Gall Bladder

I'm going to meet with a surgeon today to talk about potentially taking my gall bladder out. The pain is fairly constant - not really painful at all times, but nagging. The pessimist in me wonders if it's something else and not my gall bladder. The optimist thinks I should get it out and go about my life. We shall see.

I am a nutjob

My doctor, thank goodness, did not tell me that. She agreed that my side is a little swollen. She believes that the pain may be caused by some gall bladder issues that I have been experiencing. Luckily, I have a hepatobiliary scan tomorrow. Basically, they put some radioactive stuff in you through an IV and take images of your gall bladder and liver to see how it goes through them. Or something like that. It sounds a little uncomfortable - I have to lay still for quite a while. But hopefully I'll have some answers soon.

Anxiety

I've been feeling a lot of anxiety lately. Mostly because I have decided that there's no doubt I'm a hypochondriac. It's definitely not something I'm proud of. I've been typing in symptoms I've been experiencing into google. Definitely not something I'd recommend. Because each thing that comes up is worse than the last. And most of the results point to cancer. CANCER. Now I've convinced myself that I have it. Even if there is only one of my symptoms that match, I know I have it.

I'm headed to the doctor later because I've had this pain in my side for a while and now it seems to be swollen. Cancer? Ugh!

I wish I could afford a full body scan - just to put my mind at ease. I'm sure it's not something that my insurance would pay for, but I wish it would.

This is no way to live. I cannot keep thinking that I may be dying. Please... someone talk me down!!!

New Approach

I've decided to take a new approach with my journey. That approach is to concentrate on one good new habit at a time. My first good habit was to not bring soda into the house. If any of you have a horrible diet coke habit, as I do, you know how hard it is.

It's torture to walk past the display at the grocery store... the one that tells you that you can have three 12-packs of delicious diet coke for the bargain price of $10. But that's what I've done for the past 18 days. I've done this before with much success, but fell off the wagon this summer and started bringing soda back in the house. I decided that once we got back from vacation, I would end my soda addiction once again. So far, so good. I do allow myself soda when I am out. But seeing that we are trying not to spend money as much any more, we haven't been going out to eat quite as much as we have in the past. So my soda consumption is way down.

The next healthy habit that I am focusing on is water consumption. While not drinking soda, my water drinking has much improved. And that is what I'm trying to do now.

I have not been very good at exercising lately. My preschooler has finally started school again, so I will be doing something active during preschool today. I have not decided if I'm going to go to the gym or take a long walk outside. I'm leaning towards the outside walk - who knows how much more beautiful weather we will have.

Five Pounds

That's about how much I gained on vacation... five pounds. It's no wonder - I did not think twice before putting things in my mouth and had quite a bit of alcohol to drink. It was to be expected.

So, officially, I'm down 18 pounds from where I was about a year ago. which is 13 pounds up from my lowest in March. Not the best situation, but certainly not the worst.

We took lots of photos on our trip. I was in many of them. You know how you have a picture in your head of what you look like? Well, it turns out the picture I have in my head of what I think I look like and what I actually look like in pictures is not the same thing. 200 pounds is not little, no matter what I've been telling myself. I have a long way to go.

Bad Blogger

I've been having many thoughts about my journey down the weight loss trail and I'm just about ready to rededicate myself. We're headed out tomorrow for vacation and when I return, I will check back in.

Better Choices

I took another super long walk last evening and when I got home I ate an apple instead of cookies or ice cream. Much better choice!

We're headed to my husband's 20th high school reunion tomorrow for the weekend. His parents no longer live in the town where he went to high school, so we're staying in a hotel. I wish we were going to a better place (like the beach or a fun big city!) for our weekend alone, but that's okay. I'm looking forward to hanging out with my husband with no responsibilities for a couple of days. And six hours in the car will give me time to talk to my hubby, catch up on some reading and maybe even get a nap!

Note to Self

It is fantastic that you have taken three long (one hour plus) walks this week. However, it is not going to help you lose any weight if you continue to eat cookies and ice cream when you get home from these walks!

Post Reunion Weekend Follow-up

What a blast my weekend was. I had so much fun catching up with my bestest high school friends. I'm the only one that lives close to where we went to school, so my house was our home base. Three of the girls came in on Thursday and stayed with me Thursday and Friday. We caught up with one more of the girls at the Happy Hour on Friday. I got my husband to hang out with us and drive us - I owe him big! Finally, the last of the girlfriends got in Saturday morning and we picked her up at the Metro and headed straight to the picnic at the high school. My husband also brought my kids so they could see where mommy went to school.

We had a tour of the school - it is in desperate need of renovation. It was pretty sad, actually. I'm glad that we now live in an area where my kids go to newer schools. The high school was built in the late 60's and hasn't had much updating done in the past 40 years.

After the picnic, we drove around to everyone's old houses (not even their parents still live in the area). We laughed a lot and told lots of old stories. Then headed to the hotel. We had gotten rooms where the reunion was held, which was a really good move on our part.

The reunion was fun. Caught up with people I never really thought I'd see again. I was fairly comfortable in my dress... and was very glad that I invested in some shapewear!

It was the guys in my class that had changed the most. Some of them I never would have recognized. Many were much balder, grayer and heavier. The girls had gotten older but were much more recognizable.

Now I'm trying to recover. I drank way too much - I can't remember the last time I drank three nights in a row! I didn't eat very well either. But that was to be expected. I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

I HATE SHOPPING

I have less than 24 hours until my high school friends start arriving for the reunion. So I've been a busy little (ha!) girl trying to find something to wear. I've dragged my children around to a number of stores this week. I've bought two dresses, neither of which I love - one found at Lane Bryant (at the third Land Bryant I went to) and one at Macy's. I still might wear something I already have in my closet and just take those back. I've bought shapewear and a new black bra at Kohl's. And I plan to go out to one more mall when my husband gets home from work today.

I'm feeling very bad about myself. I wish I were twenty or thirty pounds lighter than I am. Why couldn't I have succeeded this spring with losing the weight I wanted to lose? I know that my friends will still love me. Although I wonder if they'll talk behind my back about how I've "let myself go." Hmmm... low self esteem, maybe?

Why I don't buy good cereal.

I love cereal. I could eat it for every meal. Which is why I don't buy it - at least not the kinds that I love. I usually buy generic grocery store brands for the kids. They don't seem to mind. I can taste the minor difference, so I don't eat it. Yesterday, we were at Target and they had cereal on sale. I let each kid pick out a box - the oldest picked Frosted Flakes. Which is my favorite. Again, we bought them yesterday. And now the box is gone.

That is why I don't buy good cereal.

A New Start

According to the "rules" at Fabulous N Fit by Fall, I'm supposed to take a photo of my scale. So here you go...



There you go. There's that TWO number again. How depressing. But I'm going to change that - starting today.

I Can Do Better

I completely failed at the 4th of July challenge. Completely failed. I weigh more than I did when I started the challenge. I have not had a productive couple of months. I had hoped to be down quite a bit and instead, I weigh what I did seven months ago. I have to admit to myself that I've gained 10 pounds back from my lowest weight (which was at the beginning of March).

I do believe, however, that I am ready to start again. I have been exercising at a semi-regular basis, but my eating has been in the toilet. I have been craving the most horrible foods and to make matters worse, I have been satisfying those cravings. I know that I need to step it up with my exercising and be better with my eating. I found a new challenge, Fabulous N Fit by Fall. I really hope to succeed at this one.

A Small Pity Party

I got on the scale this morning and saw a number I haven't seen since December... SEVEN months ago. I feel like a huge failure - one that has wasted all this time doing nothing... again. All that holiday partying over the weekend certainly caught up to me. The good news is that instead of heading to the refrigerator, I went out back and walked a mile on the track.

What a weekend

Two parties, lots of fireworks and an endless supply of food and beer. I'm feeling like I need to eat salad and drink water all this week.

My eating has been in the can, but I have been exercising a bit. I'm hoping to get out this evening for a quick walk. There is a school right behind my house so I can always go walk around the track, which is my plan today.

I have been enjoying Sparkpeople. But like WW, I need to be sure to track and I have a problem with that. But at least it's free.

Have you visited The Belly Project? Many of us women are a bit consumed with what people look like under their clothes. The summer leaves far less to the imagination. And here, you can see that you aren't the only one that does not have a perfect mid-section!

Hello Sparkpeople

We all know that the economy is horrible right now. My husband and I are trying hard to watch every penny... especially since we just had to buy a new to us car, which results in a car payment. Because of this, I've decided to give up Weight Watchers. It hasn't really been working for me for the past few months. Which really means, I haven't really been MAKING it work for me. I haven't been keeping track of my points. I feel like I've been flushing the money I've been spending on it down the toilet.

I've decided to try something that is free... sparkpeople.com. I'm hoping it will help me jump start my diet again. I've kept track of my eating for the past two days and have also exercised.

Do you - or have you ever - used sparkpeople? Does it work for you?

All the Chocolate has been Eaten

I'm pretty sure I've eaten all the chocolate in my house. So now it's gone and won't be replaced. My cravings were horrible yesterday. Why can't I have cravings for apples and peaches? Not me... chocolate was all I wanted. And then I felt awful after it was all gone in my belly.

This was not a good eating weekend. We had three parties to go to. Lots of drinking and eating not so good for you foods. I tried to control myself - at least I drank a lot less than I thought I would.

Class reunion is less than five weeks away. I'm not nearly the weight I hoped I would be, but at least I'm not near where I started. And really... who cares. No one is going to not talk to me because I don't look like I did in high school. Most likely, no one will look like they did in high school. I've become reacquainted with a girl I graduated with that lives in my neighborhood. She doesn't seem to care that I'm a bigger girl. In fact, she actually seems to like me and is glad to see me when she does. Two of my bestest girlfriends are coming in and staying at my house - I should probably focus more on cleaning my house and making sure they are comfortable! But... I think I can lose 10 pounds in the next five weeks, so that's what I'm going to focus on.

197???

It's catching up to me. I have not been good about my eating or exercise for the past couple of MONTHS (ugh!) and thus far, I'd been doing okay. Up and down a couple of pounds. But when I got on the scale on Tuesday it showed 197. 197! That's only three pounds from 200 again! And I will not go back to that. So I've been very careful about my eating this week and have been exercising. Bootcamp on Tuesday (which I'm still sore from) and treadmill today. I'm also going to check out a different bootcamp tomorrow. It's closer to my house and a little cheaper, which is always good.

What happened to me losing 20 more pounds before my reunion in July? Now I'm seven weeks away. I guess it's possible for me to lose 20 pounds by then... but probably not probable.

Not as sore as I thought I'd be

I woke up this morning and discovered that I wasn't nearly as sore as I thought I'd be. I'm sore, that's for sure... but not sore enough not to try boot camp again. So I'll be going again on Tuesday.

A friend also told me about another boot camp that's much closer to where I live. I may go check it out next week when I'm kid-free. It's also a bit cheaper, which is always good.

Trying Something New

I am still struggling with my eating... coming to the conclusion that I may ALWAYS struggle with my eating. Perhaps I need to focus more on exercising, which is something I haven't been doing very well on either. So today I went to a boot camp. It kicked my butt.. but I liked it. And I could bring my 4 year old with me, which was a plus. The workout was about an hour, which is more than I've exercised at one time in a very long while. I'm already a little sore, but that's to be expected. It was definitely an all over workout, meaning my entire body is going to be hurting tomorrow. I get to try three workouts for free, so I'm going to go back next week. And my 4 year old will be in camp, so I'll get to do it child-free.

I ended up having the endoscope last week. My doctor said that she didn't find anything. She is recommending I have my gall bladder out. That is most likely what is causing the pain in my right side. I have a follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks to discuss it further.

What is it going to take to get out of this holding pattern?

I seem to be stuck. I haven't lost weight - about 2 months or so. Actually, I've gained back about 3 pounds. I have not tracked my points in weeks. Basically, I'm wasting my money by paying for my Weight Watchers online membership.

On a positive note... I've lost about 30 pounds. That's fantastic. I weigh less than I have in about 5 years. Again... fantastic. Perhaps I need to take this time for my body to adjust to this weight again. But I'm going to try really hard to back into it and lose some more weight this summer.

Pigging Out is No Way to Lose Weight

Goodness... I've been eating everything in sight for the past couple of days. I'm using the ol' period excuse, but I really need to quit doing it. And to make matters worse, the heartburn is back with a vengeance. It's been awful. Time to bland the diet again... perhaps that will help me lose some weight. It's been too hot to walk the past couple of days. Hopefully it will cool down by mid-week - it's also supposed to rain which should wash some of the yellow pollen away.

This Weight Loss Stuff Is Hard!

I'm on day 2 of being back on track. And I am starving. STARVING! I was starving this afternoon, but got through until dinner. Now it's almost 9:00pm and I'm hungry again. With only one point left. I guess I'll go have an apple.

On a positive note, I got out between rain storms today and got a walk in.

Time Wasted and My Crazy Mind

I'm back. I've wasted a lot of time in the past month or so not losing weight. It's weird how my mind works sometimes. I stopped being good... really stopped losing weight. I am not dying... which is really what I thought was happening. Weight loss was a side effect of every disease that I diagnosed myself with... so in my crazy mind, I convinced myself that if I stopped losing weight, then I wasn't dying. Hmmm...

The good news.... my heartburn seems to have resolved itself. I've felt really good for the past few weeks. My GI appointment went well. The doctor wanted me to have an endoscope (where they put a camera down your throat and see what's going on), but I canceled since I've felt good. I'll reschedule if I have more problems.

More good news... during my "hiatus", I only gained back two pounds. It easily could have been 10 or 15, especially with all the Girl Scout cookies and Easter candy that have been in my house... and in my mouth.

The best news... I'm back to counting my points and exercising. The weather is getting nicer, so I can walk outside. I'm back on board and hope to continue to lose weight. I got the invitation to my class reunion in the mail yesterday and really hope to lose bit more before I go to that at the end of July.

Taking a Little Break

I haven't been very good about keeping track of my eating lately. I'm hovering around 191, so I haven't gained or lost anything. I have been trying to keep my food pretty bland and plain. I've been having really horrible heartburn, as I talked about previously. I got a referral to a GI doctor and have an appointment on April 1st. My repeat blood tests came back normal, so that was very good. I was very stressed about them. Which was obvious when I burst out in tears after getting the results the other day from the nurse.

Reflux

My doctor's appointment went well on Monday. I got a lot of blood tests done and have to go back in a couple of weeks for a repeat liver function test - numbers were a little elevated. The doctor said it's nothing to worry about, but of course I'm doing just that... lots of worrying. Google and webmd are NOT your friend!

I was back at the doctor today for horrible abdominal and back pain. Got diagnosed with reflux and got the little purple pill. Hopefully it will kick in soon. I'm pretty miserable right now. It's been lingering for a couple of weeks, but was really excruciating today.

Lost 2 more pounds as of today. Saw a number that I haven't seen in about 5 years. I know I weighed 192 when I got pregnant in April 2004... today was 191!

Chubby Chick's Fourth of July Challenge

I found a new weight loss challenge to join and hope that it helps me be successful... Chubby Chick's Fourth of July Challenge. I've chosen a goal to lose 25 pounds by the 4th of July... that's a little more than 18 weeks away. I know that it IS possible... we'll see if I can do it. I have my 20th high school reunion at the end of July - that would be fantastic to lose 25 more pounds before then. That would put me at about the weight I was at my 10 year reunion in 1999. And I remember feeling very comfortable with myself back then.

I've fallen off the wagon with writing down my food lately - I vow to start doing so again tomorrow. I'm not sure what's going with the wheat thing. I decided yesterday to try to eat something with wheat in it (and I chose a girl scout cookie and a brownie - seriously not the best choices). The good news is that my stomach did not respond the way it was a couple of weeks ago. So that's good. I've eaten a few more items today that contain wheat with no problems. I'm going to talk to the doctor about it tomorrow and hopefully will start eating normally again soon. It's really thrown me for a loop. I have been scared to eat because of what my stomach might feel like. And then my stomach would hurt because I was starving. It was a horrible cycle that I was putting myself through.

Say a little prayer for me for my appointment tomorrow. Truthfully, I'm terrified. I have a horrible case of white coat syndrome - my blood pressure and pulse goes way up at the doctor. My worst fear is they are going to tell me that I am dying. I have no reason to believe that, but sometimes I am not very logical!

No Wheat for About a Week

I never realized how much of our food has wheat in it. Pretty much EVERYTHING. Bread, baked goods (like girl scout cookies!), pasta, cereal... you name it. For about a week, I've been on a quest to eliminate wheat from my diet. And it's hard. Very hard. For the past several months, I've been eating toast for breakfast. There will be no more of that - at least not for a while. No sandwiches for lunch. Even the frozen meals from Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice - that have been staples in my diet recently - are out. No pasta for dinner.

I did find some yummy granola at Trader Joe's that I've been eating... no wheat. And Rice Krispies, which I love, don't contain wheat.

My stomach has been feeling better for the past several days... and that's a very good thing. I just hope that this is not a permanent thing. I don't want to have food issues. Actually, I already have food issues... those food issues made me overweight. I don't want to have MORE food issues. I am already annoyed by all of this.

Wish me luck at my doctor's appointment next week. I'm actually really nervous about it. She's a new doctor to me - recommended my a neighbor. I'm hoping that she has good bedside manor. I need someone who will be nice to me.

Is Wheat the Problem?

I've been having some stomach pains lately after I eat. Really bad stomach pains that start about 5-15 minutes after I eat and stay for a couple of hours. I've been trying to keep track of what I've eaten when my tummy starts hurting and I've come to the conclusion that it's food that contains wheat. Breads, pasta, tortillas, baked goods... all those carbs that I absolutely LOVE! I've done some research and I think I may have developed a wheat intolerance. And it absolutely sucks! I've decided to lay off the wheat products for a week or so and see if my stomach issues go away. That's going to be really hard. But I'm up for a challenge. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a doctors appointment in a week or so, so I'll talk to her about this too.

Does anyone else have an issue like this that they've dealt with? I'd love to hear about it!

The Big 10 Percent

I had a very good week and lost 2 pounds. Which means that not only did I reach my personal Valentine's Day goal of 195... I also reached my 10% milestone with Weight Watchers. I am officially down 23.6 pounds on WW... and I'm really down 28.6 pounds from when I started on my own in August. That's big. That's a lot. I'm proud of myself. Although I have a ways to go. My new mini-goal is 175... 18 more pounds. I wonder if I can do it by the time the pool opens at the end of May.

I think it really helped that I worked out a record (for me) five times this week. Three outdoor walks and two trips to the gym. Especially since girl scout cookies came in this week and I am having a hard time avoiding them. Although I will tell you that I have not eaten an entire sleeve of thin mints as I have in years past. Four thin mints are four points... and that's plenty : ).

I have a doctor's appointment for a physical in a couple of weeks. I would like to tell her that I have recently lost 30 pounds. I haven't had a real physical in about 10 years... which I know is not good. But I'm taking control of my health now and making myself a priority... and that is a good thing.

It's been a while...

It's been quite a while since I checked in with my blog. No real reason, really. I've been doing fairly well with my eating and working out. So far, I've worked out four times since Friday, which is great for me. It's been really nice here this week, so I've gotten in two outdoor walks. That's been a very nice change. We've had such a cold winter so far this winter, so a few days of spring preview has been great. I hope to get a long walk in with some friends tomorrow before winter comes back this weekend. They're even calling for a possiblity of snow on Saturday.

I'm almost to my 195 Valentine's goal... which is good since Saturday is Valentine's Day! I hope to be able to achieve it at my weigh on on Friday. I'm kicking myself a little since I really should be lower than where I am. It's a little sad when I read people's blogs and see they've lost 15 or more pounds since Christmas and I've only lost about 5. Oh well...

Thanks for the love... and an update

Thanks for the comments... I really appreciate hearing from people that are or were in the same situation.

I have been counting points since Wednesday, so I feel like I'm back on track. And somehow, I lost 2.8 pounds for my weigh in on Friday. The body is a weird thing, isn't it? I'm not sure how I did it. I did exercise a couple of times during the week and wasn't eating too off course... I just wasn't writing anything down.

Yesterday, we ate lunch at Jason's Deli, which is new to my area. I ordered a potato (reduced portion - smaller than the regular portion) and when it came, I had a feeling it was probably a bad idea. I got home and looked it up... 28 points! Yikes! That's one more than my daily allotment. I had eaten a 4.5 point breakfast. Luckily, the potato did fill me up and I was not tempted to eat in the afternoon like I have been lately. I kept busy during the evening and ended up only having a clementine before bed. Not the best idea, but I was glad that I was able to not go nuts. I didn't want to use a lot of my weekly points since I have bunco on Monday and it's usually hard to each healthy during that.

I've Fallen...

off the Weight Watchers Wagon... and I can't seem to get back on. I'm ashamed to say that I have not been good since the holidays, even though I promised myself weeks ago that I would start again. I cannot seem to track my points for a full day. I start off well in the morning, but by mid-afternoon, I'm searching my kitchen for something sweet to eat. And I'm finding and eating it. I'm mad at myself because I could have lost 5 more pounds (or more) by now.

So what is going on in my head? I've been thinking a lot about that and I'm not sure. I wish it was easy.... both physically and mentally. I know that I want to lose weight. I want to be healthy. I want to look good in my clothes - and feel good in them. So what is holding me back?

I have a friend who is heavy (well, I have lots of friends who are heavy, but this is just about one of them). Before I knew her, she had worked hard and lost 100 pounds. Then she had her children and her weight slowly came back on. A couple of years ago, she did it again... lost 100 pounds. She didn't do it the right way - she cut way back on calories and lost the weight in a short period of time (6-8 months). The last time I saw her, which was a couple of months ago, she was big again... bigger than I ever remember her being. This is one of the things that is going around in my head. If I don't lose the weight, then I won't gain it back. I won't have to be embarrassed and have people talk about me behind my back - much like I've heard people talk about my friend.

On the other hand... I cannot live like this anymore. I was not born this way and I don't want to die this way.

I'm thinking that I really need some encouragement. I know that you don't know me, but I'd love to hear something from you (yes... you!). Can you share a story with me - a story of how you overcame the obstacle that I can't seem to get over? Thank you.

What I Want Right Now...

is chocolate. What I'm going to have is a clementine. Maybe even two.

Back in the Saddle

I did not start the year off very well. I broke quite a few of those resolutions that I wrote about. But I am not going to dwell on that. Instead, I am going to be happy that I started back on plan today. I'm writing down my food and keeping track of my points. And I went to the gym today during preschool and had a good workout.

For lunch I had the Roasted Garlic Chicken from Lean Cuisine - only four points. I really like Lean Cuisine meals - they are my favorite of the diet frozen meals. The spinach side dish is yummy! My favorite is the Rosemary Chicken, although I have a hard time finding it.

New Year's Questionnaire

Finding Radiance posted a little new year's questionnaire and I thought I'd answer it too...

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Lost 25 pounds (technically, I've done that before... but not for years)

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I did pretty well with not bringing soda into the house. I listed my 2009 ones in the post below.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I had a niece born this summer.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Luckily, no.

5. What countries did you visit?
Did not go outside of the USA.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A trip alone with my husband.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 28th - when I decided I'd had enough and started tracking my points with WW.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Doing something for myself and putting myself first - something I have a hard time doing.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Spending way more money than we brought in.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A wii

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My 8 year old ran a 5K and my 3 year old started enjoying preschool.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Some of the politicians as they campaigned.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Into the mortgage.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Having a little time to myself when my little one started preschool.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Kid Rock's "All Summer Long"

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? The same
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner by 25 pounds
c) richer or poorer? Poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Exercising.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Eating.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Still in love with my husband.

22. What was your favorite TV show?
Lost, Top Chef, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No... actually, maybe one of my neighbors that I had words with. Although I don't think it's really hate - just strong dislike.

24. What was the best book you read?
Twilight

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
???

26. What did you want and get?
Too many things to list.

27. What did you want and not get?
A lottery win (guess it would help to play!).

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
None come to mind.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 37. Can't remember exactly what I did.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I had won a bunch of money.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
A year of not fitting into the clothes in my closet and doing something about it instead of shopping for bigger sizes.

32. What kept you sane?
My family, although they drive me insane some of the time

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Obama

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The whole election.

35. Who did you miss?
My sister, who lives too far away

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
The only person that is going to change anything for me is me.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
???

Three Pound Holiday Season

I got on the scale today and it became official... I gained 2.8 pounds in the past 2 weeks. I haven't tracked my points since the Friday before Christmas and it showed. Although, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I figured it would be at least 5 pounds. And I'm still at the 200 mark, which was my Christmas goal. However, gaining those 3 pounds made me think how quickly and easily it would be for me to gain all the weight I have lost in the past three months. And I'll bet it would take far less than three months to come back on.

I've read a lot about resolutions on other blogs and have been thinking about mine.

1. Make my WW 10% by Valentine's Day. My 10% is 195, so with my little gain, I need to lose 5 more pounds. Totally doable in the six weeks before February 14th.

2. Stay off the soda. For New Year's 2008, I vowed not to bring soda into the house. And for the most part, I was successful in keeping that resolution. I do allow myself soda when I am out and at other people's houses.

3. Exercise more. Go to the gym at least once during preschool time per week.

4. Pay down debt.

5. Plan meals more and eat out less. That will help to stay on plan and to save money.

Happy New Year!