To use Flex Points, or to not use Flex Points? ... That is the Question.

So here's my mid-term report: I've gone to the gym twice, so if I go again tomorrow I will have made my goal of going 3 times by Tuesday! Yeah! My secondary goal is to go five times by Thursday, which includes Thursday in my book, so I am on my way to meeting that goal as well.

Unfortunately I was not as good with my flex points, and yes, my downfall was dinner with my sister on Friday night. I used 11 flex points! I used another 2 Sunday night. I'm disappointed in myself. I let instant gratification win out over my long-term goal. I starting to wonder if not using my flex points and going out are mutually exclusive events. Am I going to be happy with what I eat and drink for dinner at a restaurant if I have to stay within a 26 point limit? I seem to be fine eating out with lunches. This is a theory I am going to have to ponder further. I don't want to give up the goal of not using my flex points some weeks, but I'm going to have to monitor whether or not it is feasible for me to achieve. I'll keep you posted. (P.S. I just looked again at my e-tools for Weight Watchers and my downfall at Friday's dinner was choosing to have both the bruschetta and the beer. If I had just chosen one, and had a little less of it, I would have been within my points. So not using my flex points may be possible.)

I had an unfortunate encounter with an insensitive person today. I took my car into the dealership to be checked out and the in-take representative walked me over to one of her colleagues to hand me and my car off to him. He was looking at a set of 3"x5" photographs. (He doesn't look up when we get there.) She leans over to look at a couple of the photos and proceeds to say "Look how fat John was! Wow, he was so fat." Then she repeats this. Evidently she thinks she's paying this man a compliment. I just happy John isn't within earshot. They finally look up to acknowledge me standing there like an idiot, I mean they are at work and I am a customer. Not to be a b*tch, but at least say, "We'll be with you in a minute." So, thankfully she doesn't apologize to me and my 200.8 lbs. for calling this man fat. But I kinda wish she had. I was ready to simply say, without malice or defensiveness, "It's not nice to call someone fat." It's really that simple. Don't we teach our kids that? Why are adults so insensitive? I, of course, said nothing.

Sorry this was such a long post. I originally meant for it just to be a check-in. I'm switching my Weight Watchers weigh-in days from Tuesdays to Thursdays, so I'll post again later this week.

Take care,

Trixie

Confessions of a Dangerous Stomach

Sorry its been a while. I went to NYC last week and classes started for the spring semester on Wednesday. Truth is that I have been reluctant to post anything since Tuesday because I have some bad news . . . I gained 3.8 pounds last week! Ugh! I can't say I'm all that surprised. I ate badly in NYC - escargot, quesadillas, margaritas . . . I am upset about the amount of time I lost in losing weight. It took a lot of time to lose 3.8 pounds, so now it is disheartening that I need to lose it all over again. I'm no longer in One-derland, I'm at 200.8. I thought I'd never go back to 200. Funny thing is that I didn't cry when I found out. In the beginning of this weight loss journey I gained 0.4 pounds one week and was so upset I couldn't stay for the Weight Watchers meeting that night! I was so naive! :) But, in some ways the gain was a good wake up call that I need to stay vigilant. I had a pretty easy time of it over the holidays so I was due for a gain.

Many thanks to Kimberly, Vickie, Georgia Girl, Amazon Alanna, Angelfish24, Lori, Cynthia and Susan for your comments on my last post about looking for advice on working out. You gave me some great ideas about getting DVDs to do at home, working exercise into my schedule so I do it on autopilot, and taking advantage of working out at the rec center of my university.

I have signed up for water aerobics again. This time I'm doing it in deep water, which I'm excited about. The classes start February 12th. So that is on Monday and Wednesday nights. Tuesday night I have class. So that leaves Thursday - Sunday for going to the gym. I don't think I have the discipline to work out every day, but I do have the time. I think I am going to start coming up with a work out goal for each week. I've seen a lot of blogs with tickers that show how many minutes people have done cardio for that week or month. I think those are great!

My goal this week is to go to the gym at least 3 times before next Tuesday (ride the bike for 45 minutes each time) and to not use my flex points this week. Tomorrow is going to be the true test because I am going out to dinner with my sister. Wish me luck!

Goals

So I have been wanting to set more milestones for myself. My main one is "52 in 52" - 52 lbs. lost in 52 weeks starting from August 2006. I figure 1 lb. a week is a good goal - not too conservative, but not too aggressive. Depending on who you talk to though, some people think I'm crazy to try to lose that much weight that fast. I don't know, it doesn't sound crazy to me, and Weight Watchers is fine with people even losing 2 lbs. per week, so I figure I'll go with my gut.

So, based on the "52 in 52" time line, you will see my interim and long-term goals here. (Sorry its so small, I couldn't get Blogger to make it any bigger!) As you can see, my long-term goal of 141 lbs. is a good distance beyond "52 in 52". But, this chart has helped me stay on track and visualize where I want to be and where I should be. For instance, I am ahead of my goal of being down 25 lbs. by my 34th birthday (February 13th). I actually reached that goal on January 9th. I wanted to make a stretch goal of "34 lbs. by age 34" but I think that is too aggressive. That's trying to lose another 7 lbs. in 4 weeks. Doable, but I don't know if its sustainable, which is what I am all about.

Once I hit my 34th birthday I am going to stop and look at where I am at and then reassess and possibly move some of these goal weights up since I am already ahead.

I'm trying to add exercise into my routine, but the motivation part is difficult. It was great when I was visiting my parents and had my mom to go work out with. But I think that's because I have a great relationship with my mom and I'm comfortable discussing my weight issues around her. I'm not comfortable discussing them with my friends. My friends don't even know I'm doing Weight Watchers. Any tips for motivating to do solo exercise?

Friday Night Lights

So I had an interesting Friday night. I was just going to go out to dinner with my sister, but we ended up going out for drinks afterwards. I guess I hadn't had enough to eat that day (Cherrios, coffee, fish and green beans) and I honestly drank too much. I didn't do anything too embarrassing (the worst thing I did was give my number to a guy who didn't ask for it (who I will never run into again) - embarrassing, but not criminal or mortifying in my book).

But I did notice that all of a sudden I had this tremendous urge to talk to guys when she started getting attention from this one guy. Not just talk, but flirt. I should say attempt to flirt. And normally avoid talking with guys, unless its about school or work. I'm just nervous that they are judging me by what I look like, so I don't really bother talking to them. Even when I weighed less, I've never been that smooth and now most of my material is about 10 years old. That's how long its been since my early twenties when I went out to bars with friends to meet guys. (That wasn't the intention of the night, but that's what ended up happening.) See the thing was, I was able to fit into a jacket I haven't been able to wear in a long while. It made me feel powerful and attractive. And I think that feeling went to my head and I just got really chatty. I'm just so bad at talking to guys. I think it is obvious when I am talking to them that I have no self-confidence. My self-deprecating jokes are just bad. I guess I shouldn't be so hard on myself, but I was wondering if some of you out there in blog land would share your stories of when you first met the guy you are currently involved with. Where were you? Who approached who? Was it a blind date? What did you talk about? Were you nervous? Were you immediately attracted to him? Were you alone, or with a group of people?

I'd like to hear about real success stories because fictional ones on TV leave me feeling hopeless.

Leaving Las Vegas

I'm sorry I disappeared for a few weeks. I was visiting my parents in Las Vegas, but I'm back home now. I had a great time - spent too much money on the penny slot machines - but I actually started working out! I went to the gym with my mom a few times (riding the stationary bike for 45 minutes) and I went on long walks around the neighborhood with my iPod and the Veronica Mars and The O.C. soundtracks (about 3 miles round trip) and I even went hiking a few times. My mom belongs to a hiking group and we saw some beautiful scenery. I've included a picture of my mom and I (I'm on the left) with some of the natural beauty Las Vegas has to offer in the background. We've climbed pretty high up at this point in the hike, but we are only half way to the destination, which was a dry lake bed (a little anti-climatic).

I even managed to get to Weight Watchers weigh-ins while I was gone. I had a little trouble with my eating (and drinking) around the holidays, but I faired pretty well and I'm back to my old ways now that I'm home. I was going to save this news for a separate post, but I can't contain myself - I've made it to One-derland! I am officially 198.6 lbs! I can't remember being this low in like years! I celebrated at home tonight with Diet Pepsi, grilled chicken, green beans and corn. :)

Now that I'm back home, I'll be posting more regularly.

Take care,

Trixie