Going to the Texas State Fair

This past week has been pretty busy since I am working on a power point for a friend's daughter's 16th birthday which is a little over a week away. I've been thinking of blogging but the night ends and I am too tired.

Tonight I am blogging first because I just feel like sharing my thoughts about tomorrow.

Tomorrow I and my family are going to the Texas State Fair. It's opening day. I've never gone on opening day before but when we found out that one of our favorite singers, Jason Castro, was the opening act...well...we didn't have to think twice about which day to attend.

However, this whole week I've been thinking about the food. Not so much because I want to eat it but rather, what can I eat. Or rather, how many points are in the food. Trying to find that kind of information has been a challenge. Now I realize that one of the reasons people go to the fair is to eat the food but I can honestly say that has never been my reason. With as large of family as mine, eating at the fair is a huge splurge and one we usually don't get to indulge in very often, mainly because we go early to the fair and bring a lunch and leave before dinner.

This year it is going to be a bit different. We are leaving our house after lunch and staying at the fair till closing, or pretty close to closing. We are also planning on eating dinner at the fair.

So, this week I have been saving ALL my weekly points for tomorrow. I want to be able to indulge if I feel like it. It will be interesting to see how it goes because there is nothing at the fair I really want to eat. And in a way I am feeling a bit competitive in that I want to see how little of the weekly points I dip into.

Yes, I know that's what the weekly points are there for....but like I said...I am feeling a bit competitive.

And I must say this is also the first year of going to the fair that I've even cared about what food or how much food I eat.

I will be taking my own snacks along with snacks for the rest of the crew. I am planning on having a funnel cake...well at least sharing one.

Guess I'll report back and let you know how it went. I am taking my camera so I may even get some pictures of the food that tempted me the most....or maybe disgusted me the most.

That feeling.....

Today was my weigh in day....and I knew before I ever stepped on that scale that I would probably not be losing any weight this week. I've really been in tune with my body since I started this journey and I could just feel it...that bloated feeling...

I ended up GAINING +o.4....not bad but definitely not as good a loss.

I was a little discouraged because I know I've done well this week. I've gotten in some good exercise every day and I've eaten within my points. Actually I had points to spare.

Of course I needed to "vent" so I called a friend....but she didn't answer her phone. So I then called my hubby. Usually I would call him first but my friend has lost a considerable amount of weight and knows how hard I've been working and is such an encourager and she's a girl....I was needing that.

But my hubby pulled through....he too greatly encourages me but he is a "guy" and doesn't always understand my "way of thinking". However, today he helped me to focus on the fact that this is long term and I am making lifetime changes. He too sees how hard I am working and even though he brings home "treats"....I know he wants to see me succeed.

As I was posting my weight on etools I happened to look over my weight loss history and noticed that the same week last month I had my only other"small" gain....hmmmmm....a pattern...and I KNOW it has to do with my "cycle"...

My husband encouraged me and I know my friend will encourage me later.....but noticing this pattern is like the "icing on the cake"... I am at peace. I won't be over indulging or giving up or not caring [like I might have done in the past]........I accept that I am a woman and I still have my cycles and that does affect my journey....but only slightly....

I am resolved that I will continue doing what I have been doing for the last 8 weeks and I know that I WILL see more losses on this path I am traveling.

I'm changing...

So I've been hungry the last couple of days.

Tonight my daughters and I went with a friend and her daughters to try and find the girls a dress to wear to a "Masquerade Ball" that their friend is having to celebrate turning 16.

I had hoped to go bike riding earlier but with all the rain I was not able to go. But I think with all the stores we went to...all the getting in and out of the car...and all the walking, I got some exercise. Maybe not as intense as when I ride my bike or swim...but a lot more activity than had I stayed at home.

We planned on eating dinner at Chick-fil-a, but changed our minds when we saw how crazy busy it was. Instead we went to Arby's. I am getting to where I don't like eating out when I spend almost half my points on one meal....and a "bad" meal at that.... Yes, I left satisfied and that's good considering I could have eaten this meal and still be hungry.

However the next leg of our shopping was even busier than the first part. We did a lot more walking and moving and by the time I got home guess what??? Yep, I was hungry.

I have some good choices I could have chose from but what did I eat.....candy!! Guess my hubby stopped by the store for some battery's and brought home a "treat". Two bags of candy.

And guess who indulged. Yep....me.

Can I reiterate once again how much I love the point system. Because in the past when I would have come home and was hungry and saw a bag of candy....well, let's just say there would have been a lot of empty wrappers at the end of the night. Instead I looked at my points and weighed out how much I would like some candy. I saw that I had some points I could spare and I indulged. And I only feel a tiny bit guilty. Not bad!! In the past if I was trying to lose weight and I ended up eating candy....I would have felt terrible....so bad that I may have just given up on the "dieting".

Oh...and before I forget. I did try on a pair of capri's tonight. 4 sizes SMALLER than I the last time I bought capri's..... whoo-hoo!!! Now that is exciting!!!

Hungry like the wolf.....

Not actually but I have been hungry today....more than usual. I have noticed in the almost 8 weeks that I have been doing WW that I do have some days where I can't eat enough to meet my points and other days where I have no trouble meeting my points or even dipping into my weekly points.

I don't feel guilty dipping into my weeky points because that's what they are there for...however, I don't include them in my daily eating. I try to eat my daily points and IF I happen to be hungry...really hungry...then I will find something that will satisfy my hunger but not use up a lot of the points.

At the beginning of the week I wasn't very hungry, but today I have been ravenous...

Maybe it's because I've ridden my bicycle? As I wrote in my previous post, I rode 7 miles yesterday. Today after I dropped my daughter off for her volunteer stint at the library, I drove to a park and rode my bike for 40 minutes.

I hadn't been to this park before but I really liked the path. It wound through a lot of trees and there were a few wooden bridges I had to ride over. There was even a spot I made it to that was also a historical spot. I love history so I stopped to read the sign.

And even though it was overcast and there was a lite drizzle I thoroughly enjoyed my ride. When I was finished I called my hubby, excited to share a new place to ride.

It's getting late and the hunger I was feeling earlier has been taken care of with a bowl of Quaker Oat cereal and a little bit of milk. I am so glad to have the weekly points for times like these.

Alternatives to my normal....

This week has been different when it comes to getting my exercise. I have been going to the Natatorium and doing various water exercises but this week the Natatorium is closed for cleaning.

So now I am trying to find alternatives.

Yesterday was a very wet day....it rained ALL day long. I was supposed to meet a friend and bicycle down a trail but we called it off because of the rain. I really wanted to do some kind of exercise but I was losing motivation. My two favorite forms of exercise were not available. What did I end up doing???

I put a workout video in and spent the next 20 minutes working up a sweat. I can't even remember where I got this video...I think it was at the thrift store. It's called Walk Away the Pounds. It is one of the shortest workouts I've done. 20 minutes. But I liked it and would do it again. It was low impact. There was a 5 minute warm-up, 5 minutes of higher intensity, 5 minutes using hand weights, and then a slow down and finally a stretch. I ended the 20 minutes feeling like I did something and glad I finally tried out the video. I think I had this video tucked away for probably two years....

Today I really wanted to go for a bike ride. One of my tires was majorly dead so while my hubby was out going to various appointments he managed a trip to the store to buy a new inner tube and then came home and fixed it. Not only did he fix it....but he was willing to go for a bike ride with me. And I was very happy because I was wanting to try riding somewhere different. Usually I ride my bike in my neighborhood. It's not too bad but it gets boring because there are only two roads in my neighborhood. If I follow them around in a circle it's about 2 miles.

Anyways, I wanted to transport my bike in our truck to a gas station that is on a "country road". This road has a very wide shoulder to ride on. I took a timer and planned on riding for 20 minutes and then turn around. This road we were on is actually a peninsula and it ends at a State Park, so once you get to the end you basically do a u-turn and head back in the direction you just came.

The first half of the ride was nice....a lot of it was downhill. Yep, I knew what that meant!! We reached the State Park in 16 minutes...not bad. However, the return trip was a bit different for three reasons. #1 Most of it was up hill. #2 We were riding against the wind [which I didn't realize till we started back] and #3 My bike doesn't like me to use the 3rd, 4th or 5th gears...which of course were the very gears I wanted to use going up the slow inclines. Our return trip ended up taking 22 minutes and I must admit there were a few times I wanted to stop. But I kept going, lagging further and further behind my speedy husband. And finally I made it back to our truck...feeling very accomplished.

Afterword we drove down the same road to see how far we rode. 7 miles!!! Not bad...the last time I rode 7 miles on my bike I weighed 130 pounds less and was 28 years younger.

Don't believe everything you hear....

Yesterday at my WW meeting we discussed pointers for eating out. One of the ladies talked about how her friend wanted to go to McDonald's but she didn't cause there really wasn't anything low point to eat. But they got on the internet and saw that a happy meal was 6 pts.

After the meeting I went to my water aerobics class and then to the grocery store to buy last minute items for one of my daughter's birthday party which we had today. Anyways, it was after 1pm when I finished shopping and I was hungry. There just happens to be a McDonald's at the end of the parking lot. So, I figured why not get a happy meal....it's only 6 points.

I went through the drive thru and I have to admit I felt a teeny bit guilty asking for a happy meal for myself. I felt even more guilty when they asked if it was for a boy or girl. Of course I said... "a girl". And I even had a mental picture of them not letting me have a happy meal when they realized I didn't have any small girl child in my car. Yep...I can get some silly thoughts.

A hamburger happy meal is not a very big meal...I think the bun is bigger than the burger. But I was hungry and by the time I finished the burger and fries I was satisfactorily full.

Once home I got on the internet to put in my points. How surprised I was when I typed in happy meal and saw that my sorry excuse for a hamburger and the small fries were actually 13 points. Yeah.....13 points!!!! What a waste of points. Had I realized there were so many points in this little meal I would have chosen something else.

A hard lesson learned....Don't believe everything you hear....

I am ready to cross over...

Today was my weigh in day.....and I LOST...-2.8 lbs.

That has made a total of 20.2 pounds lost since I started Weight Watcher's 7 weeks ago. I've only lost this much weight once before and that was about 3 years ago. I then had a miscarriage and ended up gaining 40 pounds....ugh!!!

I was getting to the point where I thought something medically must be wrong with me because I was not able to lose weight. Seriously!! I thought my hormones were all messed up from the miscarriage because I couldn't understand why I wasn't losing weight. I had even started exercising this summer and instead of losing I gained....NOT GOOD!!

But since I joined WW and grasped the point system I've been able to lose weight. And I realized it was not a medical issue....it was not hormones....it was the food I was eating. Not necessarily the amount..... but the type. Working out made me hungry and I made poor food choices, like going out to Pei Wei afterward with my workout buddy. Now I understand that I ended up eating all my daily points just for lunch...no wonder I wasn't losing any weight.

I LOVE WW!!!! I LOVE the point system!! I LOVE losing weight!!

And I LOVE that I am at the threshold of a whole new me....once I pass this 20 pound loss I will be crossing that threshold into a whole new place. I will have broken through that invisible barrier that seemed to keep me from succeeding. I have been trying for over 10 years to lose the weight and for the first time I KNOW that I will be able to do it....I WILL succeed.