Not too good ~
that's how I've been at updating all of my blogs and well, actually how I've been at my food journal and sticking to my plan. It's amazing how you forget what you've eaten in a day ( I can't remember from morning to afternoon) if you don't write it down. I have several days in my journal that have breakfast and lunch written down but nothing for dinner. I know I didn't miss a meal that night but obviously forgot to write it down. I also have other days that I got the date written and that is about it. Well, it's Monday! A new day! A new week! I ate a lot of yummy food this past weekend between my husbands birthday celebration, my mother in laws birthday celebration, & my in laws 50th wedding anniversary celebration. You can go on over and check out my pics at my other blog here.
I started thinking about this blog this past weekend and how disappointing it might be since we've hardly updated it and it doesn't seem to be filled with posts of huge loses but you wanna know something? It's REAL! It's the real deal! and if you are like me ~ losing weight isn't just a daily struggle it's an hourly struggle. I've thought at least a dozen times in the last week that I should stop Weight Watchers and go to the one thing that has worked best for me and that is the low carb Atkins diet. I lost a bunch of weight and maintained it for 3 years. HOWEVER, I cannot stomach a lot of meat, cheese, and eggs like I did during those 3 years. It's like watermelon - we used to eat it all the time as kids. My dad would cut it open and put it out on the picnic table in the backyard, give us lots of spoons and my sisters and the neighborhood kids would dig in. TOO much watermelon as a kid and it's something I cannot eat now.
Wanna know something else, I'm 10 lbs. heavier now then when I started that diet in 2000 and 35 lbs heavier then when I was at my lowest weight in 2003 but it crept back on slowly.
I've started and quit the low carb thing probably 25 times this year alone.

This time around I wanted to be REAL to myself and get to a point where I was eating to nourish my body, mind and soul and not because something taste good or I'm having a craving for it or just because it's there (like the 3 krispy creme donuts yesterday were just "there" and I ate them)!

So back to it being REAL! It's a real struggle to get it off and keep it off! I know you understand where I'm coming from. I'm trying to keep it real and like I say to my kids sometimes - "get real" when they are being unreasonable - I need to get real about my food journal and sticking to a plan to be healthier!
Today is a NEW DAY! Thank God!
Have a wonderful week. I'll be back to post my weight loss on Friday!
Sandy

Happenings...

Okay, so I have not been around a while and for a weight loss blog you know what that means.... I have been bad, very, very, bad. I will make no excuses. I brain told the hand to feed the mouth and the hand obediently complied.
My sister, Sandy, who is ( or was before she came here this weekend) doing well on program came for a short visit with my 3 nephews so we had six boys in the home, 3 of which are teens, taller than us, and very hungry beings. What are two moms to do but feed them tons and of course test all the food to make sure it wasn't poison.

I thought I'd share our ww menus with you for the weekend.
Here goes...
Friday dinner
5 pieces of papa john's pizza 50pts.
Sat. movie popcorn 20 points
fried chicken burritos 15 points each
cheese cake 8 points a piece

Sunday
spagetti with fried meatballs 15 points
you get the picture. We have eaten our points for the month but we will not let that stop us from starting again this morning. :) Why is it when we have company everything is about the food??? It's like it is a get out of jail free card. I know I am not in jail but sometimes I feel like I am because I don't want to let go of certain foods (carmel fraps) that I like. I know that there are ways to make your favorite foods into a lower calorie food but I think sometimes I am too lazy for that. How bout you? Do your visits with relatives or friends revolve around food? Do you use these visits as a time to slip, or in our case flat out fall, off program? We would love to here what happens in your lives in this very rewarding, yet sometimes frustrating path to weight loss.
Linda

First things first! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER IN LAW DAVID! Love ya and glad we're here celebrating your special day with you!

Second, No WW meeting today!
I'm away from town so won't be able to go to my Weight Watchers meeting or weigh in today. I feel good though. Been following the plan and more than that really trying to make it life change instead of a diet! Diets for me are temporary ~ a life change is what I need so that I can eat and know that it is going to benefit my body not sit on it for years - you know what I mean.
I'm at my older sister Linda's house in Memphis and with 6 boys between us we're sure to have a grand time with lots of fun and lots of NOISE ~ gotta love it!
If you want to see an amazing before and after you have to go on over to http://donnadowney.typepad.com/ She has been doing Nutrasystem and looks fabulous! You have to scroll down in her posts to see her and she is so incredibly funny! Watch her videos. She's a scrapbooking goodess and I absolutely love her inspirational personality ~ oh, and did I mention she PAINTS!
Have a fabulous weekend!
Sandy

YIPPEE!!
I lost .2lbs today. Was so ecstatic that I did a little dance on the scale - thankfully no one was there but the two ladies at the counter.
After spending a weekend in Atlanta, a week in Florida and then a week busy at home catching up on everything from being away I was really anticipating a gain on the ole scale. I went many (too many) days without journaling and I have found that that is a big KEY to keeping me on track.
I've been in a funk lately as well. I eat when I'm emotional ~ okay, I eat when I'm happy, sad, mad or indifferent. Working out today really got my mind off of some things today and I'm trying to keep things in perspective.
I was looking through my closet today and decided that I needed to pull some things that I'd really like to get into (I made a goal!) and I put those so that those were the first things I see when I walk into my closet! Some still have tags on them and it will be nice to take those off and slip into those clothes.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Sandy
TIP: If you are doing Weight Watchers here is a time saver for you ~ when you unload your groceries after shopping take a Sharpie and write the pts. value on the items that you eat. I can't seem to remember (must be this 40 yr. old brain of mine)hehehe

Weigh in

Well I have had a pretty good week this week but my monthly visitor arrived so I did not expect big numbers but I expected at least 2-3lbs. Didn't happen, -1.6 I know it is a loss but I was a little discouraged. During the meeting our leader talked about how in the summer we tend to get so busy we don't eat on a regular schedule and how that can sabotage your weight loss if you save all your points and use them in the evening. She said your body doesn't have enough time to metabolise the food. Made perfect sense and that is exactly what I did this week. I worked so hard during the days this week to prepare for a yard sale we are going to have that I mostly ate only at night. I guess a loss is a loss though and I am happy about that. It's another week and I will be monitoring my eating schedule a little bit better and hoping for a bigger number next week. I do feel a little less focused on food right now which is also a plus. I am seeing some and feeling some emotional changes going on as well so that is good too.
The pictures above are what one pound looks like. The pound of chocolate looks so much prettier but I guess if the fat was served in it's real form yuck( the second picture) I think it would be less appealing. Looking at pictures of one what one pound looked like made me feel a little better about my small loss this week.


Here is a wonderful WW recipe that I got a while back and I make it quite often. We all love it and it is so easy.





Cheesy Crockpot Chicken (7.5 PTS)

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 Cans 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Cooked rice
Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Put chicken in the bottom of the crockpot. Add rest of ingredients on top. Cook 8 hours on low. Serve over rice or noodles. (Points include rice)

Per Serving: 328 Calories; 8g Fat; 55g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 146mg
Cholesterol; 631mg Sodium.



I usually don't cut up the chicken it just makes it that much easier to make. I don't see the serving size above so I try to keep it at about a cup to a cup and 1/2 I also use brown rice.


I have a close friend who said her family would never eat this but her son was over here one night with my son and he had 3 helpings and still wanted more. It really is great and very easy.


If you try it let me know how you liked it.


Hope you are having a great week.


Linda

By the way, Becky if you are out there I tried to find you but blogger said your profile cannot be seen. I would love to visit you but can't thanks for the comment you left a couple of posts ago

Finally a post by the middle sister of the three!

I'm Sandy and was so thrilled with the characature of me in the car - perky is all I can say - and I like it! I'm excited that my sisters and I have started to journal our journey that I know we've all struggled with all our lives. We're hoping to make some bloggin' friends that have the same issues and struggles and hopefully along the way we can INSPIRE each other to be better!



So why the BOZO punching bag you ask?

Well, I am one of those people that continues to beat myself up over things that cannot be changed or for only things I can change.

I just came home from a week in Florida for a painting covention and like all things (wedding, reunions, etc.) I was hoping to loose about 25 lbs. before I went. In March I decided I could get it off. Well, a week before, I was beating myself up because I was only down 9 lbs. since March. I did manage to lose a few lbs. while there because of all the long walking between the room and the conference rooms. It certainly wasn't from eating correctly or on plan with WW at all. I ate what I wanted and didn't give it a second thought - until I came home and hadn't changed the way I was eating and put those few lbs. back on ~ phewy. Now, I ususally do two things when that happens - beat myself up and start eating to make myself feel better or I stop eating and by about 3 p.m. am so hungry I binge on things that aren't good for me. Plus, I've completely messed up my metobolism in the meantime and it just really doesn't know what to do.

Donna Dewberry spoke to us at the painting convention and asked us all to make a list of our goals and to start it out with stamping out NEGATIVITY in our lives. Now, that is a hard one. I have lots of negative people in my life to include myself. But I've printed out this negativity button and put it on my fridge, in my wallet, on my mirror in my bathroom. I need that reminder to think positive, be positive, not only with my weight but in all situations in my life. I've decided that everytime I start to think/do something negative or am faced with a negative situation that I pray about it immediately. I am not capable of handling it on my own and know that only God can help me change it into a POSITIVE!

Have a healthy and positive day!
Sandy

Just so you know...Linda does have sisters and is not the only one that is going to blog...Here I am. I am Debbie, the baby.

I struggle daily with eating. I work a full time job that sometimes is two(60 hours a week instead of 40). I work in Retail which in itself is a very stressful career, but now a days it is even more stressful because of the state of the economy. I am an emotional eater like Linda, Sandy and our Mom. The stress of my position keeps me wanting to run to the snack machine or the front of my store for a candy bar, chips, diet coke, of course, and anything else I see. I don't do it but man are those thoughts always there. I walk to the registers to do a void or answer a call and walk by not one but two ice cream machines....OH MY! KLONDIKES

We all like to eat and have fun but Linda is right...we are not eat to live, we are live to eat.

It is a day to day project to work on ones self instead of always wanting to work for others. Lots of self analysis. I have always been the largest one in my family and it is a struggle to try and teach my kids too the best eating habits. Andrew is a eat to live and Hannah is a live to eat. My oh My....do we have a lot to learn on this journey.

Closing for now....