C's weigh-in: 138.6

Woot! I used to always use food as a reward and I'm trying to get away from that. So my non-food reward for getting into the 130s is that I'm getting a massage tomorrow night.

Getting close

We had a BBQ at work yesterday and someone took this picture. Those jeans? Are a size 8. I think I may have last worn a size 8 in high school. I'm not all the way there yet, but it feels good to be getting close.

Motivational Plateau

Rather than discuss how my weight is up lately (last Friday I weighed in at 156.2, ugh) or how much I've been snacking, I'm going to respond to C's awesome posts and remember why we started this blog in the first place!

First Topic: Comments on Weight Loss
OK, I admit it, I love them. That said, the tummy tuck thing? Really? HOW TACKY. I love thinking about responses to things like that. For example:

"Wow, I know you had surgery, did you have a tummy tuck, too?"
"No, did you?"

People are dumb. In some ways, though, compliments help motivate me when the scale isn't, so much. Last weekend 4 different people commented on how good I looked - not just because of my weight loss, although I'm sure that's a factor to me looking (and feeling) better.

Topic the Second: Low Blood Sugar

I've been a total grouch lately. I think more than LBS it's that I've been pretty much constantly overeating, which means that I feel guilty and angry and generally pissy at the world (even though the world isn't force-feeding me). I miss the fruits and veggies that were all fresh and delicious all summer, and my training schedule has interfered with green market trips. I finally went last night and bought squash to make soup, which I think will help me feel like I'm indulging in Fall fare. We'll see.

Finally: The Menu

I realized recently that I need ritual around my food/meals. It's all-too-easy for me to eat 1,000 calories mindlessly and still feel hungry or deprived, but if I spend an hour preparing a meal worth 4 points I feel so much more satisfied. The last couple of weeks I've grilled a stack of chicken breasts and turkey burgers on Sunday night and we've eaten them over the course of the week. It turns out this isn't a great idea for me, because then there's nothing for me to prepare. I like being around food. I like looking at it and smelling it and touching it, and those things don't even involve caloric intake! Most of this summer we ate breakfast together in the back yard, and it was a great way to start the day - and most of those days I really stayed on program.

I'm already looking forward to getting back from vacation and settling into a routine with more ritual around meals, especially dinner. I'm also looking forward to starting a new TT - because I haven't been able to go 3x/week for the past month I'm still doing the intermediate workout, and I admit that I'm getting a bit tired of it!

Eggs

I'm using Weight Watchers to count calories, but within my point allowance I've been loosely following the South Beach Diet and Precision Nutrition. Basically I'm trying to limit carbs and I'm trying to eat a fruit or vegetable plus a lean protein every two to three hours. This feels healthy and I think it helps me lose weight. As a former vegetarian getting in the fruits and vegetables isn't hard. The protein is harder, even though I'm eating meat now I don't want to eat it six times a day.

So, I eat a lot of beans and string cheese and greek yogurt and do weird things like mixing whey protein into my oatmeal. And I eat a lot of eggs. One of my favorite snacks is to boil an egg and replace the yolk with 2 Tbs of chipotle pepper hummus. Filling and just 1 point. On days when I lift weights my breakfast is often 1/2 cup of egg beaters scrambled with 1/2 cup of lentils and 1/2 cup of spinach. Lots of protein and fiber, 3 points.

I'm kind of in a rut with food lately, though, do either of you have favorite snacks or meals?

C's weigh-in: 141.6

Crap weekend for food. Great weekend for getting homework done, clearing out old technical books, and biking with Julian, Griffin, and a nephew.

Grouchy

I try to do weight watchers the right way, eating high quality real foods throughout the day. Even so, by mid afternoon I'm often tired, crashing, hungry, and grouchy. I was in a terrible mood one day this weekend and I mentioned to Julian that I thought low blood sugar was a factor. He agreed a little too quickly. It turns out that I've been more grouchy than usual for seven months. Does this happen to anyone else? It's a good thing I'm almost to maintenance.

Off The Wagon

Ugh, I have been overeating a lot the past couple of weeks. Not getting enough sleep, not enough routine, all that jazz. I really really need to get back on track and back on counting every little thing, because I want my fall wardrobe to be skinnified.

This, then, is my Post of Great Resolve. Nothing like a Tuesday to kick things off, right? I'm going to run home from work then eat a chicken breast and corn on the cob. Then no snacking!

Why is that so hard lately?

C's weigh-in: 140.0

The last few days I weighed in the 139's and was really hoping for that this morning. Even so, 140! That's only 5 pounds away from 135! I've been doing this so long that I honestly don't know what I'm going to do when I get there.

G's Weigh-In: 153.4

I'll take it.

To celebrate I'm eating a French Cruller! But don't worry! It's only 3 POINTS (from Dunkin Donuts). More lengthy posts coming this weekend. I've been thinking about food a lot lately.

Oh in other news, yesterday I wore a pair of pants that I've had for three years but have never worn b/c I bought them too small (on sale, of course). On the plus side, w00t! New pants! On the minus side, this is just encouraging me to keep things that don't fit. Heh.

MYOB

I love having this forum to talk about weight loss, but I actually hate it when people in my day-to-day life point out that I've lost weight. I know people are mostly trying to be nice, but what I hear is "I think I have a right to notice and judge your appearance. Out loud." I get at least one of these a day, in just the past few weeks:

"You've lost weight!"
"How much weight did you lose?"
"How did you lose so much weight?"
"You must feel so much better?"
"Wow, I know you had surgery, did you have a tummy tuck, too?"
"You look fantastic, like a completely different person!"

I try to smile and be polite and fight the urge to mess with people.

It seems for every person who thinks it's rude to comment on someone's weight there are several who think it's rude not to comment. I even get people who apologize for not mentioning it sooner which really bugs me. They think I put in all this effort for them and now I'm just waiting for their approval?

Of course it doesn't bother me if the comments come from a close friend or from someone who wants information because they are trying to lose weight themselves. I also get some people who are genuinely concerned for my health. And a few are just funny like a brother-in-law who asked "Is it wrong to tell your sister-in-law 'nice ass'"?

Mostly, though, I can't wait until I've seen every single person I know and these comments die down.

Cheating

I try to follow WW pretty closely, except:

I need to get through the CSA vegetables, therefore any food made with them is 0 points. Even if I just braised those carrots in butter, thyme, and honey.

Fish oil pills are free even though they have calories. I'm only taking them for my health, they gross me out, there's no way I'm going to start counting them against my daily points.

Date night food is free. We only get date nights a few times a month, I don't usually use the 35 weekly points, and I'm going to eat whatever I want. Also, and this may just be rationalizing, but I really think I lose more weight if I go off points occasionally.

Anyone else?

Stupid Catered Lunch

I still don't eat the catered lunch. Today I had a turkey burger (4 POINTS!) and an english muffin (1 POINT!) and some salad. BUT then I ate a mini cannoli. Then I ate another mini cannoli. Then I ate a mini eclair, and a chocolate-dipped strawberry (or four). New resolution: salads ONLY from the catered lunches. It's too hard to count and I kind of feel bloaty and gross now, anyway. Totally not worth it. :-P

Om nom nom nom

I'm sooooo snacky today. And yesterday. I've definitely lost some poundage since my faux-vacation last week in Boston (things eaten out-of-town have no POINTS right?, and I'm still counting everything, but man, SO SNACKY!

Hence the meaningless post. Nothing to see here, really! Carry on!

Or go here.

G's Weigh-In: 155

OK, it was last Friday, and I didn't want to post it because... :-|

I spent last week at a software conference in Boston, where I hung out with my boyfriends and then some of their friends showed up later on and it was basically a full-on orgy. DON'T JUDGE!

But thanks to the 140s Blog, I'm keepin' it real.

C's weigh-in: 142.4

Take that, vacation weight.

C's weigh-in: 145

Which is fine. I'm tracking points again as of today. We got back in last night so there is no food at all at our house, I'll hit up Trader Joe's on the way home today because having healthy food around is half the battle. Well, maybe 1/3 of the battle... I'm mostly worried about getting back on track with exercise. Current plan is to get in two workouts this week and then start 3 workouts a week again next week. I think I may redo the whole 2k6 month of workouts because I am an uptight perfectionist when there are charts involved.

Overheard

Outside a fast-food restaurant in Vancouver - "Hey, wait! This sounds familiar, I think Gillian talks about this place. Yes! Julian, look! Timbits!"