Ok weigh-in today! I lost 2.2 lbs even though I went over my points a few times this week. I think the key was that I started EXERCISING again. Walking is my main thing and so I walked a nearby river path a couple times and spent a few minutes on the treadmill on other days. I guess it paid off!

Our WW leader Jodie has signed us up for the 10 week weight loss challenge. Well no, she didn't make us do it but I volunteered. Here are my goals:

Lose 10 lbs in 9 weeks (it's been a week already and I lost already

Come up with new creative, fun ways to exercise that I will enjoy

Don't let Las Vegas get me off track.
I must walk, go to WW meeting, drink lots of water, make good food choices and have a GREAT time in spite of all that.

I'm kidding--it's going to be fun, but I would rather come home with a weight loss than a weight gain. Two years ago, I was on WW when I took our annual LV trip and came home 9 lbs heavier. It completely discouraged me and though I kept going to meetings, I was a weightwatcher in name only. I ate whatever I wanted and subsequently put all the weight I lost back on, plus another few lbs.

But in Las Vegas, it should be EASY to keep up exercise. We'll be staying on the north end of "the strip" at Circus Circus, so I will be able to walk not just CC, but all the casinos in that end of the strip. If I don't get hijacked by slot machines, that is. Well, on the brighter side, when I'm gambling, I don't eat--I barely even drink except orange juice (to keep up my stamina!). But this trip I have resolved to be different--I WILL eat, I WILL drink, but I will eat and drink the right stuff! And stay away from buffets!

When we get back from Las Vegas, we have to start packing for our move right away. We have our current place until 5/15, but we don't have to pay May rent here. Instead, we will pay May rent at our new house on May 1 and pick up the key. It's so NICE to have two weeks to move! It won't be near the problems moving we have had in the past--most of our stuff is in storage and will stay there until after the move. Then we will bring our washer/dryer from storage, our sofa, some shelves and other furniture. Then after that we'll see what we have left that we can use. I would LOVE to get some nice outdoor furniture like a deck set for the back deck and a porch swing for the front porch. Maybe even a garden arbor bench and some nice little statuary and a birdbath. And of course, lots of bird feeders and bird houses! I'm going to love it!

Hello all again. Well after a bit of a hiatus, I'm writing here again. It's been kind of a depressing month or two. I just don't feel I'm getting anywhere with my weight loss. The last two weeks, I gained a pound a week, which I know was due to my monthly cycle, but I also couldn't stop eating. I journaled, but sometimes at the end of the day I would conveniently "forget" to journal some food.

But today was better. I got on the scale and had lost 3 lbs, making my weight loss 19.2 lbs since the beginning of January. I really shouldn't feel so bad--I average over a pound a week so really, that's ON track, but I guess the "quick start" with a 5 lb loss really spoiled me.

I do have some news. Hubby and I are moving AGAIN but this time not too far, just a few miles out of town. I haven't told my boss at work yet--she is getting spoiled with me being just a two minute drive away when someone calls in sick. But I'll still be close, only it will take me about 15 minutes to drive in. Is that so bad? We rented a 3000 square foot farm house less than a mile from a big lake and a boat launch. It's a very marshy area, so I assume the basement is kind of damp but who cares, I don't own it, right? It should be fun to be able to be OUTDOORS again, with lawn furniture, porch swing, maybe a deck set and flowers. I really miss that.

Anyway, I know this is short and sweet today but I had to share. If some of you would leave me some notes of encouragement, it would really help.

Thanks!

I can't believe this, I just get over my hip problem and here comes a cold! I got it on my first day on my new job. I'm working part time at a local pharmacy. It's a nice place with good people, but I don't get a break on my one or two long days except at lunch and my back is KILLING ME. I had to go buy two pair of new shoes and some new clothes for this job, even though it pays less than half per hour of what I made as a library assistant. But there's little pressure and lots of smiles, so it's not bad. I had to buy two pair of shoes because i couldn't wear my sneakers on the job. The first pair of new shoes I got technically FIT but my feet burned like heck in them by the end of my shift. I could hardly walk! So I went  back and got a pair of men's Rocsports shoes, which looked ok and were much more comfortable. Unfortunatley they are too big and make my feet look like boats, but that's ok--they don't hurt.

I also realized that a very nice long "duster" shirt I bought some time ago and never wore because it was too small now FITS ME. So I wore that sucker to work and got some nice comments on it.

On the busywork side, I got a big polyresin carousel horse I've started painting. I might post photos of it here somewhere when I'm done with it. I made a mistake by using oil paint--it takes forever to dry and I'm too impatient I guess. So next horse, I'm using acrylic.  Another slowdown is caused by the fact that I have no where outside where I can spray paint. We rent an expensive condo, way beyond our means, and I'm sure the management would have a bird if they found spraypaint spots outside or saw me doing it. I can't spraypaint int he garage because the landlord has it full of original paintings. Imagine finding spraypaint spots on your favorite  Da Vinci..ok, they're not Da Vinci's, but some kind of "outsider art". They look like kids painted them but I'm sure they are like masterpieces to the landlord. Oh well. Maybe we can find a house to rent where I can spraypaint to my heart's content.

Now to get over this cold. I got on the treadmill--my expensive new  treadmill--for the first time in a week today and managed 15 minutes before I got too bored/tired.  Hubby really has taken to the thing and yesterday he hopped on it TWICE, the first time for 40 minutes, the second time for 30.  Is there such a thing as treadmill addiction?

 

I really hate being sick. I've had problems since I started back on Weightwatchers, first with my hip flaring up and now I have a lousy virus.  On the plus side, I have lost 15 lbs so far and it's beginning to FINALLY show in my clothes. I had to buy some new things because..TA DA...I got a job. Ok it's a part time job and it's just cashiering in a local pharmacy but hey, it's work and I like the people who work there. Plus I'm meeting new people regularly for the first time in years and don't feel like such a recluse like I did in Illinois.  It's a nice place and they even may let me off for two weeks in April for our annual trip to Las Vegas.  Hope so!

I do not have an abundance of either but this week I finally got off the plateau and lost 3 lbs. Imagine hitting a plateau after only 9 lbs???? Not fair!!!

Just to celebrate, instead of stuffing my face at McDonald's, I went shopping for a treadmill. I found a nifty one for about $650.00, way more than I planned to spend but it has all the bells and whistles. Checked with hubby before buying it and he agreed it was a good investment. If I can get myself walking more and into shape, I'll be able to walk around with him in Las Vegas this April much easier. You see, we usually take a "business" trip to Vegas every year at that time. Hubby goes to a convention and technical conference and I go to the nearest slot machine or pool. But I hope that if I am not so easily exhausted as I have been in years past, I'll be more willing to walk the Strip and just enjoy the activity of being in Vegas!

On the "down" side, I might be working then and it is possible I may not be able to go. I have an interview for a minimum wage part time job tomorrow. It's only 15 hours a week, but if they won't let me schedule the time off, I may not be able to go. . On the "up" side the job is close by, would let me spend time at home with the birdies and generally be a lazy lout like I am now.

I just applied for a seller's permit for this state also. This summer I hope to be able to hit the "flea market" circuit and sell off some of the CRAP we have accumulated. Ihave cookie jars, vases, figurines, blah blah blah that I have to get rid of. If it works out, I may teach myself to paint carousel horses and sell near-full-size polyresin decorative horses. Gotta price those things--I already have one that I got painted already and I have an unpainted one on the way. But I paid too much for the unpainted one so I will probably keep it once it's painted.I have to practice on it anyhow! Oh--if you didn't know, I'm a carousel NUT! You can find my Carousel page at carousels.sillybirds.com. It's a lot of fun!

I also have parrots so I have set up a webcam on my two featherred buddies, Bucky and Tuka. You'll find that at love.sillybirds.com

For those of you just joining us, I started out this program by riding my recumbent exercise bike for 15-20 minutes daily. That went down to every other day when my hip started acting up and when I started being awakened in the middle of the night by bad hip pain, I stopped completely and it showed on the scale.

I was using Aleve and Aspercreme at night to try to alleviate the pain but I still kept getting awakened and didn't dare get back on the bike. Now I have found a tube of Walgreen's version of "Ben-Gay" in the house and for the last two nights, have managed to sleep most of the way through. So today I got a little adventurous and start exercising again.

But not on the bike, at least not for now. I found an old copy of "Sweatin' to the Oldies" in my video collection so I'm workin' it out to Richard Simmons. This tape is pretty old---dating back to 1988, I think, but it is still useful and I have to admit the music is great. I can't get through the whole thing yet and stop when "cooldown" comes along.

The reason I stop is not because I don't want to cool down, but that in the tape, everyone gets down on the floor. If I get down on the floor, I'm down there for awhile whether I like it or not. It's very hard for me to get up again due to my arthritic knees. Yeah, I'm just an arthritic mess, but I hope losing some weight will help with that.

Anyway, I was watching the people working out on the tape and was so impressed that Richard used "normal" people back in a time when regular folks just weren't seen in tapes like this. Remember Jane Fonda's workout--"feel the burn"? Jane looked like she was made out of molded plastic, like Barbie. And Cher--how many tummy tucks has she had? It's not normal for a woman in her mid 50s to look that way! But hey, she can afford it, so I guess she'll keep doing it until she splits a seam or something. What if it happens while she's on live TV or something? Ick.

Anyway, I'm moving again and it feels pretty good so far.

Oh yes, I considered bariatric surgery. I looked into the various types and estimated the time off from work and even the cost. Don't ask me what they were because I blanked it all out when I heard the words "special diet" and "stomach the size of a fist"---Eeew. But two things actually kept me from doing it--the fact that both people I knew personally who had weight loss surgery died as a result of it.

The first one passed away about 15 years afterward from complications regarding scar tissue as a direct result of stomach stapling. Sure, she made it 15 years but she would only be about 50 years old now. Not hardly worth throwing a third of your life away is it? The second one passed away just last summer, only weeks after gastric surgery. She was a newlywed and very happy. How her husband coped was beyond me but he actually delivered the eulogy and conducted most of the funeral service.

So, nope, no surgery for me. I believe that bad luck comes in threes and I do NOT want to be number three. Thanks anyway. For those of us who have had the surgery and did well with it, God bless you, but it's not for me.

I got a lovely note from someone expressing support for me in my weight loss. Thank you.

That note discussed Weight Watchers and the cost of it a little bit and it made me think. Can I really put a price tag on something that could mean the difference between living 5 more years versus 25 more years (or even 30 or 40 more years?). Was $10.00 a week that much of a difference?

Well, I mentally added up what we used to spend on just eating out. Hubby and I used to eat out often. Even when we chose fast food, we still spent at least $10.00 for the two of us to eat. Now add in the other more expensive restaurants, still not extravagant at maybe $20.00 for a visit.

Say we went out to eat 5 times a month, maybe 3 times at McDonald's and twice at a modestly priced restaurant. That's $70.00, not including tips. Weight watchers costs me $10.00 a week, so with most months having 4 meetings, that is 4 times 9.95 or $39.80.

Look! I've saved almost $30.00 already! So the first month I used $20.00 of that to buy the Dining Out Companion/Complete Food Companion inside the black zipper case. Remember, you don't HAVE to buy ANYTHING extra at WW meetings. These are just extra tools I happen to find handy but they really do give you everything you need to follow the program at the first meeting.

No, I'm not promoting WW over anything else. I'm just pointing out that even though I thought we were pretty poor, it turned out we were spending more than enough money to cover my WW meetings by just reducing the number of times we ate out.

And to boot, the lack of McDonald's french fries in my diet has probably been some help too.

I went through my purse today and found some free tickets to the local college basketball games I had picked up at the credit union. Being not much of a basketball fan (I love FOOTBALL!), I just handed them to him and didn't pay much mind. To my shock, he looked at them and yells THERE'S A DOUBLE-HEADER TODAY! It was for both the men's and women's games and the game started in 45 minutes!

Well being housebound this week due to the cold and snow, I was glad for a chance to get out. We went to the game and both teams won. My main problem was the snacks. Do you know how hard it is to go to a sporting event and not EAT?

So one huge diet coke later, I had hubby go get me some popcorn. Normally I could go get it myself but we were about halfway up some rickety bleachers and with my arthritic feet, I was afraid to go down them without help. And that's what hubbies are for, right?

Anyway, I figure I ate about 9 cups worth of popcorn but it was hard to measure. It didn't occur to me until I got home that I could have brought an empty box home and measured it. Oh well.

I'm just glad it wasn't a baseball game!

This is the first entry in what I hope will be many for this journal. I started it because the "blog" format is more flexible and will allow me to add comments and feelings more easily than my weekly weight loss report on my main page.

So here goes---how do I feel today? The answer is, despite being unemployed, my arthritic hip acting up and generally bored to tears, I feel ok. That .2 lb weight loss last week was a little discouraging but it had to happen sooner or later. I'm an experienced enough dieter to know that the initial big losses are really just a little water weight and some fat. The key is KEEPING those first pounds off and continuing. After all, it can't ALL be water weight, right?

A little more detail about me. I've been married for 5 years to my very supportive hubby, but our life has been a turmoil most of the time we've been married. Legal problems, financial problems, moving across country, then moving AGAIN a short time later--it has taken it's toll on us. The moving problem was the result of first, hubby taking a new job that had a good future (we thought) and moving us from Los Angeles to Illinois, which is closer to home for me. But then after just 2 years, hubby's job was eliminated. What do two 50 somethings do when their lives are uprooted like that? The answer is, we move again, this time to Wisconsin, which is my home state and which I love dearly. So I am happy we are back home for me, but I don't feel as if we dare to put down roots here. I would be a little more secure if we had moved to Madison, which is where I lived for many years. At least I know people there. But on the up side, Madison is only about 80 miles so it's not hard to jump in the car and take a run down there.

And we are close to LAKES again. Los Angeles has only manmade lakes and Illinois..well the Illinois prairie is very pretty but there are very few bodies of water I would call a lake. Builders put what I would call ditches behind housing developments and actually have the nerve to call them lakes.

Anyway, that's it for today. Keep checking back dear friends and please don't hesitate to leave me notes. I need your smiles and encouragement if I am to reach my goal!