Back to Reality

I'm back to work today after 4 glorious days off.  Our shopping trip out of town was wonderful.  The mall that we went to was so huge that it took us 9 hours to go through the whole thing. We were so beat when we got back to the hotel that we just collapsed.  On our second day (the day we headed home) we stopped off at another mall on the way home and hit a couple of stores that we don't have in our area. 

So, did I buy anything good?  I had a good reality check of how much weight I still have to lose, so even though I feel good about having lost 22 pounds, I still have trouble finding nice clothes that fit me. Maybe I'm too picky but why don't they make cute, plus size clothes?  The stuff that I always come across is either ass-ugly or frumpy/matronly. I'm not going to pay good money to buy/wear clothes that I don't even like.  It would never fail that I would walk into a store thinking that it might be a good place for me to find clothes and low and behold, as soon as you enter the plus size section the styles go from cute to frumpy and it's like a slap in the face. I'm still in a size 18, although they're getting loser, I'm not ready to go down a size yet.  I think I will continue to have this problem (ugly clothes) until I get to about a size 14.  Meanwhile, I have to put up with stuff that I don't like. More incentive to lose weight/keep going.  So, I managed to find a pair of capris, 3 shirts, jewelry and perfume.  If all else fails, buy assessories, right?  My daughter, on the other hand, who is a size 6 bought a new summer wardrobe.  I was happy for her.  I also bought some Yankee Candles and some other oddball stuff.

So, how'd I do with eating?  In short, so-so.  I gained 1.8.  I'm hoping that alot of it is sodium and will come off quickly.  The first night we were so tired from shopping and being on our feet for 9 hours that we didn't feel like going out for dinner so we went to a grocery store, took some stuff back to the hotel and had a picnic. We got cheese, fruit, olives, ham, hummus and pita chips (I know about the chips, I only had a few, could have been worse, could have been better.) The bad thing is that we ate so late that we went to bed immediately after that.  To bed on a full stomach = not good for weight loss.

The next morning the hotel had free breakfast buffet.  I got a cheese omlette, 2 pieces of bacon, coffee. Not too bad.

No lunch.

For dinner we went to Longhorn Steakhouse.  Here's where the sodium comes in.  I ordered a mixed greens salad that had blue cheese crumbles and grilled-medium pepper-crusted sirloin.  I did use a little blue cheese dressing, but not much.  Between the juicy steak and the blue cheese crumbles I didn't need much.  The cheese and steak were salty but extremely delicious.  I had blackberry iced tea to drink that was lightly sweet. No bread or dessert.

I did have two (not on the same day) LF frozen hazlenut lattes minus the whipped cream, made with 2% milk.  Delicious.

So, there it is. Could have been better, could have been a hellova lot worse.  I feel I did reasonably well and I didn't feel deprived and I had a wonderful time creating memories with my daughter.  I'm so grateful that we have such a wonderful relationship, especially when I hear/see other people's disfunctional relationships with their children.  Now I have to face the music and get the 1.8 back off. I'm okay with it.

Onward and downward!  I was busy playing catch-up at work today.  Tomorrow I play on catching up on everyone's blogs.

More Rain

We are supposed to have severe thunderstorms all day today. It is really black and windy here now.  Looks like it's pretty much the same up the northeast coast.

I hit 235.8 on the scale this morning - almost on the downside to a new decade.  I always get excited when I hit the halfway mark. I just take it in 5 pound mini goals.

Not much to report today, just excited that today is my Friday and hoping for a good, fast day.  Tomorrow will be house cleaning and laundry and then my glorious shopping weekend begins first thing Saturday. This is the first time that I haven't really been excited about/thought about food while planning a trip.  Usually I'd be thinking about what new places I could eat at and so on. This morning it occurred to me that I really haven't thought about it this time and it's because I've changed the way that I look at food. This time I'm focused on finding cute stuff for me ;)

That's it for now.  I won't be back posting until Tuesday.  Have a great weekend, everybody! :D

Random Thoughts

Today's post is full of randomness.
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I'm down another half pound this morning and I have a size XL shirt on today - not my usual XXL.   :D
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I got my hair cut the other day, it is a little short but I think it'll be alright. I have no choice, do I? This past weekend I bought a new purse, 6 new shirts and some new jewelry. I'm in desperate need of clothes and this was my non-food treat for losing 20 pounds.
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The other day when I went to the doctor for my sinuses I was sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor to come in. I could hear the nurses out in the hallway talking. Apparently someone had brought donuts in and one of the nurses was reaching for another one. Here is the exchange that I heard between the nurses:

"Don't do it! You're emotional eating."

"I want one. Life is to short not to eat what you want."

"But you don't really want it."

"I could leave here today and get hit by a truck and die and then I'd regret not eating it and I'm pretty sure there are no donuts in heaven."

That was all I heard. I just sat in the exam room shaking my head. I'm pretty sure that the second nurse was doing the same thing; she "get's" it. I'm so glad that I'm one of the people that finally get's it. It is so freeing to know that food doesn't have that control over me anymore and that I'm making the right choices. In my opinion, life is too short to not live your very best life.
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My goal for this month is to amp up my exercise. I may start my Slim in 6 program again, that way I will have the structure that I need to stick to my program like I did with the squat challenge.
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I need to come up with different things to eat and different ways to prepare the usual things. I think I'll search recipes on the net today. I'm getting tired of eggs for breakfast and some days I just can't bear to eat them so I'll have cheese, yogurt, nuts or fruit. Still, I need more variety.
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I'm taking vacation days this Friday and Monday for a mini staycation. Friday is the bonus pay and this weekend is the shopping trip that I've been looking forward to. DD and I are going to a giant mall two hours away and are staying at a hotel. I'm so excited!!! I'm in need of a change of scenery and a little retail therapy. I'm going to try not to buy any much stuff for the house. I need to focus on making me feel good and look better, which will keep me on track. (Look good, feel good, keep going.) In the past I'd try to go shopping for stuff for me and it's so hard to find nice stuff that fits right when you're fat so I would always end up buying something for the house instead. Now I've pretty much got the house the way I want it, so unless I come across something I can't live without, this trip is going to be about me. :D
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Enough randomness for now.  Make it a great day!

Rain, rain, go away

It has been raining for nearly a week here.  I'm so  sick of it, I need the sun.

I weighed in this morning - 236.8.  I've been basically maintaining.  I think I have calorie creep and I need to check my portions and start tracking my food more acurately again.  I may be eating too much fruit and cheese...

Also, since the squat challenge ended, I haven't been exercising much at all - just sporatically here and there.  I need to make myself exercise at least 30 minutes every day.  I'm getting lazy again, I feel better when I exercise, and I must get my rump back in gear. I cannot let this dreary, rainy weather make me lazy. I'm in control.

When Sinuses Attack

For the past two days I've had the most severe sinus headache that I ever remember having.  By the time I got home from work yesterday my head just felt like it was going to explode and I thought I'd throw up any minute.  As soon as I got in the door I climbed straight into bed and slept for two hours. I felt a little better after that but it came back again during the night.  This has been going on, off and on, for almost a month.  Sometimes it will ease off and I think it's going away and then it's right back again. It had even gotten to the point where it was making my ears and jaws hurt from the pressure in my head. I've taken so much OTC sinus medicine and pain pills lately that I know is not doing me any good - not helping and I know it can't be healthy taking all of that medicine - plus, I think that is what has been upsetting my stomach so much.  Today I broke down and went to the doctor to get checked for sinus infection.  He checked my ears, nose and throat and said that he didn't see any signs of infection but since it has been bothering me for so long, and actually seems to be getting worse, he prescribed me antibiotics for two weeks.  Thank goodness.  I hope it kicks in soon.  I have been so drained lately, not to mention the pain, that I haven't exercised in days.  It's making me lazy. :(

I thought I'd get weighed at the doctor's office, but they didn't.  My blood pressure was good (120/82) and now they are doing something new - the nurse clipped something on the tip of my finger that checked my pulse and oxygen in my blood at the same time.  My pulse was 72 and oxygen was 98, which the nurse said both were very good.  I didn't know what the oxygen was/meant so when I got back to the office I looked it up online and it measures the oxygen in your blood to your organs.  At least I know that everything is functioning normally.

Nothing else to report.  I'm off to catch up on everyone else's blogs.

Inching Along

Because I've been a little aggrivated that the scale hasn't moved much in the past week, I've decided that I'm going to try not to weigh again until Monday and hopefully by then I'll see a whoosh. 

Today I'm going to focus on inches lost. I took my measurements at the beginning of the year (January 2) and again last night and I've lost a total of 12¼ inches!  Yippee!  Here's what I measured and what I've lost:

Arm (at bicep): -1"
Neck: -1"
Thigh: -1¼"
Calf: -½"
Waist: -2½"
Chest: same
Gut (under belly button): -3"
Hips: -3"

Even though I'm aggrivated that the scale is not moving I feel great when I look at these results and I know that something is happening. I'll just keep pushing forward, doing the best that I can do and eventually I will break through.

The sun is shining, I feel great and life is good.

Tuesday

I'm back.  I was out sick yesterday with a terrible sinus headache that kept me up all night.  I have bad seasonal allergies which make my sinuses worse. Anyway, I'm feeling a little better today.

I did go for a two mile walk yesterday after my headache eased off and I also did 50 squats. I don't want to undo any "lifting" that I did with the squat challenge, so I'm going to do 50 squats three times a week to maintain.

My weight is still holding the same within a half pound of 236.  I need to bust through that.  Maybe it's time for a calorie check again and I know I definitely need to kick the exercise up a notch.  Nothing to do but keep pushing forward.

Today is beautiful, sunny and great temps, right around 78° so I will probably walk outside again this evening.

I'm off to catch up on everyone's blogs.