Road Trippin...

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This week was a big challenge for me.  It was my first long road trip without Dan since I started WW.  I was heading home to Wisconsin with Briscoe for the weekend.  The reason for the trip was to participate in a day of making meat.  My family deer hunts every fall and we mix and smoke our own meat.  Generally, what we make is pretty healthy because venison is super lean meat even when combined with ground pork, though everything in moderation, right?

Anyway... I digress... Historically, road trips have been full of junk food or fast food and as many sugary sodas that you could stand.  When Dan and I travel together it seems easier to stay on plan but since I was by myself I was really worried I'd fall into my old ways.  To combat this I portioned out Nilla Wafers (3 PointsPlus/8 crackers) and Special K Sour Cream 'n Onion crisps (3 PointsPlus/30 grams) into plastic containers before I left.  I also packed my food scale and some slimwich buns because I knew there would be some kind of burger lunch.

The drive up went really well.  I found a Subway where we stopped for lunch (for me) and potty break (for Briscoe and me).  We stopped again in Onalaska at the Woodman's because I wanted to look for the new WW deli salads (really good but be warned there are 2 servings per container).  Then we drove up through Winona, MN (beer stop - shocking I know!) and then, finally, to Mom and Dad's house.

Mom had dinner ready when I got there and that was pretty healthy.  Then I took Briscoe on a walk so he'd be good and tired.  That's when we hit the first snafu of the weekend.  My parents live in the country and on our way back we met a skunk.  I immediately pulled Briscoe (who normally walks on a retractable leash) back to me and turned around to go the other direction.  Luckily I had my cell phone and a signal (which in the country is a god send) so I called Mom to ask someone to come and pick us up.

Saturday morning started with an early walk with the dog but luckily no skunks and a quick shower.  Then we got to work - talk about a long day!!  Lunch was 1/2 pound (pre-cooked weight) venison burgers (mixed with some pork and spices) that were really good.  However, they were HUGE!  Dinner was the same (good thing I packed two slimwich buns!!)

When we met up with the skunk on Friday night I must have twisted my knee or something because when I was walking on Saturday it was sore and throughout the day it continued to get worse.  I decided not to walk on Sunday to give it, and me, a break.  After packing up the meat that we'd made the day before and packing up the car to come back we were off.  That is where I hit the other snafu of the weekend.  I was tired and it is a L-O-N-G drive back.  Briscoe was apparently as tired as I was because he slept (and snored) almost the entire drive home. By the time I made it home I was so tired I didn't even care to track points and I was asleep by 6:30 pm.

So, the big question - did my weight gain continue or did I lose?

I lost 4.6 pounds.  YIPPEE!!!

And I bounced.

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I knew when I left my meeting last week that losing 6 pounds was not like me.  I hadn't felt well for a couple of days and didn't even eat half of my daily points target.  So, I kind of knew/felt that the weigh in this week would be a gain.  So, when I stepped on the scale today at the meeting I wasn't surprised though I was disappointed.  I gained 4.4 pounds.  Ugh.

Luckily during the meeting we talked about ways to ensure that you're listening to your hunger signals.  One way, and I'd read this somewhere else recently, is by listening for the sigh.  You know when you're eating and you just sigh?  Well, that means you're satisfied.  Anything more than that and you'll very likely end up full.  Maybe too full!  I'm really going to listen for this while eating this week. 

Anyway, so today was a big day for a couple of friends of mine.  Gayle and Jen are two of my meeting friends and I adore them both.  Today, Gayle hit goal and starts her maintenance journey and Jen has lost 25 pounds.  I'm so beyond excited for them both! 

Congratulations Gayle and Jen!!

One Hundred Pounds in Pictures ...

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July 2010 - about two weeks after starting WW

50 pounds later(December 2010)

75 pounds later (March 2011)

100 pounds lost (June 2011)

One Hundred and Four!

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So, I surpassed 100 pounds today!!!! 

(Yes, that totally deserved four exclamation points)

I've been walking a lot and even shaved FIVE MINUTES off my 5K time since my first 5K in mid-May.  I knew I only had two pounds to go after my weigh in last week so I was really hoping that this would be it but when I got on the scale I didn't expect the number that I saw.  

 

I knew I hit 100 pounds as soon as I stepped on the scale.  Once my weight had been logged I wanted to run out into the store because I'd heard about a new Crystal Light product I wanted to try.  On my way out of the meeting room I met up with some favorite meeting members and that is when I realized....

I lost 6 pounds since last week.  SIX POUNDS!!! 

WOAH!

I don't think I have any tremendous advice to leave you with this week other than to keep going.  While it may not be a huge milestone week for you, every week is something.  Even weeks when the scale is not moving the direction you want, or when it's not moving at all, keep going with your plan because it's the only way you'll ever get to your goal, and that feeling is awesome.  

Yumapalooza

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Over Memorial Day weekend we were in Northern Wisconsin with my in-laws.  The weather was alright (a little cold and very windy) but otherwise it was a great weekend.  The best part, in my opinion, was learning about some WW friendly foods from my mother-in-law.  We learned that Sara Lee makes some hotdog buns that are only 2 PointsPlus value each, which isn't bad considering the other PointsPlus values of buns.  She also made a desert out of 1/2 of a cup of 1 PointsPlus strawberry yogurt, a bunch of fresh strawberries and fresh blueberries.  Holy YUM!  I've discovered that blueberries are definitely a new favorite food.  The other, and quite possibly the best, tip was about Peanut Butter. 

She told me about a product called Better'n Peanut Butter which is only 2 PointsPlus per 2 T. serving.  Seriously, compared to 7+ PointsPlus values of other varieties I think we can all agree that this is ground breaking.  She said she found this in the peanut butter aisle, but when I went to the market I found it in the organic food aisle.  It is more costly than regular peanut butter and you have to refrigerate it after opening but in my opinion, if you like/crave peanut butter it is totally worth it.  We've almost gone through an entire jar in a week!

Last week I did my weigh-in on Thursday so when I went to weigh in this week I was a little nervous.  I had, again, forgotten to look at my weight tracker before I got on the scale so when I saw the number I was thought, uh oh.  My leader said you lost 1.2 pounds.  Seriously?  Awesome.  I'll take that!

No Pleateau!

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The last few weeks have been a little bumpy when it came to weighing in.  I'd be down, but not much, then the next week I'd be up, generally by about the same amount.  It is so frustrating because I was still weighing and measuring everything, except fruits and vegetables.  Needless to say that during weigh-ins I was frustrated.  So yesterday I emailed my leader and asked for help because I didn't know what to do.  She told me to come to a meeting and we'd talk about it.

So I went to her Thursday meeting (I'd missed the Tuesday meeting because we got back from vacation late) and I think she thought I was crazy when I got on the scale.  She looked at me like I was crazy and we had this conversation:

K:  Well obviously you're not on a plateau!
Me:  Why?
K:  Your weight is down.
Me:  How much? 
K:  3.2 pounds
Me:  Huh? Wow.  Ok.  (I'm so articulate)

She also went on to tell me that it's not considered a plateau until it's gone on for 6 weeks.  This was a little bit of a relief!  Yeah.  So now let's keep this weight loss going.

So how is everyone else doing?  Did you have good weekends?  Are you ready for grilling season?

PS - to Chris - only 3.2 more pounds until we are gettin' some beers and 'za!!!!