When up is down

It didn’t start out the way I thought it would.  I walked to Weight Watchers for the first time since I sprained my ankle 10 weeks ago and looked forward to seeing a loss on the scale.  If you remember, last week I gained 2.6 pounds after three weeks of travel and restaurant dining.

I got on the scale to be disappointed at a .2-pound gain.  How could that have happened…I walked back to my seat and found myself distracted and thinking about this surprise.  And then it dawned on me that I had forgotten to take off my shoes and my jacket when I got on the scale.  I had been chatting with the woman who weighed me in and totally missed my usual clothing removal exercise.

I got back out of my seat, went back to the scale and did my weigh-in properly.  I lost .6 pounds this week and was back to feeling in control.  All records were corrected, and I left the meeting knowing that I had another two pounds to get rid of to be back to where I was a month ago.

I did walk 3.75 miles today, including a stop off to vote on the way home from my meeting.  I also am pleased to report that I have candy to send to the troops and want to thank my fellow Weight Watchers friends for bringing it to the meeting.

Talk to you soon.

Need more candy...please!

We started Halloween with 70 mini- candy bars, and I figured that I would end it with at least half of them.  Last year, we had about a dozen Trick or Treaters appear at our door.  Boy, was I wrong.  We blew through that candy in about 30 minutes when groups of 10-15 children showed up at once.

It got to the point where I switched to Nature Valley Granola Bars just to finish up with part of a group that was going to get nothing.  I’m sure that the reaction to my healthy Halloween snack was the same as the one I had about 50 years ago when somebody gave me two pennies instead of candy.

Once the end had come, of the candy that is, my husband made our house “go black.”  All lights, both inside and out, were turned off and we sat in silence watching the end of the Giants game.  We cheered quietly.

Tomorrow is Weight Watchers, and I expected to be the lead-off batter with the leftover candy that I will be sending overseas to the troops.  Now, I have no candy, so please collect up all of yours and bring it to the meeting.  I promise to buy some more to add to it, so that the box is chock full of goodies.

Talk to you soon.

Happy Halloween...I'm looking forward to your candy

It’s Halloween, the Niners played the Broncos in London, and, of course, it’s World Series baseball.  What a combination of at home, mostly on my couch events, for one day. I have a bowl of candy ready for the “Trick or Treaters,” but figure they aren’t showing up as long as their parents are watching the Giants and Rangers playing Game 4.

Speaking of the candy…I haven’t touched it except to put it in the bowl.  As a matter of fact, I am looking forward to Tuesday’s Weight Watchers meeting to pick up some more of it.  When confronted with what to do with the leftover Halloween candy that a lot of us will have tomorrow, the temptation for most of us is to eat it. 

Some of my fellow WW members buy the stuff they don’t like to avoid that temptation, and others have family members hide the leftovers so they don’t eat them.  I decided to fix the potential problem for all of us by offering to collect up all the uneaten candy and bring it home after Tuesday’s meeting.

Now don’t think that I’m getting ready to pull a candy scam and eat it.  I volunteered to box it up and send it to the troops.  I have done my research and know how to make it happen, so that’s why I am looking forward to seeing how much I get to send.

I have 70 mini Milky Ways and Snickers, enough for 35 Trick or Treaters.  I hope they all come, but if they don’t, I’ll be sending the leftovers overseas to the guys and gals who deserve it.  If you are in my Tuesday morning meeting, don't forget to help me out!

Talk to you soon.

Bigger is not always better

Who gained 2.6 pounds in week 58 of Weight Watchers…me.  This is the most weight I have gained in the time I have been a member.  Why did this happen?  It’s not like I don’t know.  I have been away for three weeks, part of which was work but most of it was vacation. 

I worked hard at staying on the program, but I knew that it was very difficult to really know how things were prepared in the 50+ restaurant meals that I consumed.  I couldn’t see the butter going into some of the dishes that I ordered, but I was pretty sure it was in there somewhere.

Going back to a meeting today was a very calming experience.  I missed my fellow Weight Watchers, missed the ritual of Tuesday mornings at 9:30 and missed the routine of writing my blog and posting my results.

I’m happy now.  Of course, I’m not thrilled about the weight gain, but it will be gone in two weeks.  That’s going to happen.  I am a creature of habit and now that my old bad habits have been replaced with good Weight Watchers habits, I feel much better.  And, can you imagine what would happen if I tossed in the towel now???  I figure it would take roughly six months to be back to my old weight.  Yuk!

Talk to you soon. 

Home sweet home

It feels like I have been on a desert island for about two weeks.  I haven’t gone this long without writing a post since I embarked on my Weight Watchers journey in September 2009.  But, there is a good reason for it.

I left on a business trip to Chicago on October 6^th and returned home on the 10^th.  The next day, my husband and I left for our vacation in Hawaii.  When we are away and nobody is minding the house, I don’t like to bring attention to the fact that we are away and nobody is minding the house.

And now we are home…back from a wonderfully relaxing time on the Big Island.  The dogs have come home from the “babysitter”, the clothes have been unpacked, washed and put away, the grocery shopping, via Safeway delivery, is over, Costco has been visited, and it seems like my routine is back in full swing.

I have to admit that although I miss the beach, I am glad to get back to the routine.  It’s very easy to see how two weeks away from the control in my kitchen and missing two Weight Watchers meetings can set one up to go down the “dark path.” 

You do your best to control your restaurant choices, hope that the ingredients haven’t been doctored up with secret additives like butter, and guesstimate portion size from experience.  Until I show up on Tuesday and get on the Weight Watchers meeting scale, I am not getting on my scale.  It’s going to take that long to get two weeks worth of salt out of my system.

So folks, I’m back.  I always miss you when I’m gone, and it’s good to be home.

Talk to you soon.

Week 55 report in...read all about it!

Here we go again…it’s Tuesday.  How did that happen so fast?  But, it was a good Tuesday at Weight Watchers, and I lost .8 pounds for a total of 33.4 pounds in 55 weeks.  Moving forward, a little bit each week, is the name of the game.

Tomorrow, I head out to Chicago to work another trade show and spend a few days standing in my booth.  Now that I have the Las Vegas show behind me, I’m ready for the long days, my packed snacks and soaking my sore feet at the end of each day.

The “un-fun” part of this trip is that my husband is staying home.  When we were in Las Vegas, I looked forward to going out to very nice dinners each evening.  When I travel alone, the incentive to go anywhere diminishes with each passing hour, and I usually end up eating in the hotel dining room. 

So, it’s time to pack the suitcases and squeeze a little television into the rest of this evening.  I’ll be sure to report in from “the field” also known as the Chicago Convention Center.

Talk to you soon.

My kitchen...not for resale only

Life is much easier since joining Weight Watchers.  Why, you ask?  It’s easier to have food in the refrigerator for actual meals than it was to sit around most evenings trying to figure out where we were getting take-out, food delivery, or sit-down restaurant food.  And, it’s so much cheaper now.

I never thought I would be the one who would enjoy planning and preparing meals.  It took about 40 years to get here.  I used to be the one that took pride in explaining that my kitchen was part of my house for resale purposes only. 

This evening, my husband called to say he was meeting a buddy after work.  I didn’t have to face the concept of hopping in the car to scavenge around for a table for one.  I went to the kitchen and made myself a delicious dinner that included a pork chop, sweet potato and fresh asparagus.  And when he arrived home, there were leftovers.

One of these days, I’m going to compare expenditures in restaurants for the year preceding Weight Watchers with this year.  I figure I have saved several thousand dollars.  Since I plan to continue this behavior going forward, I look at it as another way to fund my retirement…or our next vacation.

Talk to you soon.