Please, not again

lately, I have been posting more to my Weight Watchen blog because it is a nice little community and unfortunately, however pretty this one is, no one reads it. Anyway, I went to post tonight regarding my daughter's "violent Twinkee" remark and my blog was not there. Again.

A couple of months ago, all of our weight watchen blogs went down with a violent server issue and Roni was devistated. During rebuilding, she decided to begin the Weight Watchen blog community once again. Now that I can't log in, it is scaring me.

Hopefully, I am just freaking out about nothing. :)

How could she not see it?

I woke up this morning, and my throat was killing me. I found a flash light, looked at my throat and saw a sore about the size of the tip of my pinky. After taking a few Advil, I called my doctor’s office, sat on hold then made an appointment with the nurse pratitioner. There are two doctors I see on a regular basis. Both are female, both very good. One of the doctors recently had a baby so it has been a little harder to get in, hence me seeing the nurse practitioner.
I was pretty convinced I had strep. I have had a headache for several days, not to mention the big sore on the back of my throat. I weighed and was shocked to see that I was at 134.6 which is an all time low for me. When the NP came in she said that the strep swab wasn’t showing strep. She asked me to open up to take a look and said she couldn’t see anything. I said, “you can’t see that sore at the back of my throat?” “There is nothing there”, she said.
So I swallow and it hurts. She gives me the typical “you have a virus/we don’t know what you have” answer and tells me to call in a few days if my throat still hurts. I leave and as soon as I get in my car, open my mouth and look in the rear-view mirror only to see the sore plain as day. WTF?
So to make a long story short, I’m a hurtin’ unit today. I can barely swallow and I am a little worried about the weight. 134 is low for me. It still puts me on the edge of a healthy BMI but I really don’t want to lose any more weight. People at work are already saying that I have an eating disorder (which I don’t. I just don’t eat much bad stuff anymore). If I lose another 5 pounds I will be underweight for my height. I can’t believe I am saying that when I was 45 lbs heavier in January.

Sleep, the key to weighloss?

Every day I receive a fax called the Business Digest. There are usually interesting management articles, headlines regarding mergers, and the Quote of the Day which I enjoy. Today there was a section called Health and Fitness so of course I read it. Under the few health tidbits section was a bulleted point that caught my attention:

Lack of sleep releases hormonies that stimulate your appetite.
Oversleeping means you burn less energy in a day.

Those two small statements didn’t surprise me. I have always preached the key to successful weightloss is sleep. Not because of any extensive research, mostly from paying attention to my hunger signals.

I remember one day I was starving all day. It seemed like all I wanted to do was snack all day. Although I didn’t give in to the snack attack, I continued to feel hungry, even though I had eaten what should have been satisfying meals. Like most of us who diet, we get into a routine as to what we eat, usually eating the same things at certain times. For example, I usually eat oatmeal for breakfast because I know it is filling and doesn’t require me to have a snack to make it until lunch.

On this day, however, I had my oatmeal for breakfast, was hungry and hour later, ate a snack, had my usual 6 or 7 point lunch and was hungry an hour later. Analyzing what was different, I remembered that I hadn’t slept well the night before. How is that for research?
After reading the Business Digest article, I decided to do a little more research on sleep and weightloss. I found the following articles online.

Sleep Away the Pounds - By Cherie Calbom

It’s not all in your head - Unhealthy eating and weight gain

How Sleep affects your weight

Leptin and Ghrelin: Their Role as Appetite Hormones

If you need help sleeping, you may want to read the 4th article as it is a bit more scientific but it was still very informative.

Sweet Dreams!

Official Weigh-in

Friday's official weigh-in at WW for August was.......139.0. That puts me down 41lbs since I started on January 4, 2007. Of course I am maintaining at this point but the ladies at the scale were giving me a hard time. My WW goal was 150. My personal goal is 140. So to the scale ladies, I am 11lbs lighter than my goal.

Yeah for me!

Monday Food Journal

I went over yesterday but still felt good to be journaling again. If it weren't for the alcohol I would have been fine.

Lower-Sugar Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal 2
Turkey on WW Wheat w/Mustard 2
Tomatoes and Lowfat Cottage Cheese 2
8 Bing Cherries 1
Cousin Willie's Microwave Popcorn 2
Homemade Vegetable Soup 5
2 Highballs w/Diet 4
2 Miller High Life Light 4


Total 22
Goal 20
Points Remaining -2

Water six-eight ounce glasses
Activity 0

This weekend I was down. My lower back was giving me fits so I was forced to sit around for two or three days, allowing my back to mend. During that time, I practically ate the house down. I refuse to let it get to me, however. Today, I am on plan, shedding the few pounds caused by sitting on my hiney most of the weekend.

This incident also re-affirms my belief that sitting around watching TV does cause an amount of activity boredom. Because the TV is stationary and you do not have to get up to enjoy it (except for the occational call of nature), I believe your body craves activity and that is where the munching comes into play.

One lady in particular I know combats this form of eating by knitting while she watches TV. Although it probably doesn’t burn calories, it prevents her from pigging out in front of Law and Order.

I am not going to post my menu for today until tomorrow and continue posting it for the rest of the week to keep me honest. That is the beauty of WW! If you get off plan and gain a few, you have the tools necessary to jump right back on the horse and shed it off.

Isolated Sprinkles

What in the heck are isolated sprinkles? I was checking the weather today for my area on NOAA's site and the short term forcast was calling for isolated sprinkles. I don't think I have ever seen that before. I mean, I have seen sprinkles before but have not seen it on the weather forecast. Who worries about isolated sprinkles?

I am FIRE

Your Element Is Fire

Your passion and emotion are as obvious as the brightest flame. You make sparks fly, and your passion always has the potential to burst out. You are exciting and creative - and completely unpredictable. You sometimes exercise control, and sometimes you let yourself go. Friends describe you as sensitive, spirited, and compulsive. Bright and blazing with intensity, you seem mysterious and moody to many.

What's Your Element?

Rain

Powerful thunderstorms rolled thru the area last night so I was unable to run. Afterwork today I am going to take the kids to the pool for a few hours then take the kids to their Dad's for four days. This weekend should be nice and relaxing. :)

I ate well yesterday, nothing crazy. I had oatmeal for breakfast, soup and salad for lunch, a fiber bar for a snack and grilled chicken with broccoli, carrots and rice for dinner.

This morning I weighed 138.7 with my clothes on. That makes me feel a little better about eating at the mexican place today.

Going to Walk/Run tonight

I think that if I write it, maybe it will make me do it. I need to get some activity tonight or I am going to end up putting all my weight back on. Maybe I will get my son to ride his bike ahead of me and I will will run to catch up with him. Maybe I should just get a bike...

Today has been a decent day and tomorrow is Friday. We have already made plans to eat at one of the Mexican restaurants tomorrow which means a pretty heavy lunch. Afterward, I told the kids that since I get off at three, I will take them swimming.

I will post tomorrow if I run/walk or not. :)

Hershey Snacksters 100 Calorie Packs

I was in the checkout isle at Toys 'R Us last night and saw this box calling to me. I'm always on the look out for a new 100 calorie pack to try.

These were good. I liked the crunchy cereal along with the mini kisses. I didn't like that it said made with multi-grain cereal but only had less than 1 gram of fiber.

If you are a chocolate fan I would suggest these although one pouch may not be enough. :)

4 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight

I saw this on the WW site today and had to post. I agree with all the reasons (especially the TV one).

4 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight

Eat your Veggies!

Remember when your Mom used to say "Eat your Veggies!" I found this great article on Dietary Fiber today and I wanted to share.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fiber/NU00033

I developed terrible eating habits as a child (my mother was single and didn't have a lot of time to cook). We ate fast food almost every night. I developed bleeding hemorrhoids as a 10 year old due to lack of fiber in my diet.

Everyone should take a moment and read this informative article. :)

My lucky love color :)

Your Lucky Love Color is Red

When someone gets to know you, the first thing they notice is your passion. You are quick to fall in love, quick to get angry, quick to act impulsively. Relationships are quite a ride with you. And unlike what your color might suggest, you never stop to think before you act. Your heart is often on fire, and it's a rare man that can quell your flames.

What Does Your Lucky Love Color Tell Men?

Is WW "yo-yo" dieting?

I was reading yet another inspirational story on WW site the other day, then I went to Roni’s site to see what she was up to and saw her “15 years of yo-yo dieting, over!” banner and a question kept rolling around in my head. Isn’t Weight Watchers truly yo-yo dieting? Then I read this article titled “Yo-yo dieting may have a bad rap” and I thought that it was time to blog about it.

Now that I am a lifetime member, a true “weight watcher” I constantly watch my weight. I usually weigh every morning. I try to make healthy food choices (like they teach us) but if I stay with the low fat, low point food, I continue to lose. So I balance that by being a “bad girl” and eat normal food several times a week and eat healthy several times a week.
This week has been harder with several parties and picnics, a food day at work, a birthday party, etc…so my weight is up a couple of pounds. That means I will kick the WW point counting back in, add a bit of activity for a week and get down to a comfortable weight where I don’t really have to count. That is kind of what they teach you as being a true “weight watcher”. Isn’t that in fact “yo-yo” dieting?

I know Roni posted a gain before the “big crash”of 2007 (that is what I call it anyway) and I remember posting about how being a confirmed WW, she has the tools she needs to take it right back off. Just as I do. Just as millions of lifetime WW’s do.

Where am I going with this? Who knows. Just me trying to make something out of nothing as usual. :) I do have myself convinced, however, that WW is yo-yo dieting (if you complete the program, that is).

Hot Barbeque Tenders

So, I thought I would be OP today, knowing that I am going to a seafood buffet usually keeps me in check, but a terrible headache brought on the craving for Hot Barbeque Tenders from Buffalo Wings and Rings. I ordered 5 insted of 3 and a house salad thinking I would make a Barbeque Tenders salad and it wouldn't be as fattening as getting onion rings or curly fries.

Why do I do this to myself. I am stuffed now and I know I am going to go to the seafood buffet tonight and stuff myself on the all-you-can-eat crab legs. And be miserabel (did I add that part). I definately didn't need all that food. I only ate three of the tenders and left more than half of the salad. Maybe one day I will learn.