Black out

1st things 1st, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweetie pie hubby.  We are in the twilight 2 weeks of where you are officially 2 years older than me!  But for today, you can be 29 again...just for today. :)

The Biggest Loser was a bit of a roller coaster for me this week.  I wonder if I can remember it all...seems like it started out with a reward challenge - something to do with quarters, and holding them on a tray.  Whoever held their tray up the longest won. I loved that Sam's whole objective was not being the 1st one to drop, and he was immediately the 2nd!  Ha ha!  I didn't realize this at the time, but the whole point of this challenge was that someone would trade all the quarters for $10 or something, so if you put on 100 quarters you'd win $1000 - I think that adds up.  Anyways, I don't mean to throw her under the bus or anything (she's Matt's #1), but I didn't see why Sunshine was getting so EMOTIONAL about keeping up the tray.  I mean c'mon...she was crying and moaning and SWEATING...I was over it.  BTW, Michael (Go White!) won!!  Hooray!

Actually, it seemed like a lot of the episode was centered around Sunshine, now that I think of it.  The next challenge was out in the rain and it was for 2 cars.  The contestants had to run up a hill to get to pull a key from a balloon, run back to both of the cars and try it out.  Black girl won the 1st car, and O'neil won the 2nd car, which he said was for Sunshine, and she was very excited....good for her.

But then came the last chance work out...and I think that Sunshine has gotten a little smug and full of herself...she was saying things in the interview like "c'mon Jillian...work me out"...I dunno...something about her is rubbing me the wrong way...and then it was as though all of that smugness caught up with her at the weigh in, cause she only lost like 3 pounds and was at the bottom of the list for a very long time, and was looking PATHETIC the whole entire time.  IN FACT, she had to roll her eyes and mutter under her breath when Sam got up to weigh in and was saying 'please' to letting him lose more than 3 lbs...with such a huge weigh-in last week...I thought the 'please' was appropriate.  To everyone's "shock" he lost a big ol goose egg - yep 0...and we all know that he works out HARD.  Anyways, Black girl and Sam ended up being in the bottom two - even though Sunshine practically laid down on the ground and had a tantrum...ugh.  Not impressed.

On a side note, I found myself really hoping that Victoria (Blue girl) was going to do well.  I felt really bad for her that noone clapped for her 5 pound loss this week.  That was great!  And for her "week 3" really of being on the ranch, that was huge!  I don't understand why she wasn't more excited about her number!  And I am also thrilled that Michael had a great weigh-in - 9 lbs!  That's awesome.  AND that he ran 5 miles - wow - I can't run 5 miles...and he still weighs 370 lbs!  Amazing.

The end result was Black girl getting voted off - which I didn't mind...I was happy to see Sam stick around for another week over the Black girl.  I hope that Sunshine can stop being such a big baby and I'll start liking her better...sorry Matt...

My top 4:  Michael (Go white!), Darius, Koli, Ashley!

Oh, and a status report on myself...I was down a 1/2 lb this week, putting me in at 131.5.  I need to try a little harder and get rid of that last pound and a half...that would be a great birthday present to myself in a couple of weeks!!

Should I keep doing this?

I feel as though I've stalled on my weight-loss, and am wondering if I should even keep this up anymore.  My weigh in this morning was right at 132...same as last week, although I really didn't try too hard to lose any weight this past week, but it's nice too that I didn't gain anything.  For one, it was Easter, and dieting on holidays is hard when there are such yummy things to eat.  For 2, my right knee was VERY sore this week, I'm not sure what the problem was but it hurt just walking up and down the stairs, so I got NO exercise in.  And for 3, I'm tired of salad.  Which, seems like is a necessity for me to eat since I can fill up most of my plate with salad and not think that I'm going to starve to death with my puny little dinner.  AND I'm getting a little tired of balsamic dressing.

I know...somebody call a waaammuullanncee...

And to just feel sorry for myself even more, the weather has been nasty, so no fun to go outside and walk, and it's been so blasted windy that we don't feel like we can even grill something wonderful like my sister's delicious sounding Rosemary chicken breast on a green salad....

The thing is, I don't even want to go back on JC...I'm tired of their food too.  And I tried finding some good options at the grocery store the other day, but everything I picked up was 350+ calories per meal, and that jsut seemed like too much for me to lose weight...and I'm tired of frozen box foods too.  

I need to do better.  I WANT those 2 pounds gone...I'm want to see 130!  I need an attitude adjustment!

Here's to a better week.  My knee is feeling better, hopefully the weather will improve, but even if it doesn't I can still get my bunzies down on that treadmill in the basement.  And I think it's time to cruise the Lean Cusine website for some good dinner ideas!

I'm not foolin...

So I'm a day late for the April Fool's reference...but I couldn't resist...

The diet update is this:  I've been off of JC for 2 weeks now, the last time I posted, I believe I had gained a pound - 132.5.  Last week I weighed, and was sitting pretty at 131.5, but with my parents visit I did loads of cheating - aka no portion control - so that put me at 132 this week. With everything that I ate and drank (and boy, do I mean drink!) I am happy with the 132.  I'm really hoping that I can get back to a negative by next Wednesday, and stay on track.  I'm obsessed with getting to 130, but also a little tired of dieting...

You know...it's not supposed to be that way.  Every single diet talks about making a "lifestyle" change and changing your lifestyle for the better.  Learning to eat more healthy.  Doing your body good.  But, isn't that why we call them DIETS?  And how come we get tired of 'dieting'?  I know why, cause there's so many good things to eat.  Hello KFC!  Yummy MSG...I love it.  There's a reason we call it all comfort food, cause it's yummy and comforting!  And I like to eat LOTS of it.  My mom has always said, "I like to chew, and I like how it tastes".  Meee tooo.

Anyways...I'm not going to fall off the wagon.  I believe I understand appropriate portions - it's just making the decision to follow them, which I know I need to if I want to shed lbs.  I wish I was one of those people who can eat a ton of food and never gain a pound.  I like quality AND QUANTITY!

BTW,  I watched about 30 minutes of the Biggest Loser and I'm throughly DISGUSTED that stupid Red girl got back on the show!!  I HATE THAT!!   It's not fair!!  I suppose that the stupid producers see that she's such a 'villain' that it makes for good TV, but I can't BELIEVE that they manufactured a challenge to let her back on.  ROAR!  AND she has immunity this week...hello throwing the weigh-in!  Wanna bet??  I haven't finished the episode yet, but I think it sucks that someone ELSE is going to have to go home, and not her.

POSITIVE?!!

So my weigh in was not the best this week.  I gained a pound.  BOOOOOO!!!!!  Back to 132.5.  Ugh!  I guess I splurged a little too much this week...I had a few days of chips and salsa with matt along with some beers...  My consultant was very nice and it was possibly water weight from the added salt...let's hope she's right.

It's going to be a hard week though...my parents are coming for a visit (yay!) but we LOVE to eat and drink when they are here.  Hopefully mom and I can get out for some walks and curb the weight gain...

JC Week 9?!

Has it really been 9 weeks?  Ugh!!  It's shocking for me to think that...but also shocking that I can't lose weight a little more quickly!!  So the weigh in this week wasn't great - just down .5 - putting me at 131.5.  I was really hoping it'd be more than that, but apparently not.  I'm also starting on my last week of food...which means convenient lunch and dessert are coming quickly to an end.

I think one of the hardest things about dieting and weightloss is the planning.  You just HAVE to have some sort of plan for what you're going to eat, especially if you work and have to figure out meals away from your house.  Actually, I take that back, you also have to have some sort of plan at home too, if it just means that you need to run to the grocery store to make sure that you have good choices at home.

I've never been much of a menu planner.  For years, Matt and I have figured out what we're going to have for dinner by talking about it at 3:30 that afternoon and he stops by the store on his way home from work.  Plan a menu for an entire week?  I've never done it.  I get burnt out at "Burritos on Monday...umm....I dunno...steak on Tuesday?  Ummm let's decide what we're having Wednesday later..."  One of the questions I always ask people is "What are you having for dinner", I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable, I'm trying to find some inspiration for my next meal.  Now that I'm on my last week of JC lunches, I'm struck with a slight panic of "what am I going to eat?!"

I need a live-in cook/grocery shopper.  Any volunteers?

10.

It's WEDNESDAY!!  And it's weigh in day!!  (I'm picturing everyone saying this in their Oprah voice - You get a car, and you get a car, and you get a car - everyone gets a car!! (Ok, so I stole that from an Ace of Cakes episode, but it was hilarious)).

Anyways.

I weighed in this morning and if you haven't guessed it already, it was a record low of 132!!!!!!!!!!!  I lost another pound this weekend bringing me to a grand total of -10!  I'm a little surprised that I lost anything at all - beings that I was having a hard time following the diet this weekend - I got sick on Saturday and haven't been doing a very good job of dieting since then, meaning that I haven't been getting my fruits and veggies in.  But maybe the lack of appetite helped and that's what  made a loss. I won't be too surprised if I gain next week though.  Just 2 more lbs to go!

..I wanna scream at the top of my lungs...

A little John Mayer this morning to help commemorate this weeks weigh in.  Drum roll please....133! 133!  133!  YES!  I'm thrilled.  This means I'm just 3 lbs away from my goal of 130, and a total weight loss of 9 lbs! Wee!!  I'm starting week 8 of Jenny Craig, and I'm on my last week of food.  I'm tempted to buy another couple weeks of food, for the convenience and the variety (and snacks!), but I honestly believe at this point that I get it.  I think I can probably do this on my own.  I think one of the big parts to this weight-loss business is, of course, portion control, which in our day to day lives is very hard, but with a little guidance, it gets a little easier.

One of the things this diet teaches, is how to visualize a plate of food.  They say to visualize servings by cutting the plate in half, filling that half with vegetables - like a huge mound of salad - and filling a 1/4 with a protein, and the other 1/4 with a starch, but making sure you can still see the plate between everything.  That alone has been a huge helper in cooking dinner.  There are some other visual hints that I've been paying attention to, like the appropriate size of meat - the size of your palm.  My eyes are always bigger than my stomach, but adhering to a few simple ideas of how to portion food does seem to help.  And shockingly enough, by the time I finish my plate of food that I've been a little more careful about filling, I'm satisfied.  Do I WANT to go back for 2nds?...well, yes, because I'm not stuffed and miserable yet, but after a few more minutes I'm happy that I stopped and feel good.

The other thing I wanted to mention about this journey-to-smaller-clothes are the little 'splurges'...JC encourages a 250 calorie splurge a week, and I have to say that is probably what kept me sane, not to mention their desserts...yum!  But they say to take that 250 calories and do whatever you want with them, and for me, it was 1 glass of wine on Friday and Saturday night with dinner or even with my chocolate cheesecake dessert.  I don't think I would have survived this long without that!  ha!  So I say, if you are trying to diet, go ahead and give yourself a little splurge to keep yourself sane.

And don't forget to have a glass of milk and a cookie before bed.

Gotta love dessert.


UPDATE:
I decided to wean myself off of JC a little more slowly, and I ordered 2 more weeks of food - just lunches and dessert.  I figure by next week I should be able to make good decisions about breakfast...plus I think that's the easiest meal!  Muffins, cereal, pancakes, french toast.  I can do that!

Mo please.

I'm not feeling too clever this morning...seemed like baby was waking up a lot last night.  Anyhoo, here I am, starting week 7! of JC.  I can't believe that it's been 7! weeks.  My weigh-in this morning was still negative, just down 1 lb.  BUT, down 1 lb puts me at 134.5, and I have officially lost 7.5 lbs.  I got my new shipment of food last night, and have gone off of JC dinners...although I have a few left over from doing a few meals on my own this past 2 weeks.  I'm a little nervous about starting this part of the diet - actually cooking something healthy, good and something that will still help me lose weight.  The nice thing will be eating dinner with Matt again.  And he needs it!  Matt has lost 10 lbs on my diet.  AND HE STILL GETS DONUTS FOR BREAKFAST!!  Grr...

It's good to be negative.

And finally....drum roll please....I weighed this morning, and I was NEGATIVE!!  That's right -2 pounds for me!!  Woot!!  So really that's only a net of 1.5 lbs over the 2 weeks, but hey, I'll take it.  My reward is to go to the mall today (I have today off) and buy some jeans!!  Yes!  So, current weight:  135.5

Ba-bum-bu-daaa....Waaahhhh.

You know the sound that they make on the Price is Right - when they lose a game?  That's the tune of this week's post.  My diet took a big ol digger this week, and I GAINED weight.  Somebody call the wahmbulance cause I'm SAD!  I weighed in this morning at 137.5, gaining a 1/2 pound for the week.  I'm sure I will be accused of cheating, but I honestly don't think I did. I did a couple of substitutions this week for snacks.  Instead of having the Jenny Craig snack at night, for 2 nights I substituted a very small piece of flour-less chocolate cake, (they would have been smaller than the cheese cake slices that come with JC) and on Saturday afternoon I had an apple, fennel, celery root salad that had a vinegarette on it...but something that I thought was well within the rules of fruit and vegetables...  UGH! So sad.

Well, there's nothing I can do about it now.  Just suck it up.

Survivability

I'm working on something at work today that cracks me up.  How to survive:  Don't be killed.  No kidding?

Here I am starting week 4 of the Jenny Craig diet.  Weight update:  I've lost another 1.5 lbs this week!  I was worried that I wasn't going to lose anything this week - I weighed Sunday morning with my jammies still on, and there was 0 loss!  Talk about panic!  My jammies must weigh more than I think!  Ha ha!  I have to do another food order tonight - that's the bad part...is the $$ - I'm worth it though, right?  At least our Safeway bill has been less this past month.

I started watching Biggest Loser last night but haven't finished last night's episode yet.  All I can say is I hate the red team.  And I hate the green team.  The green team is SO negative, and the red team is SO conniving!  Ugh!  I don't have a favorite yet, but I'd really like to see what's left of the white team to go all the way - although the guy (I can't think of his name right now) is SO big, that he has to lose SO much weight to get good numbers.  He needs to though - 500 lbs is way too big.  Hopefully I can finish it up tonight on the treadmill.

Oh, and baby update:  we've been teaching my baby the sign for 'all done', and we think she was doing it last night!  I'd hand her off to my hubby, Matt, she'd give the 'all done' and want to come back to me!!  We're not entirely sure that she means 'all done', but we think it's hilarious!!  And it makes us BEAM and talk about how smart and gifted she is...but aren't they all??

Hello 130s...it's nice to see you again.

I watch the Biggest Loser on TV, and I have to say that I'm addicted - I love watching Jillian and Bob scream at the contestants, I am often reduced to tears hearing their stories...  It was on last night, if I can remember it, maybe I'll do a little review of episode after I watch it tonight.  Although it sometimes takes me more than one day to watch it - they're 2 hour episodes!  Anyhoo, last week, I was watching as I was walking on the treadmill, and was SHOCKED that some of the contestants can lose 26 pounds in 1 WEEK!  Granted - they are like 300 lbs, but STILL. And others are disappointed when they lose "only" 8.  Only 8...ugh!  I wish I would lose only 8 in one week.  I mean, granted, they are working out 5 days a week.  If only I had a personal trainer for 5 days a week, and the TIME to work out 5 days a week for 8 hours a day.  HA!  Anyhoo, as my title suggests, I have broken the barrier of the 130s, and am happy to report that I'm back in them!!!  Wee!!  Only down 1.5 lbs this week - so only 3.5 total, but I'm sitting happy at 138.5.   Yay!