and she is all worried Juliane may go talking about her to other people, but I told her she was fake....

and the story goes on but really, its unnecessary.

so there you go.... really...i mean do we still attack people because of their weight?! the last i remember something like that happening was in grade school forget about high school.

and at the same time i wanna say...is that all you got?! all you can do is mock my weight!? come on now...

i can't even say it hurt because i was already feeling that way about myself. more than anything else i was disappointed by myself, embarrassed that once again i let it happen. the plan had already been in place to start WW but I was even more determined after that.

sure, at first I was like...I'm gonna show her, but really I'm gonna show myself.

It's funny the things you can learn about yourself when you peruse the message boards of WW or when you get deleted from someones blogroll you admire, but the reality is that i've been the same weight for the last 3 years!!!! the same excuses too.

so once again i stand here, proclaiming this and that, and im sure there is plenty of eye-rolling going on and i don't blame you ive done it too.... i guess you'll just have to wait and see.

character flaw

its funny how fast your mood can change.

after my afternoon snack, arnold sandwich thin with hummus and pico de gallo on top, i felt great. i love food. i really do and when i had the snack above for the first time, i knew this was it. healthy food tastes better more often than not.

and when nate picked me up from work, his non-argumentative-ness made the gym enjoyable as well. had a great workout and gave in to multiple wants for Subway.

i have/had a few character flaws which ive been working on and the biggest one for me right now is my inflexibility to dieting, but this isn't a diet right? it's a lifestyle change...ugh...i'm getting so annoyed with that phrase but its true because once the weight is off, you cant go back to your old ways, you may not even want to go back to your old ways, youll just continue on the path that youve already created for yourself which just solidifies to me that the changes i do decide to make are ones that i need to be able to live with, forever! doi...such a simple concept that i think i am just now finally beginning to grasp.

i have in the past thrown a fit, let the entire evening be ruined because i didnt want to eat out, was forced to eat out, ate at a place that i hadnt previewed the menu but thats not life and i dont want to live like that so with that, i ate Subway with no other feelings other than I was hungry, my body needed fuel and that was that. was it pleasurable? eh... im becoming less and less a fan of Subway. it wasnt the greatest meal ever but it definately wasnt the worst for me either. what can i say...it was what it was.

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results." Willie Nelson

and thats the point, i'm ready to see results and what i had been doing wasn't working 100% for me, I'm ready to be successful, 100% successful. there is so much more at stake here than just me fitting into a single digit pant size. its clicking, each day a little more.

la di la di loooooooooo

how fast the moods change.

it could be TOM or the fact that a lot is going on at home right now but wow, today has been blah to say the least.

not really hungry and sorta going through the motions, upset I didnt make it to the gym or on the elliptical last night and that I had 5 Toffifay. not the end of the world but really, I didnt need them nor did I wait the allotted time to see if they were just a want. i tracked them and moved on. or did i since i am still talking about them?

i think mostly im mad at the whole situation. it was nates first day back which also means our carpooling, and well, i dunno. i cant blame him. he dont force me to sit on the couch and then fall asleep and i'm not too angry about all of it because obviously my body needed it if it did fall asleep at 8:30 but I sort of enjoyed my schedule last week. working till 4 and then off to the gym right away so that i can get that out of the way. nate hates the gym and getting him to go is like pulling teeth. our bags are in the car and come hell or high water, tonight we are going.

it's days like these where its easy to give up or say eff it, but not moi because the plan is in place and im already rolling with the punches.

1 Week Down, 11 to go!

Monday, Monday... even though that means the weekend is over, I am beyond ecstatic to be here.

My first official weigh-in...drum roll please....oh weight... lets recap the first week... ;)

here's a screenshot of the points I consumed, as well as the points i earned.

commentary/question to you WW'ers: when i input my activity using the look-up function, some of the points seem really high. now for my walking, i'd say the points are spot on but when put in the info for the stepper, it's nearly double than what i burn calorie wise. soo...my question to you is this, do you use the info given by WW or do you just convert your calories burnt into AP's. for example: 250 cals = 2.5 Ap's.

so...you'll notice Wednesday was a majorly HIGH point day...lordy looo...seriously...ok.. I ate out twice, Panera at lunch and then Subway for dinner. Both times, ok, no, only once for Panera, did I check out the nutritional info. I just thought a footlong would have less points than it actually did. c'est la vie... I did well for the rest of the week. It does of course help not having a whole lot planned for the weekend. although...

NSV.... instead of grabbing Wendys on Saturday we ran up to the grocery store and picked up Boca Burgers and Chik Patties... maybe it wasn't as delicious as a Wendys Spicy Chicken Sandwich but a) we saved a ton of moolah and b) we saved a ton of Points.

a couple of other things i noticed:

1. this week was easy for me. seriously. i just picked up where i left off before the vacation. i've definately found a few places that i need to work on where I am eating more points than I wish to but this just proves to me it was time for a change from what i had been doing.
2. throughout all of this, i'll probably always be having higher meals because of what i am eating. i'm focusing on health and real foods, not processed 1 Point foods so dipping into my Weekly Points is ok. as long as I'm not using them for crap!
3. the weekends are hard yet doable... key word: laziness. you can not be it. i swear i'm on top of it. i have to be because points disappear so damn quickly. for example, by the time nate and i hit the road on sunday, i know we are going to get hungry somewhere amidst of our weekly shopping trip, so what did we do!? we packed our lunches!! yup...2 chicken sandwiches, 2 carrots and a nectarine each. not only was it low in points but friendly on the wallets as well.

so today I am proud to announce a 4.5 lb loss!!!! whoot whoot... still got a few to go before I'm back at my pre-vacation weight but... I didn't gain it in a week either.

Have a good Monday!

buh bye now...

geeze...can i just state that what annoys me the most about driving in the am is that peeps with fast/big cars can rarely drive them well and that solid lines are NOT meant for switching lanes!

now that I got that off my chest, run to see The Hangover...oh. my. god. i love Bradley Cooper and please let it be wrong that he's dating Renee Zellwegger because a) shes ungodly thin b) shes ungodly white which when combine with a) makes her look like a ghost and c) she always makes a face like shes sucking on a sour patch kid! the baby... i want one. just like him! he was so frickin cute.... gosh if i knew my baby would look like that...id have 3 or 4 maybe! hahahaha. no.

did anyone else realize that Doug, the missing bachelor and Phil, Bradley Cooper, were in Failure to Launch together. not quite sure if any of the others were also in that movie but yes...I liked that one as well.

when we got to the Theater I was parched...desperately wanting something that was not water since I had had water aaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll day so we ended up buying a Diet Coke. now, lemme bring ya'll up to speed herrrr, I have not had a Diet Coke in 3 weeks! I know I know...i'm near perrrrrfection. and wow, i had sip of it and asked nate if we ordered regular coke. it was THAT sweet. i drank some of it but I am definitely not going back to it!

The reality was, I had been drinking too much of it. I would buy a Large one from McD's on my way home, uh duh an 1.5 ride home...I need somethin! Then I'd normally have another one with dinner, a can, not another McD's. and that stuff is toxic for you.

I dont know all the deets but it's supposedly bad for your bone health. Why am I busting my ass at the gym weight lifting when I drink 32 oz. + a day of soda?!

Lets not even get started on aspartame.

So..what does that leave me drinking now!?

Gerolsteiner...I heart thee...and Lime!!

Now, I've always been a fan of Gerolsteiner but at $1.50 a bottle, I hate guzzling it and I can drink a bottle a day easily.

Really though...is there a price for your health!? Do I complain about the $130 I spend on my gym membership so that I can workout?! Like everything else, this is just one cost I am going to have to swallow for the sake of health!

and on that note.

Have a great weekend!!

all aboard ladies and gents...

so Nate joined the WW bandwagon with me, mostly because I told him he could use his handy dandy iphone to track his points and once he found that out, well...he was hooked.

so yesterday, his first day, he met up with his fam (he's currently on shut-down) for lunch at Red Robin.

Red Robin was a restaurant my coworkers had wanted to go too before I left for vacation, but open perusing the menu I realized that Red Robin had very little under a 1,000 cals. so I convinced them to go to Noodles and Co instead. I know, your wondering how this fits into the story but it will. I promise!

moi: so...whatcha end up eating at Red Robin today?
Nate: The Mexican Salad.
moi: are you serious!? that salad has over a 1,000 calories!
Nate: What?! No... thats not possible. How can a salad be bad for you?! Are you sure?
moi: Swear to god. Remember....Thursday before we left for Germany Jerry wanted to go to lunch with us. Well, he wanted to go to Red Robin so I looked at the menu earlier that morning and once I saw that I couldnt find anything reasonable to eat there I convinced them to go to Noodles and Co, which ended up working since Jerry ended up in the ER.
Nate: (pissed!) Thanks! Thanks for giving me the heads up I just wasted all my points on that salad! Why didnt you give me the heads up!?
moi: sorry babe...I didnt think about it until now. don't be mad... thats you have WPA's! plus, you biked like a feign today.

oh yeah...Nate was not happy with me for a good 5 mins...hihihihi...however, very important lesson learned here. The turkey burger would have been better off and the dressing alone contributed 300 cals to the overall calories.

i know i know...i'm preaching to the choir here. none of us would have done that, right? most of us know to check out the nutritional info beforehand but it was a very valuable lesson to nate. once he started inputting his food for the day, and perusing the Red Robin nutritional info, which we never eat there to begin with...he was awakened to just how many calories are in restaurant food.

if that isnt reason enough to eat at home, hell...i don't know what is!

i cant speak for anyone else but i dont personally know a lot of healthy, skinny people who don't have issues with food, but I wonder... do naturally thin people just not eat out as much as others?

i know personally, that is one of the major contributing factors as to why this weight won't come off, nate and I have chosen to eat out too much!

any opinions? i would love to hear 'em.

Half Year in Review

So, I was going to look at the first half of my Resolutions and do a small recap when I came upon my New Year's Eve post and see that I didnt set any this year because I didnt want to set up myself for failure.

..snort..because yeah...I definitely weigh more than I did at that point! but i digress.. I'm going to focus on some positivity here...

1. my house: i HATE cleaning and if i could find myself an Eastern European lady who would come to my house and clean, I would hire her instantly. but alas, i do not live in an area where that possibility exists so i don't clean. well, used to not clean. I have gotten into a very good habit of cleaning regurarly now thank you very much. well, if you count since april regular but yes, i feel great. my house feels great and hopefully its that little nudge nate needs to put a boulder, er i mean diamond, on my finger.
2. debt: woohooo...i'm down 2 cards and only have 1 left. one which hopefully will be paid off in September!
   

and thats all i got...not a whole lot but two of which i am overly proud of.

if anything, i think it leads to the life i want to lead...
i cant change where we live but i can make sure that where we live is the most beautiful and happy place for us to be in.

the whole debt thing...ive seriously had to make changes. i charged a lot. not crazy amounts but still enough that i couldnt pay my cards off at the end of the month. ive cut back a lot. and i realize i can live without a lot of stuff. it still sucks. my trips to sephora are pretty non-existent anymore. i get my herr did in a hairdressers basement but i do pay half of what i normally would pay.

we eat out maybe once a week, drink water instead of soda (not for health reasons which would be the obvious reason but two sodas equal the price of an appetizer!)

like weight loss, its all about making changes one can live with. and it gets easier..like everything else..

yeah...i'm back...

so..ive been putting off posting because i havent finished my vacation posts but ugh...who knew taking pictures, editing them and them uploading them was so much work...

seriously, how do the food bloggers do it!?

so, yes, Ive been back on American soil since the 4th and wow..i was ready to kiss the tarmac.

don't know if it has to do with old(er) age, recent events or.... but i'm beginning to fear flying... 8 hrs in a tin box above the ocean can be frightening and every time we hit an air pocket, well, my stomach does a flip.

so yeah...i love coming back from vacations... i usually feel very relaxed and motivated albeit this time i also felt much bigger...but ill save my weigh-in for next week. ya know...after my weight has gone back to normal... ;)

i feel like i am beating the proverbial horse...my intention was to be a weight loss blogger but well, we all know that ain't/wasn't goin so well.

yes, i felt unbelievably uncomfortable this trip...holy moly... but i tried not to let it affect what i did or ate, but I was/am ready to tackle the problem head on.

i felt like Drew Barrymore from He's Just Not that Into You... when she is in the pharmacy with Scarlett Johanson..

I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies.
It's exhausting.

Well, I bit off too much. I tried to do too many things. I wanted to lose pounds but also start weight lifting and then I became torn between low carb, no carb, organic or not organic, and holy jesus.... it's just so overwhelming sometimes.

so, i did something that I thought I would never do... I started up my paying membership to WW yesterday. the one free week I did back in June, really impressed me.. they've come a long way and i love the new tracker...I cant wait to get my iphone so that I can use their app...but i digress...

i know my weaknesses, and i need to find ways to get those under control because those 3 or 4, genuinely ruin all my hardwork! and because i am done with finding the magic trick, i also nixed the idea of doing a Phase 1 of South Beach...for me this is a huge step..seriously, I gained more than I care to admit and as much as I want that weight to drop NOW... it also continues the cycle of dieting..

i dont want to diet anymore. i dont want to consider eating a portion, yes a portion and not a bag, of chips to be off the wagon. carrots aren't evil!

and i'm tired of talking about it.