Trrrraaaaacck----iiinng? Track---ing? Tracking!

Oh boy. During my first 7 weeks on WW I would track my food every day- good, bad, in between, I just did it. I would go to meetings and hear people say that they didn't lose any weight but that tracking alone was something to celebrate and I would clap and smile along with the leader but I certainly wouldn't MEAN it- what kind of lazy slack-jaws couldn't login to WW or press buttons on their phones? Well, now I get it. I've been Johnny Adrift ever since we got back from our Thanksgiving trip.  Tracking and regular workouts have been (TEMPORARILY- and no longer) replaced by eating anything I want and laying on the couch. Foods that fall under my own personal  'anything I want' category include egg nog, chips and guac, pastries from Bouchon, miniature peanut butter cups, store-bought mashed potatoes, ice cream, Southern Comfort, loads of wine, and lots of other shit I can't recall.

I know that Weight Watchers purists would gently remind me that I can truly eat anything I want, all in moderation- and I get that. Lately, though, I've been going for it with abandon and it's not only affecting me mentally - mild depression, lethargy, general grumptastic mood but also physically- fingers and face are swelling up again, lower back pain, and then there's the real deep-tracks embarrassing stuff that no one talks about - for example, if you're very overweight and you're on the toilet for too long your legs fall asleep. Yup, there's that.

So now we're at two weeks and a few hours until Christmas and I am going to give myself the gift of tracking and getting back on my chosen plan- Weight Watchers. This coming Saturday we're helping Adam's parents move so we'll be away and then I will actually weigh in again on Saturday December 22nd. That will officially put FIVE WEEKS between my last weigh-in and my next one. Unfortunately I feel like I'm up about 5-8 lbs so it will be serious work just get back down to my previous weight... and I will be hoping for a loss.

Thank you to any new readers who cruised by here in the last few weeks- believe me I am also disappointed that I'm not actually weighing in and posting new losses; I promise to go back to Saturday updates and stop hiding from the scale.

Chunky Rants will NOT be relegated to the blog graveyard; I am going all the way. 

My head is out of the sand and I'm off to read your blogs. Hope you have an amazing week!!

since my last post

Tuesday 11/20- Work day, no formal exercise except for cleaning the apt- earned 2 Activity Points

Wed 11/21- First day of va-CAAAA-tion! Family time. 35 min of walk/jog intervals around Adam's old neighborhood- 7 APs

Thu 11/22- Thanksgiving, y'all. 90 minute cardio workout at the local 24 hr fitness before helping with dinner creation- 9 APs

Fri 11/23- The day after. Met up with friends and took a long walk around a lake- 2 APs

Sat 11/24- More relaxing and another walk/jog outside- 4 APs

Sun 11/25- last day of va-CAAAA-tion. Zumba for 30 min and set up the tree!- 3 APs

Mon 11/26- first day back at work. sniffling and crampy. ate 6 extra points and earned ZERO APs

This would be the MOST active Thankgiving break I've ever had; thank you very much. I got in the promised 4 workouts and I am pretty thrilled with how that made me feel. The best way to describe it is that I felt like I was part of the secret club of people who just quietly make working out a priority. I don't know if that rings true with anyone, but I feel like it might. I just needed to get out and move.

I will quit with the back-patting, though. My food intake was the opposite of exemplary for the most part and it was occasionally gluttonous. I tracked it all as promised;I just have no idea where I am- last week I ended up at negative 100 points so basically I ate two extra DAYS worth of calories during those seven days. So...

Yeah, I came here to write about it and I'll stay online to read your blogs to get motivated.  I'm also writing tonight because I'm three days into my current 7 day week and I feel a cold coming on and I don't want the next four days to meld together into the half-assery that comes at this time of year. I'm starting to worry that my extra exercise last week was not enough to stave off my first gain.

I will be at my meeting Saturday morning and the only person who can control what happens on the scale is me.

77. 64. 64.

Seven weeks in and I've had seven weight loss weeks in a row. I know this works; I know I will be back at Weight Watchers on Saturday Dec 1st expecting a nice chunky loss since there will be a two week break between scale visits.  I'm doing a good job, and I don't plan on quitting or slacking just because KOST 103.5 is churning out Christmas songs, I'm constantly craving holiday grog or chocolate pecan pie, and the weather in SoCal is chilly enough to warrant using the 'cuddle blanket' on the couch- right? Right.

77, 64, and 64 are the number of points consumed the first three days of this week- Sat, Sun, Mon. Three days before Thanksgiving I've officially decimated all of my weekly points. I do have 6 Activity Points in the bank but that kind of start to the week does not bode well for the goal I've set for myself.  I plan to lose 6.8 or more in these next two weeks so that I can hit 30 lbs gone the next time I go to WW. Long car rides, days with the in-laws, and of course Thankgiving dinner are all coming up and I cannot just let things unravel. I will not blow off the rest of the week off and then get all 'hardcore' next Monday- I know that is not a good plan. Today was just a pointlessly snacky day and there was no reason to eat so much- at least on Sat and Sun I drank some red wine.

Anyway I'm blogging and reading other blogs tonight to remind myself that it CAN be done, even over the holidays, and to write out my intentions so that I keep this front and center. I'll be gone from Wed-Sat but there are things I can control. My goals for the next 5 days:

1) Get in four good workouts
2) Track and enjoy every drink and morsel I consume
3) Congratulate myself every day on 23 lbs lost in 7 weeks and visualize 30 lbs gone on Dec 1st

Happy Thankgiving, Turkeys. 

The Happiest 3.2 lbs on Earth

Fuck. Yeah. That's my entire message; for reals. I've been on WW seven weeks and I did not have the *best* week- I went over my points a few times actually, and even though I earned 24 Activity Points, I was bracing myself for my first gain.

Instead, I peed six times before my weigh in and got the happy news that I am 3.2 lbs down.

So what did I decide to do after losing 3.2? Well, friends, I went to Disneyland! We have a good friend who gave us passes at the beginning of 2012 and we finally went today, and it was great. It's all holiday decorated and people are in good moods and rides are fun and it's just lovely. I could talk all kinds of smack about dieting and sticking to it and all that, but not tonight.

Here are a few pics from today:

Week 6 Results: My head is 20 lbs lighter!

Okay, so it's not ALL from my noggin, but I did take a face shot in the bathroom to commemorate my 20 lbs total loss this morning. I'm so pleased with myself I just tucked my thumbs under my imaginary suspenders! I lost exactly 3.0 this week to make 20. So the top pic is from October 5th and the bottom is today, November 10th. Do you see a difference? I definitely do but it's on the subtle side- I am waiting for 30 lbs lost to do a side by side body shot pic because I don't feel like enough has really changed overall.

Meanwhile, today: I got up and weighed in, then rushed off to my first in-person Zumba class. Man alive. It was not easy, but I wasn't a flail scene, either. I actually wished there were more people in the class; there were only about 8 ladies and the teacher was fine but not amazing. I will probably go again but I was slightly underwhelmed.

The other braggy thing I wanted to share is that when I rejoined WW on September 28th I joined a 'community challenge' on the website called 'Lose 16 by Thanksgiving or Die Trying, Chubbinators' (or something) and I am a WINNER winner WINNER over there, too. Some guy was at 18 lbs last week and I was at 17 but now I'm at 20 and until he weighs in again I am number ONE. Suck it, dude!

I would also like to say a huge old THANK YOU to anyone who has been reading this blog- I am very much inspired by reading other blogs, too, so if I don't follow you and your eyeballs are seeing these words, please comment with a link and I'll come visit you!

6 weeks = Habit?

So I read somewhere that if you do something consistently for six weeks, it  becomes habit and then you're more likely to stick with it long term. Meanwhile, 36 years vs 6 weeks is not exactly a fair battle- but I'm in charge, fat cells!

I'm currently 5 weeks and 5 days into full-on Weight Watchers and ActiveLink tracking and I'm hopping on this morning for a 'serious' post because these next two days are important to me. In the short-term I am pushing for a loss of 48 ounces or more this week; I want to hit -20 lbs. The way I eat and move in the next two days will matter. More importantly, though, I'm excited to be able to say I've been doing this for six solid weeks. I've had some very high point/high calorie days, I've eaten some things I said I wouldn't, and I've had some lazy days. However I've also worked hard enough to have a total loss of 17 after five weeks and I didn't stop.  I'm looking forward to finishing the allegedly habit-forming six weeks and moving onto, well, forever.

The whole process of weight loss is a fucking SLOG- it is boring, it is difficult, it feels like a lot of work for marginal reward (ie work out five times, follow a 'diet', lose half a pound). But there is no alternative if you want to change.
 
Just do it is a great slogan; and it makes sense, perhaps, for casual joggers and people with visible ankle tendons. For those of us with life-long struggles with food, for those of us who rock wide-width sneakers and for those of us who know the differences between 'old' weight watchers, the points system, and the 'new' Points Plus RebootX5000, I think a more appropriate slogan may be Just Don't Stop. Have great clean eating days, have bingey days. Workout hard and burn off 7 activity points on Monday, lay around and burn zero on Saturday- just keep tracking, keep going to meetings, keep getting on the stupid scale. Just Don't Stop. You're on the train and it will take you there if you...yeah.

16 hours later...

Down 2.0! I almost kissed the weigh-in lady.

My goal this week is to hit 25 Activity Points and lose 3+ lbs to get to 20+ pounds lost by Week 6.

Weak Five!

If you don't have time to read the post, here's a basic synopsis: excuses, boring story, platitudes, pinterest motivational JPEG, frownie face, whine, buck up, false enthusiam, dry heave! Or just look at this guy:

So yeah. Halloween happened and the last five work days following a fun weekend trip up to Big Bear were a mixed bag of sporadic workouts, listless tracking, and some pretty serious 'fun size' m&m crunching. On the bright side, I'm still digging on the ActiveLink and I log my food intake e'ry day. This week, though, I'm in the red for the first time since I've been on WW- you get 49 'weekly' points and I've chomped 75 extra;. looking at the -26 fills me with such deep shame!! 

Moving on to back-patting...while in Big Bear I actually stayed away from gratuitous 'vacaaaation!' food like fudge, kettle corn, ice cream, and random snacks. There were a few delicious birthday cupcakes, guacamole, some lager, etc. but I tracked it all. I also went on a pretty serious walk on Saturday involving hills that I don't think I would have attempted 15 lbs ago. I'm pretty sure I would have 'made it' but I just wouldn't have had the desire to get off my ass. Anyway, I am not expecting tomorrow's weigh in to be a cause for celebration but I'm crossing my toes since last week I was holding on to a little uterine lining if you catch my meaning- and the last two nights I Zumba'd with the Kinect. 

So....maybe? Smiley/shruggy/TaylorSwiftian surprise face!

I'll report back tomorrow after my weigh-in and get back to business. My readers deserve better than this!

POSITIVE: 15 down in 4 weeks

NEGATIVE: lost .6 this week after following the Points Plus TM extra special formulaic plan for chubby people and exercising more days than not.

POSITIVE: Even though it was a small loss, I made time to get to Weight Watchers a day early (and a pound short- see what I did there?!) and weigh in before leaving for the weekend.

NEGATIVE: point SIX? POINT six? POINT SIX?? .6 ? Fuck that motherfucking fraction piece of shitball nonsense!!

POSITIVE: I feel and look better than I did four weeks ago, and it will even out again next week.

POSITIVE: I did not gain weight.

POSITIVE: More people are reading this blog and the group mentality inspires me because I am an exhibitionist at heart (and I appreciate all of you!).

NEGATIVE (but not really. but kind of.): I may have to work a little harder to keep up a good clip.

POSITIVE: 15 lbs is halfway to 30, a quarter of the way to 60, and ten percent of 150 lbs!

Have a fab weekend!

Kinect! Plus a bonus Pinterest Rant!

That is a picture of me, taking a picture of myself with my cellphone... of my image projected into the xbox Kinect game 'Your Shape'. I like the Kinect and I like this game a whole lot- the particular mini-game above is sort of like the electronic game Simon from the 80s except you use your feet instead of your hands. When the panels around my feet (or ankle stubs, depending on how far back I'm standing from the camera) light up, I have to stomp onto that section of the circle. If both the right and left sides light up at the same time, I have jump up so I step down on both sides at once- note I posted a picture not video. In some games you are onscreen with an avatar and you're basically a background dancer but in other ones like Stomp It you're the only character and it's basically you in all your lumpy glory but slightly video-gamed up. When you do a bunch of moves in a row correctly, your body gets all gold and sparklevampire-like which is fun because you're glittery and also because the glowing makes your body appear a little closer to an ideal silhouette.

While I used the word 'lumpy' above, I actually don't mind looking at myself when I'm working out- for what it's worth I think it's cool that I can keep up with the kickboxing avatars or the dumbbell squat trainer guy- plus it's a realistic way to check for progress and 'non scale victories'. If you squint at the shot above you'll see an old friend of mine named Lefty Kneecap has come out to visit after a little bit of a hiatus. The recluse formerly known as 'Sara's Waist' has been in hiding since I was in my twenties, but she'll be around again in 2013 if I keep at this whole weight watchin' and blogging thing.

Meanwhile, I'm off to unfollow all dessert-related Pinterest boards. ENOUGH with the buttery-chocolate-moist-fudgey-cookie-dough-kids-birthday-candycane-brickle-pumpkin-creamcheesefrosting mother fucking food porn already. I foolishly clicked on something called 'Potato Candy' today- guess how you make it? You boil a potato, mash it up, add butter, plus, oh, two POUNDS of confectionery sugar until it becomes a sticky dough which you then roll out, slather on half a jar of peanut butter, and then spindle it all together 'stomach roll style' (sorry jelly roll style) and then (if you can stop yourself from just deep-throating the whole log then and there) refrigerate it before slicing it into hellish little pinwheels of death. People say it tastes like fudge or its Bible Belt confectionery cousin, Divinity. In the words of Valerie Cherish, 'I don't need to SEE that!'.

Night, friends. Please have a great week!

I have no kids to blame for the homely picture you see above- it was me, via the microsoft 'paint' program which was invented in 1907. The colors are weird, the lines shaky, but it is a celebration of the scale. 4.6 is indeed how many pounds I lost this week, and if you count the stars carefully you will find they add up to 14 which is total lbs. (technically 14.4 but we're rounding up or down for that cute ticker thing up above) GONE. What a giant dork!!

So yes my mood has lightened, I've regained faith in weight watchers and my body's ability to let go of some chunk. 

This week I'm weighing in on Friday since I'll be away over the weekend, so I plan to be relatively hardcore in anticipation of the early weigh-in... and also so I go into the weekend motivated to stay vigilant.

Here's to an excellent weekend of exercising, pinning, tracking, humping, what have you- anything except for mindlessly overeating and forgetting that we are the bosses of our chunky selves.

Things I will NOT be saying come January '13

-Yeah, I had a few good weeks on Weight Watchers in October, but then, you know, THE HOLIDAYS.

-Well, I've lost about 15 pounds over the last four months. Slow and steady, y'all.

-Maybe I should try one of those food delivery services.

-Maybe I should try Atkins again.

-So I lost almost 30 lbs, but then over December I gained back probably ten.

-The end of the year is so STRESSFUL; it's impossible to stay on any kind of fitness plan.

-I had a weight-loss blog for a few weeks, but I deleted it because I wasn't posting.

-I tried the ActiveLink but I kept forgetting to put it on in the morning and eventually stopped wearing it.

I've been down those roads, and I know how easy it is to get myself right back there- and I also know my wonderful supportive friends would make it even easier by nodding knowingly at any of the above excuses.

I thank you for the lack of judgement and unconditional love, but I want to state today that I'm done letting time slide away. I'm tracking my food intake (yes even on Christmas and the days I have six glasses of red), I'm clipping a magical light-up device to my 44Ds each day, I'm publicly posting news from the scale every week, and this is just how it's going to be from now on. 

a day with such promise

With confidence I burst out of bed before 9 and headed out to weigh-in EARLY for the 10am meeting (last week was 11:30). I was the pace car on PCH, moving deftly around Saturday morning drivers and hitting green light after green light. On the radio were catchy, classic rock hits such as Message in a Bottle, Talking in Your Sleep, and Sgt. Pepper. I was looking forward to the meeting and the scale; I was enjoying the drive and head-bopping along to the radio like Dana Carver as Dennis Miller circa 1987.

In line for the scale I readied myself for something underwhelming but I was sure I'd be down at least two measly (yet hard won- hello I hit like 20 Activity points with my ActiveLink this week when my goal was to hit 7!) pounds. "Well it's just 2 lbs but I'm happy; I had a big week last week" I'd say modestly when the leader makes everyone clap for me for hitting -10 lbs+. 

Can you guess where this is going? I bet you can.

I was down .8 as in less than a pound.  I didn't even make 10 lbs; I'm now at -9.8 but I'm rounding for my ticker above. So yeah, underwhelmed. As a contestant named Megan on Biggest Loser once said (to my absolute DELIGHT), .8 is a joke; I could lose .8 taking a poop. Her quote was actually about one pound, not .8 but the sentiment is the same. On a related note, after my meeting I had coffee and fiber bars and have been pooping all damn day. I would imagine at least .2 more lbs are now gone, but I will patiently wait til next week and be strong and not annoyed. And just for the record, I only ate 23 of my 49 weeklies and none of my Activity Points. I stayed faithfully on plan and upped my workouts.

So I'll be a little annoyed. But I'll still take 9.8 in two weeks as a positive sign that this time I'm going all the damn way. Adam is also on a serious diet and the vibe is good. Went to the gym today, I'm still loving the ActiveLink, and I am starting to feel changes (like looser pants) even though it's been only two weeks. I'm looking forward to posting some progress photos- I plan to do it monthly so the side-by-side has a little bit of a contrast.

sluggish ruggish bones (plus an ActiveLink endorsement)

Today is Thursday, day 6 of my current weight loss week if you will (and you will). Days one through five of my weight loss week were fraught with bursts of random activity, trips to the gym (okay ONE trip to the gym), and purposeful jaunts up and down the 22-step flight of stairs at work- but today I felt schlumpy and weak. This will turn around tomorrow (day before the weigh-in so clearly my awesomeness will kick back in) but meanwhile I shall vent into the void.

What I've been so enthusiastic about, see, is making the little LED indicators on my ActiveLink turn green. The device you wear has six spots that light up as you hit your personalized activity goals throughout the day. Because my assessment during the first seven days was so weaksauce, the amount of activity I have to do to achieve 100% of my daily goal (right now it is equal to 1 Activity Point) isn't insane, but the regular stuff- walk to the car, walk from parking lot to office, cook dinner then lay on the couch before laying in bed reading is definitely NOT sufficient. I don't want to get to the end of the day only hitting 50-75% of the goal so I've been doing things that many people do but are new and different for me. At work I'm getting up/walking around more and going up and down the stairs (did I mention there are 22 of them?) while I wait for my frozen food lunches to microwave. The other day I walked around the block while waiting for a takeout order. At home in the evening (except for today because I felt so medium) I've been turning on dance-y playlists as soon as I get in and moving around more while cooking or cleaning up. All the 'extra' activity actually does add up, and when you add an actual workout to the extra stuff, you see numbers like 149% (Sunday) and 156% (Wednesday). Today I walked just a little bit extra during my work day, and then tonight I stopped at the grocery store, did laundry, cooked dinner, then did enough walking around the house to hit 104%. I know I hit 104% because I plugged it into the computer, but I also know I hit my 100% because 4 of the possible six spots on my ActiveLink are green:

Wait. I just realized I was supposed to be venting. I was tired today and had a six hour headache. The toilet seat at work creaked loudly when I sat on it. Cry me a river. Way more importantly, I'm getting all techno-nerd active and I feel like I've emptied out a few more fat cells. I'm excited/nervous to go to my meeting on Saturday morning. If I can trust what I've learned on shows like the Biggest Loser, I should be prepared for a small number since I lost nine last week.  However, I am hoping to be able to vote off the Samoan diabetic so I'm shooting for somewhere around 5 lbs. Time will tell. Two days time!

I'm Leaving This Body!!! Who's Comin' With Me??

...No, not you Renee Squintyeyes (timely, I know)! Everyone else, please follow along. This is my new blog that is destined to become the definitive Weight Loss Blog for anyone who is not a mommy-blogger or an anxious shut-in. This blog will strive to inject humor into a sometimes humorless pursuit, and I may rant or swear or make fun of people. I will not give out prizes, award virtual ribbons to other bloggers, and to start with I'm not even going to tell you how much I weigh. I will also definitely not use DH when I talk smack about or brag about my main man (and husband) Adam- DH means designated hitter (hi, American League- ever hear of it?), not Dear Husband. Even typing 'dear husband' makes me make a weird face. No weird faces!

So back to the business of the inaugural post...I'm going to lose 150+ pounds and I want to chronicle it as it happens. Because I'll be eating and drinking less in the evenings, I'll have extra time to grouse about shit so Chunky Rants will serve a dual purpose. For starters, because I plan to make this public and don't feel completely comfortable sharing my digits, I'm going to begin with counting pounds lost only. If I believed in contests, I would start one right now and invite you to guess how many million troy ounces I weighed on day one (Saturday September 28)- but I already stated above no prizes, so yeah no contest. I promise to reveal my actual starting weight soon but for now I will remain non-specifically fat. Actually, no- here's a picture of me from just a few days ago which is pretty specific:

What's the plan, then, non-specific yet clearly chunky person? (that's you talking) Well guess what? (me) Just for you, I graciously decided to get with the program on Weight Watchers for a solid week before I hopped online to start talking about it, so instead of saying something like 'Here's me weighing xxx pounds. I sure am worried about resisting my co-worker Sheila's brownie blast trifle at the potluck on Wednesday, and here's a pic of my DH and awkward kids with our Shetland pony named Wheat Thin heh heh smiley/sad face thanks for your support please follow my journey' , I get to start off with...THIS BITCH ALREADY LOST 9 POUNDS.

For reals. I lost 9 lbs and I started Weight Watchers last week. I like Weight Watchers and like most diets/food plans/resolutions/twelve-step programs, it works if you work it. I also ponied up some extra cash for the ActiveLink electronic wearable gadget that tracks all your movement and I'm enjoying using it.  I will share more as things come up, I'll post more pics after my weigh-ins on Saturdays, and I would greatly appreciate your support and comments as I keep this up.

Hearts, Sara.