I’m starting this right in the middle of the Holidays to keep myself grounded. I have lost 40 pounds in the last 6 months and don’t plan on taking any of that back. I did gain 2 pounds during Thanksgiving, so I need to be more vigilant. It was the pie, lots of pie. Good pie, mmm ... pie. Anyway, I have a Christmas party to go to for my husbands company tomorrow. They always have a huge banquet with lots of yummy choices and a ton of pie, cheesecake and all the other imaginable temptations that I just get weak in the knees for. I have little willpower when it comes to dessert. And of course, it’s a 3 hour drive from here to the hotel/casino, so I’ll be famished. Did I mention the pie?

But here’s the good news (before was yummy news), I’ll be wearing a pair of pants that I bought 2 years ago for the same party that were too tight on me then. I have since quit smoking and gained 30 pounds in the process (lots of chocolate). Now I’m less than that by 10 pounds and the pants fit great! So I’ll be wearing my motivation. It also doesn’t help that most of those people haven’t seen me since I was at my biggest. So I’ll get all those wonderful compliments. That always motivates me.

Hi Bree.....

So I’ll be wearing my motivation.........How cool it THAT!!  What a great way to put it!

You’ve made me hungry with all the pie talk....

You know this year, I took a plate of pie after Thanksgiving dinner ..... and half way through asked myself if it was worth it.....my mom in law had finished hers, so I offered mine, and she gladly accepted it.

My wife has a theory......the three bite theory....
1st bite....you really taste all the goodness of a good dessert (or whatever it could be)
2nd bite.....Still tasting really good (eat it slow)....but not as good as the first
3rd bite.....like a drug addict, you remember how good the first bite was, and you imagine it being as good with each bite, but in reality....your taste buds have gotten ‘used’ to it…

The fourth bite is not really nessasary.....as long as you eat slow, and savor every bite

I’ve found slowing down has really helped me in my portion controlls…

But sometimes I know what you mean...... PIE? you say????

Have fun at the company party!
Hope you get tons of compliments!

I’ll try to remeber that. How big can those bites be? 

Hopefully I’ll be too busy dancing to eat.

Yesterday I did Tae Bo advance and lifted weights for an hour. I managed to eat only 1095 calories. I was shocked because I was full and had plenty of energy. The day before I only ate 1090 calories. I should be good to go tonight.

It’s very cold and windy today, it rained and snowed a bit last night, so I’m staying inside. I’ll do Tae Bo cardio today. My abs are sore form yesterday, so I’m changing it up a bit. I’m going to try to get Pilates done, but I don’t have a lot of time today. I’m getting my hair done (only happens once in a while) and I have to pick up the sitter and finish cleaning the house, shop for a few last minute groceries for the kids and pack. I better get to it.

Go Bree GO!

Have a GREAT time!

Yesterday I did Tae Bo cardio and Pilates. Had fiber cereal for breakfast, drank all 8 cups of water. Went to the banquet hungry (hadn’t eaten since breakfast), and was disappointed in the food. The prime rib was cut deli thin and tough. The veggies were mushy, the salad limp. But there was a fruit medley that was great. The dessert table was void of anything I liked much, so I had a small piece of cake. I’m guessing with my 2 screwdrivers I drank I totaled about 820 calories. Thought that number would be much higher, and it scares me that I ate so little.

This morning we had a breakfast buffet that was very tasty. I had about 500 calories there plus apple juice and coffee. There was another great fruit medley that I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m still full from that, so I haven’t eaten lunch yet.

The party was fun, I got a ton of compliments about the weight I’d lost. saw a lot of people that I hadn’t talked to in a year. Then I took advantage of an evening without children.

But the pants I had been hoping to fit into for the last 2 years fit great and looked awesome! I wore a fitted pink sweater that was extremely soft. I felt so good about myself. I can’t wait for the next party in 2 weeks. There will be more people that I know there and I’ll make sure and eat a bit more before going.

Well, off to do the laundry. The glamorous life ends here.

Earlier I forgot to mention the scariest thing that happened to me at the casino. I really didn’t realize the danger I was probably in until I was telling my hubby the story and he went a little crazy. I was just getting into my car and a guy came up to me. I’m in the middle of a huge parking lot alone in front of a casino at 8:30 am. He was trying to catch a ride to the boarder of Tennessee (I was in Mississippi). My hubby had to drive separately because he flew into Arkansas the afternoon of the party and there was no way we could’ve met up. Anyway, he had parked in a spot kitty-corner across the lot and I couldn’t see him. The guy looking for a ride tried to say he knew me, I disagreed politely and he kept coming closer and tried to talk me into giving him a ride. I already thrown my purse into the car and couldn’t reach my phone without putting my back to this guy, so I looked around for help, hoping to see my hubby. NO luck. I told the guy my husband was in a truck and he wouldn’t be very comfortable with me giving him a ride, and tried to point him in the direction of where my husband had gone. It took about 5 minutes or so, but the guy finally gave up and left in the direction I had pointed. When I pulled out, my husband just happened to pull out behind me (total luck) and the guy started running after us. I just got the heck out of there.

Later when I was telling my husband (Shane), he said he should have walked me to my car. I doubt we’ll make that mistake again. But who knew I could’ve really been in danger this early in the morning in the middle of a casino parking lot. He gave me the creeps, but I believed he really just wanted a ride. Maybe I’m too naive. Anyway, for anyone else who may be reading this, be careful and keep your phone in your hand until you’re locked into your car. Must’ve freaked Shane out because he actually came to Wal-Mart with me later—on a Saturday this close to Christmas—you have to have a good reason to do that.

Wow, what a story! I live in the sort of place where I can walk home at 2 am and feel safe, so it’s hard to shift gears when I come down to the South.  My dad lives in Mobile and is always jumpy because I insist on doing my thing - going where I want, when I want, by myself.  I guess now I’ll start taking his concerns more seriously.

I was reading your posts and I do think you’re right to be a little concerned about your calorie intake.  If you aren’t hungry, or if the food just isn’t worth eating then you shouldn’t force yourself to eat.  But the numbers you’re listing are below you’re resting metabolism and you could slow yourself down and make it hard to continue maintaining your current weight.  I don’t have any advice to offer, but I do think you should continue to monitor this and think about whether you’re eating enough. 

Maybe Scott has some thoughts??

It sounds like your party went well.  I have a similar story to yours, gained about 30 pounds quickly, then took it off and also took off some more weight that had been hanging around.  It is fun seeing people you haven’t seen in a while and getting all those compliments. I’m so excited that you are getting to enjoy the rewards of all your hard work.

Laura in Alaska

Thanks Laura, I was worried about not eating, so I bought all sorts of yummy stuff over the weekend and didn’t exercise. I had 1780 calories on Saturday and 1800 on Sunday. I decided since the party didn’t have the stuff I wanted, I would get it myself --- and make my husband cook it. In the process I found a new favorite vegetable—butternut squash. I love the stuff. I’m planning on picking more up today. I could eat that for a meal.

I lost 2 pounds this week and 3/4 of an inch total. I am officially the thinnest I’ve been in 10 years!

For exercise this week I’m starting the week 6 over on the couch to 5k since I only ran once last week. It’s not supposed to rain this week, just be cold. So I’m waiting until this afternoon to run when it’ll be above freezing. Pilates after with my daughter, thats my plan for Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Then Tae Bo cardio and weights on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

I have so many little get-togethers this week it’s going to be crazy, but I have to make time to work out and watch what I’m eating. I need to eat enough, but of the healthy stuff.

I started week 6 over on the couch to 5k, and I couldn’t do it all. I was bummed. When I started this, it was much warmer outside, then I took a trial membership at the Y and had the treadmill—made it up to 20 minutes there. But I just couldn’t seem to breath right today. My body felt great, just had a time with the cold air. I’ll keep doing this run until I can.

I read something about chi running, anyone know anything about that? Sounds like it might be the way to go.

I got to the end of the day and added up my calories, only 1080, so I had a 200 calorie snack. I can’t believe I’m having this problem. I’m a lot less hungry on the days I exercise. Maybe it’s because I eat more of the right things on those days. I’m only 5’ tall, so I’m not sure I need a lot of food, but I don’t want my metabolism to nose dive. What a strange dilemma. I’ve always been so hungry, I feel almost like I’ve lost my keys.

Bree,

You started over instead of just quiting, and that’s good....
We’ll hear you complete your 5K soon.....that will be sooooo cool!

I like Scott’s advise about eating.....break up your calorie intake evenly (a little less towards evening) and you will keep the fire burning on your metabalism......

It is important to eat, and at 5’ tall, you should be eating 1200-1500 calories a day (depending on your activity)......just keep it low fat, healthy stuff, low in salt, and you’ll do okay..

Keep it up!

Thanks, Tom. That’s what I’ve been shooting for, so I love to hear someone validate my goal. I was worried about starting over on the week, but I figure running outside is a bit harder than my treadmill runs were (no incline or headwind in the gym). But running outside with the sun on me feels so good.

I forgot to mention that I managed to get into the positions in Pilates where you are laying down on your back and lift your seat so your feet are almost on the floor behind your head. Last week I couldn’t do that. My 4 year old said Yeah, mommy, that’s how you do it. Then she did it with no effort at all. Show off.

Today I was sooo thirsty, I’ve already had 12 cups of water and am going for more in a minute. I did my Tae Bo cardio and my hour of weights. Felt really good. I’m able to lift more every time, still trying to get the right amounts on the bars. But I pushed my arms a bit, when I got into the shower I had a hard time lifting my arms to wash my hair. I also had to fix my hair for another Christmas party tonight—that was really hard to do. But I managed.

I did really well at the party tonight, everything looked so yummy. I took only a bite of everything. And I stayed seated when my plate was empty. My total calorie count was 1560—estimated. I assumed my plate of dips and goodies to be 700 calories.

There were people I hadn’t seen for a couple of months there tonight. Lots of compliments, a few asked what I was doing. I told them and you could see them stop listening almost immediately. I really wish there were an easy way to do this, but there’s not. And at this point I love the feeling of not being able to wash my hair because my arms hurt.

Night all.

Today did not end up as I had planned. I was going to run and do Pilates, but in reality I ate great food and thoroughly enjoyed 2 Christmas parties. I just didn’t have time between the luncheon and picking up the youngest daughter from preschool to picking up supplies for the church family Christmas dinner. And I was on the set up and clean up committe for that. I had time to do a load of laundry, a load of dishes and get ready to leave the house. I was happy my shoes matched.

But it was a great time. My oldest daughter got up on the stage and sang a solo in front of about 200 people. I was shocked. She did a really good job, which shocked me even more. I had no idea she had gotten so good on singing. It was a lot of fun.

I did not count calories today. There was no way I was going to try to keep track. I had a little spoonful of almost everything, and lots of tastes of dessert. The best thing was savoring every bite. Tomorrow I’ll behave again, but today I waved the white napkin. I never got too full, so that’s a good sign.

Sounds like a great day!… We all need those......I’m glad you were able to enjoy yourself…

And how cool is that...your daughter singing in front of 200 people!!! (and doing it well!-what a wonderful gift!)

Sounds like with all the running around you were able to burn some calories (okay, maybe not as many as you consumed, but it’s all about the average anyway.......)

We should all make sure we don’t get so caught up, that we don’t forget what this is all about...to be healthy.... and knowing our bodies, and knowing what feels right… I like when you said you never felt full.......I think you have a great balance!