One of the hardest parts of changing my lifestyle is monitoring and limiting my intake of good craft beer. This is especially hard because my husband is an award winning home brewer. Some people are like, well gees, who cares? If you've had really good craft beer, you would. Some people have coffee or a snack that they absolutely have to have but for me it's a nice glass of beer.
After we got married everyone kept telling us that they had so much fun at our wedding reception. When people keep telling you this, how can you not think about having another party? Maybe not as big and maybe without such formal clothes but we wanted to get together with those we loved most and have a good time. This lead us to the decision that we'd combine our desire for a party with Dan's ability to brew good beer.
This also brings us to the major challenge of the week. On Sunday we celebrated our fourth annual McTews Oktoberfest. We had seven different home brewed beers on tap, food catered from Der Rathskeller in Rockford and soft pretzels from Austrian Bakery & Deli in Chicago. The day was awesome. We had about 30 people here and we ate and drank like fools. Ok, maybe the eating and drinking like a fool was just me. I planned in advance that it would essentially be a bad weekend. I wanted to enjoy myself and not really worry about food.
When I got my plate I thought I was very conservative. I only took a small amount of sausage, about a half cup of sauerkraut, a half cup of lyonaise potatoes and some fresh vegetables and dip. The beer is kind of where the wheels came off the bus. First off, I didn't realize that plastic cups came in 18 oz. size. Secondly, I don't remember how many beers I had. So, journaling my food/drink for Saturday became much more difficult than I had hoped.
Things only got a little bit worse on Sunday because we had left overs. And the food was really good. I guess maybe my lifestyle change hasn't quite settled in enough to get me through the soft pretzels and Sunday left overs.
I know that tomorrow is another day and that I didn't put the weight on in one weekend so I can't expect it to come off in one weekend. So, now we get back on the bus and start again.
The one good thing that came out of the weekend was the time I got to spend with one of my besties, Krissy. We talked about WW, my journey and she asked me why I wasn't blogging about this because others may find comfort or inspiration in the things I've learned and humor in the stupid things I've done. So, on Sunday night I started this blog. I went back through my journal and wrote posts for all the weeks since I started and now we're really in present time so... let's enjoy the ride I guess! I'll blog about my weight management goals, achievements and failures but I'll probably also throw in some other fun stuff too. I hope you enjoy this and I hope that you'll participate through the comments section to let me know what you think.
I was kind of dreading weigh-in this week both because of the party as well as the pre-party party that we had on Friday night with our besties Jeremy & Krissy. I was tremendously surprised, and there are witnesses who will attest to my surprise, when the scale said I lost 3.6 pounds. The woman who was doing the weigh in said, 3.6 that's great. My response?
3.6??
Pounds?
Really?
Yep - and I've got the sticker in my weigh-in journal to prove it.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Busy weekends
This weekend was a scrapbook retreat weekend. This means that on Friday morning I pack up all my scrapbook supplies, drive to McHenry and spend the weekend laughing and scrapbooking with a great group of women. It also very likely means that I don't leave the hotel until late Sunday afternoon. This hasn't been a problem before but I've never been on WW and gone to a retreat at the same time. This was going to be an interesting weekend and an interesting weigh-in.
As it turned out, I was exhausted on Tuesday and decided that with my FUT sisters we would not go weigh in. Not only was I tired I was also worried that after last week's big 0 in the change department that I would either have the same result and be the exact same weight again or I'd actually have gained. I love the hostess of our retreats and she did a fantabulous job of trying to make sure the food that was offered as fairly healthy but just because it's healthy doesn't mean you can eat 6 of them!
So, I spoke to my Mom on Thursday night and she asked how my week went because she knows I go to Tuesday meetings. Oh great, a guilt trip from Mom. Nope, I hadn't gone and when I spoke to her I was on my way to go grocery shopping. This would be a good mix for sure, right?
I decided at the last minute that I'd at least go weigh-in. I wouldn't stay for the meeting but at least I could weigh-in for the week and be done with it. So, when I stepped on the scale I really thought there was something wrong. Did the scale really just say that I'd lost 4.8 pounds? Really?
It did. I have the sticker in my meeting log that proves it. HOLY CRAP! That's awesome! When you have those losses, it also makes it easier to go to the grocery store and focus on all the good stuff rather than that brownie you've really been thinking about!
As it turned out, I was exhausted on Tuesday and decided that with my FUT sisters we would not go weigh in. Not only was I tired I was also worried that after last week's big 0 in the change department that I would either have the same result and be the exact same weight again or I'd actually have gained. I love the hostess of our retreats and she did a fantabulous job of trying to make sure the food that was offered as fairly healthy but just because it's healthy doesn't mean you can eat 6 of them!
So, I spoke to my Mom on Thursday night and she asked how my week went because she knows I go to Tuesday meetings. Oh great, a guilt trip from Mom. Nope, I hadn't gone and when I spoke to her I was on my way to go grocery shopping. This would be a good mix for sure, right?
I decided at the last minute that I'd at least go weigh-in. I wouldn't stay for the meeting but at least I could weigh-in for the week and be done with it. So, when I stepped on the scale I really thought there was something wrong. Did the scale really just say that I'd lost 4.8 pounds? Really?
It did. I have the sticker in my meeting log that proves it. HOLY CRAP! That's awesome! When you have those losses, it also makes it easier to go to the grocery store and focus on all the good stuff rather than that brownie you've really been thinking about!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Steven is even
My husband and I have said this to each other for almost as long as we've been in love. One of us says I love you, the other says I love you more and then we both say nope, Steven is even. Normally, this is very comforting to me because it's our little ritual. It's less comforting when we're talking about weight loss.
I know these weeks happen but c'mon, they are dumb. I didn't lose even an ounce. On the upside, I didn't gain an ounce either but it's still a little depressing. Anyway...
This meeting topic of this week was how we feel about WW. Do we see it as a diet or a life change. I'd guess about 98% of the people in the room agreed with the leader when she said that they wished they would lose the weight really fast. I was in the minority when I said I didn't. I think it also surprised the leader when I said that I don't think of this as a diet. I can't think of it as a diet.
In my mind, a diet has a specific goal with a start date and an end date. I don't want to lose a bunch of weight and then go back to life as 'normal'. I really need this to be a lifelong change. I know I've said this before I got married when we were following the Seattle Sutton program and I'm sure I said it before that too, but losing weight really sucks. I really don't want to have to do this over and over and over again. I'd love to be able to lose the weight and get to my goal weight and then maintain that weight.
So is it as simple as just thinking that way that makes it happen?
I know these weeks happen but c'mon, they are dumb. I didn't lose even an ounce. On the upside, I didn't gain an ounce either but it's still a little depressing. Anyway...
This meeting topic of this week was how we feel about WW. Do we see it as a diet or a life change. I'd guess about 98% of the people in the room agreed with the leader when she said that they wished they would lose the weight really fast. I was in the minority when I said I didn't. I think it also surprised the leader when I said that I don't think of this as a diet. I can't think of it as a diet.
In my mind, a diet has a specific goal with a start date and an end date. I don't want to lose a bunch of weight and then go back to life as 'normal'. I really need this to be a lifelong change. I know I've said this before I got married when we were following the Seattle Sutton program and I'm sure I said it before that too, but losing weight really sucks. I really don't want to have to do this over and over and over again. I'd love to be able to lose the weight and get to my goal weight and then maintain that weight.
So is it as simple as just thinking that way that makes it happen?
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Acceptable loss
When several weeks pass and you lose more then 3-4 pounds a week it's exciting. The numbers are fun to see and it makes the effort, the journaling, etc... all worth while.
This was not one of those weeks.
This week I lost 1.6 pounds, which is totally acceptable and is completely within the 1-2 pound per week weight loss range that WW gives members. So why is it a little disappointing?
This was not one of those weeks.
This week I lost 1.6 pounds, which is totally acceptable and is completely within the 1-2 pound per week weight loss range that WW gives members. So why is it a little disappointing?
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