Tammy

Had a revelation last night when my daughter and I were on here.  We calculated our BMIs and she is at the ideal weight now (thank you, God).  I am no longer obese but am now overweight.  Part of me is thrilled, and part of me is mad at myself for letting me get here to begin with.  Hey, I know…Take it as a good sign.  It is a step on the right direction.

I have been back on WW since January 10.  This Tuesday, it will be six months.  I have lost 24lbs.  That is pretty darn good.  It will be Christmas before I am at my ideal BMI.  Oh well, if I wasn’t doing this I would be beyond obese now wouldn’t I?  I am usually a positive person, so I am going to have to channel that positiveness and forge ahead.

Have a relaxing Sunday, everyone.

Tammy

Hey all!  Another week, another pound!  I am thrilled since I am purposely taking this slowly this time around.  I have lost 24 lbs. now!  Feels awesome, I tell ya!

My daughter and son had their last day of the school year today, so they are loving life right now - swimming and running around our little town.  I am running around to all of the schools in the county helping teachers and principals get loose ends tied up before they leave for the summer.  Busy, Busy!

Thanks to all of you for your support since I have come back.  It has been like coming home again. 

Love ya all!

Tammy

It’s raining like crazy here in West Virginia this morning.  It rained all night and my husband set his alarm every hour to see if the creek in front of our home was at a dangerous level.  We dodged the bullet, but it was close.  He is such a sweety because he let me sleep (even when my superintendent called at 4:00 am to get my opinion on the water levels - for school closing) because I have been so sick recently.  He told my boss that I was sick and that he could help him.  Add to that that my daughter and her best friend had to be dropped off at their school at 2:00 am for their 8th grade trip.  My husband deserves a gold star for his overnight activities.  Not to mention, he is booked with customers today (barber/hair stylist - owns his own business). 

An interesting sidebar to all of this is the water got up over the road and my daughter’s bus could not leave the school until 6:00 am.  God bless the teachers and assistant principal who are chaperoning that trip.  :-)  I just spoke with her and they are already out of state, so they should be fine. 

I am still in pain from my sore throat, but can tell I am getting better all the time.  I have taken my entire Z-Pak so I am anticipating a quick recovery.  I miss the exercise, y’all!

I am still focusing on the main thing this dreary morning in the mountains.  I am focused on my blessings.  One of those blessings?  A healthy lifestyle, of course!  I am writing all my food down, drinking my water, and eating sensibly.   The exercise will have to come when I feel a little better.

Have a great day everyone!  Pray for those families in West Virginia and elsewhere who are experiencing flash flooding.  For those of you who have been through it before, you know what a violation it is.

I did what I said I would and I spoke with different folks about the all or nothing approach to weight loss we tend to get and I learned some interesting things to say the least. 

The most important lesson I gained from all of my conversations was that most people that were trying to lose the weight because of the opinion of others tended to have this all or nothing approach more than did the ones who decided to do it for themselves.  The first group tended to have something to prove or wanted acceptance (oh boy, I can relate to this one…).  The other group had either been strong to begin with or finally reached the point of better self worth.  These folks tended to not worry about big numbers on the scale because they had come to the conclusion the only person they had to answer to was themselves and they were fine with slow, but sure. 

Now, even the ones who did it for someone else had some significant weight loss, and a few had even kept it off, but most of them were more like me - they regained what they had lost and then some.   

I feel confident that my slower approach this time is the way to go for me.  I am not hungry.  I am more disciplined  - I cannot hide from myself :-).  I see that my future is just that - mine!  It is no one else’s.  And that makes all the difference!

I am battling a sore throat, cold, and a second period for this month (lucky me).  Something tells me my 45-year-old body may need a rest.  I have lots on my mind with state testing (part of my job responsibilities include testing coordinator), getting my kids to all of their activities, and painting my daughter’s bedroom.  I think I may need to go home and sleep.  It stinks because I am the secondary director and all of the high school graduations are this week, but I think I am going to gracefully bow out of graduations (I only attend - I don’t have to speak), relax in my backyard in the sun, and block the whole world out in the evenings. 

If I get too exhausted, I tend to forget to write down all of my food and I do not exercise as faithfully.  I do not want my fatigue to halt my progress.

I had a really good message in my inbox this morning.  One of my BS Buddies was worried because she had eaten something most of us on a healthy eating plan feel we cannot have, even in moderation.  I have been there and that is why I have failed at reaching my ideal weight so many times before.  She is such an inspiration because she had what she wanted but had the smallest portioon.  She satisfied her craving without going overboard.  Yet she felt guilty.  Why is it we get that all or nothing mentality when we attempt a life change?  Only to feel like such failures when we “cheat” that we blow it and just eat everything in sight?  What a terrible cycle we get ourselves into.  I know; I’ve been there.

That is what I am exploring today as I eat, exercise, and enjoy my daughter playing a softball doubleheader in a neighboring town.  I am going to talk to some friends on the same journey as me and see what they think.  I am going to really monitor my own feelings when I get a craving. 

Weight Watchers tells me that I can eat whatever I want as long as I count it in my daily points value.  It is working for me, but I still get that uncomfortable gnawing when I eat something that I traditionally would not have touched when I was on other diets.  I know that deprivation is not an option for me, and I know I am much happier eating what I want. 

Thanks to my BS Buddie’s message this morning, I am going to epxlore the guilt associated with eating so I can actually enjoy having a real life on a healthy eating plan instead of a life on a “diet”. 

OK.  No routine, Husband and son at a community function.  Daughter sleeping.  My mind swims with all the things I have on my desk at work and, even though I am not hungry, I still want to fill that nervous, idle void with what else?  Food.  So, instead I am blogging.

Actually the Net has helped my daughter with her weight loss.  When she gets bored and it is after dark (she walks when the sun is out) she gets online and IMs and “checks her myspace” until her mind is off food.  She’s a digital native.  Her digital immigrant mom has a lot to learn from her when it comes to tech:-)

So far, this morning I have had 2.5 points (WW).  I had a peanut butter sandwich with two slices of Nature’s Own High F iber (50 cal/slice) bread, 1.5 teaspoons of peanut butter and 1.5 teaspoons of apple jelly.  PBJs seem to give me a lot of morning fuel.  I think they are a good bargain when you use the high fiber bread (this bread is 1 point for two slices - yes!).

I am working on navigating the food log and exercise log on here today.  I didn’t do it the first time around and now I have to make myself learn the tech aspects.  I am actually excited to learn something new so I can brag to my kids that I did it. 

I have a funny story about tech and kids.  A few weeks ago I transported a cadre of high school seniors around the four middle schools in the county to talk to entering freshmen about making high school count.  These kids have gotten to know my children over the years and they were thrilled they got to go to my daughter’s school and talk to her class.  She walked all of them out to the van when they were finished and my cell phone rang.  One of the boys started making good-natured fun of my phone (omg - that thing looks like it is from the 80s).  Sara showed him hers and started a diatribe about how I wouldn’t buy her a new one until our contract was up. Well the whole van shamed me and told me she deserved a new phone for high school, etc.  It was so funny.  Now, Sara gets on their myspace and tells them to keep working on me to get her a new phone.  I love kids.  They live in a world we never even knew would exist when we were young.  Tech has changed everything.  I say we embrace it and learn from them or we will be left in the dust.  Educators who fail to learn it and use it are boring these kids to death.

 OK .  I have to get moving.  DDR here I come!  Have a great day everyone!

I am so relieved to be back here.  I gained all of the weight I had lost last time, but started Weight Watchers again in January and have lost back down to 190.  I discovered I really need support.  I attend WW meetings faithfully and I am doing Buddy Slim again now, so I should get lots of great support and get my act together for good.

My 13-year-old daughter is doing WW with me and she has lost an amazing 32 lbs.  She will be 14 in June and entering high school in the late fall.  She will have so much confidence with her new body and her healthy eating habits.  I am so stoked that she got her act together early in life so she does not have to endure the heartbreak of being overweight in high school. 

What’s going on with everyone?  I am so glad to be back!