I did it! -- well, sort of

My goal from yesterday was to wake up early and then exercise until Erica wakes up.

My plan was thwarted.

It started out okay. I woke up w/ Hubby, went downstairs to get his breakfast together. [He's a hot cocoa kinda guy; I normally can't afford that luxury and prefer coffee w/ sugar free flavoring.] I even managed to get out to his car and turn it on to warm up for him!!! I think he was surprised... its been a long time since I've done that for him.

Well, we were talking w/ each other. Totally acceptable. Except that our noise woke Erica up!!! I said "Oh Drat!!!" Hubby left, and I listened closely to her crying. She didn't sound awake. Not the kind of whining she normally makes when she's ready to get out of her room in the morning. Instead, she sounded half-asleep still. I decided to wait a few minutes and see if she fell asleep again or woke up completely.

Here was my mistake-- I laid down on the couch while waiting. She indeed did fall back asleep; and so did I! There went my brilliant plans. I was kinda miffed w/ myself. And often when I'm frustrated like that, I'll eat unwisely. But, we had cheerios: a good & nutritious breakfast. When Erica asked for a lollipop afterwards, I didn't raid the Halloween stash for myself. A plus chalked up for me.

We sat and watched a Care Bears movie then. Yeah, not the wisest choice for me again. BUT I DETERMINED that afterwards I WOULD exercise!!! And by golly, I DID! I put in my "10 minute pilates" video and picked three segments to do: buns & thighs; waist slimmer; and finally the stretching segment to calm down. At first, Erica exercised with me. IT WAS SO CUTE!!! But then she got bored and decided to "bake a cake." I paused my movie to quickly get out some safe supplies to use. [She wanted to use up my milk, eggs, and other important things. I gave her salt, pepper, an almost empty container of parsley, oatmeal, water, and an almost empty container of stove top stuffing. Not really cake-stuff, but they were things I didn't need.] So she spent time mixing it all together. Made quite a mess, but she was happy. And at least she was exercising her imagination skills :o)

Continued goals to remember today:

-Stay away from candy; if I eat any, remember to add it into my WW points allotment for the day

-Write my accomplishments down today: try to clean, do dishes, maybe a load of laundry.

And let's end with something "SCARY" in honor of Halloween...

Yes, isn't that scary? My arms are looking big. And my face is pudgy. What ever happened to my skinny body??? Next Halloween, let's aim at dressing as a mermaid or belly dancer! [Not really, but you get the point!]

Erica, of course, is cute. As always. She's my "Skinny-Minnie." Actually, she's in the 90th percentile for her age... but that's okay considering she's really tall. Actually, her weight is like 85 percentile, so she's good proportions. No, I'm not really obsessing over my daughter's weight. But I do need to remember that my eating habits are affecting her own eating habits... and I want her to start out in life with good habits, not bad ones that will need to be fought against later in life.

Weigh-In-Wednesday

My scale is so difficult to read. Its really hard to tell where the line is actually pointing; I need to get a digital!

I think I've lost a pound. Not much; but its just a begining, right? We can't all be on The Biggest Loser and lose 20 pounds in one week.

So, my goals for this next week were stated in the previous post. But I'll expound today.

-Get up in the morning w/ my Hubby and then exercise until Erica wakes up. This way, I'll warm up and not be so tempted to cuddle under a warm blanket all morning! Its so cold-- brrrr!

-Say "NO" to Halloween Candy. Lets get a bit more specific/realistic. A little bit isn't gonna kill me, as long as I allot points to it. Only one or two points a day on candy. That means, not much! But just enough to satisfy any sweet-tooth cravings.

-I want [need] to start writing down my daily happenings again. I have a little weekly calendar thing. I've been writing down all of the tasks I do-- so that when Hubby comes home and says: "So, what did you do today," I can point him to my list of accomplishments. Even if its just something like 'read books to Erica; played with play-doh with Erica; paid bills.' Doing this helps hold me accountable to my time.

Good luck this week!

It's SOOOO cold

Its so cold in the morning. Absolutely awful. Hubby doesn't want to turn the heat on yet, b/c by afternoon it does warm up to a good temp inside.

My solution today: Cuddled underneath a blanket all morning.

Was that a wise choice? Absolutely NOT.

So, what should I do the remainder of the week[s]? I think it would be a great idea to exercise then, first thing in the morning. It should warm me up nicely, plus wake me up and kick off the lethargy of the night's sleep.

That's my goal this week! Well, and saying "no" to Halloween candy.

Mission Completed

Okay, I had a FAB time at the mall today w/ Erica. Can I count all of the walking as exercise? Probably not. Maybe. I dunno. If I had one of those pedometer things I'd have a more accurate idea.

I broke down and bought Crocs. **GASP** I swore that I never would b/c of the price. But my knees are so bad, and I can't wear my 'fake croc' sandles during the winter. I'd gotten the flip-flops at K-Mart, but they don't have any winterized ones. So, when I saw these at the mall, I had to get them. They're not the ordinary/original kind; there are no holes on it. And the top of the shoe has a fake-suede look. So I can wear them with almost anything. Hoorah!

I also stuck to my goal of not eating junk food at the mall. We packed sandwhiches [on 100 calorie / 8g fiber english muffins], apples, raisins, and unbuttered popcorn. [Popcorn is actually pretty good as long as its not buttered up. There's lots of fiber to it.]

My weekend goals:
-Find time tonight and either Saturday or Sunday to exercise
-Go easy on the food at Saturday night's family picnic. I'm supposed to take a cake, which is actually GREAT for me & my diet. I'm gonna make one regular, and another w/ Splenda and white whole-wheat flour. [Never used it before; heard its a great way to trick people into eating whole wheat w/o realizing it.]
-Take at least 30 minutes this weekend for "me" time, to relax, let go of stress, and think through goals, etc.

I DID IT!

Yes, I exercised today. Isn't it amazing??? Yes, you can tell how lame and out-of-it I am by this admission.

My knees are hurting though. That's probably my #1 excuse to not exercise. I have such terrible knees and certain exercises can aggravate them. But, I've found in the past that Pilates is good on my joints and even helps strengthen them. Today I used a new Pilates Video, and the one section was hard on my knees; I'll have to go back to the other DVD instead.

So, my goal/strategy: When Erica sits down to watch a movie, I put my exercise DVD into my laptop and work out at the same time. She's preoccupied and it's time that I can take undisturbed.

Another goal: Okay, this is a small thing. Tomorrow I'm taking Erica to the mall. My goal is to NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT buy anything to eat: no burgers, french fries, ice cream... Nada. Oh, does that also include coffee? Maybe a sugar-free latte with fat free milk would be acceptable; the only calories to it then are from the milk.

weigh-in Wednesday

Okay, I'm only three days in... So, how much weight have I lost?

None.

But that's to be expected.

Counting points has been going okay; exercise isn't happening though. My week has been SOOOOO busy. Excuses, excuses, excuses

Happy Birthday to Us

Happy birthday to us!

Happy birthday to us!

Happy birthday Abby and Me!

Happy birthday to us!!!

Well, how did I spend my birthday? Not in the wisest way, considering my new determination for dieting. Hubby and I went out to Shady Maple for dinner b/c you get a free meal on your birthday. The place is a huge smorgasbord, all-you-can-eat of whatever you want!!!

I tried to be good. I didn't eat much earlier in the day. And for dinner, I had lots of veges and fruit, fish and turkey instead of some of the higher fat/calorie meats. I really limited my intake compared to what I would have done in the past.

But I couldn't say no to dessert! They have fantastic Apple Dumplings. They are so good; oh, how I love them. I did fore go the ice cream with it though.

To my dismay-- but luck-- it tasted horrible. It wasn't completely baked all the way, so the dough was still chewy, not flaky and delicious. My mind was saying "Eat it anyway; you deserve it; maybe that next bite will be better..."

But I stood up to temptation! I put my fork down and said "no!"

Moving on...

Today I'm meeting my SIL and MIL at the mall. We'll undoubtedly have lunch there, at Chik-Fil-A. So, I need to go over to Dotti's Weight Loss Zone and check out the point values of their food items.