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.