I think it would have probably been about 3 lbs more if I didn’t go to a dinner party the night before and have homemade manicotti (how can one turn that down?) and some monkey balls (aka monkey bread).

I am excited and trying to celebrate the small successes but I keep looking at the big picture. I don’t think it will actually sink in that this weight loss is a result of my own doing until I lose more weight. I keep thinking that maybe I was wearing something heavy on my initial weigh in, I was getting my period and that can account for a few pounds, etc.

But I am happy that I’ve lost some weight. Only 45.8 more lbs to go!

After our WW meeting, we hit Big Y and did some shopping!

Here are some of my great finds for snackies so far:

• Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran cereal: 1 point for ¾ cup (and it’s really good dry)
• Lipton White Tea To Go – 0 points
• Grapefruit or Peach flavored Polar Seltzer – 0 points (who knew I would like seltzer. I do miss Dr. Pepper, but this will do for now)
• Special K Bar (Chocolatey Pretzel) – 2 points and so worth it!
• Pop Secret 94% Fat Free microwave popcorn (with butter) – 2 points for ½ bag
• Kashi TLC Baked Apple Spice bars – 2 points
• Chocolate Vitamuffins (or Vitatops) – 1 point (and perfect with a small glass of skim milk

I’m trying to be more prepared. It’s so easy to run out and grab something when you don’t have the right foods available.

At work, I will always have a frozen dinner (WW or Lean Cuisine) in the freezer and some emergency snacks in my drawer to prevent me from craving something from the dreaded snack machine that sits just a few steps from my office!

On the physical fitness note, it will be some time before I’m doing the Wii Fit or even the elliptical. The only thing I can probably do for a little while is biking. I’m not heartbroken over this because secretly, I did want to try to do a triathlon in the next 12 months.

If only I had a bike!

Yesterday, I had some leftover extra spicy chipotle chili for lunch that I had made the night before. Put some fat free sour cream in it and some real fat cheese (I factored in the points for that). And last night, I had a burger for dinner with lean ground beef and one of those deli flat breads for a roll (only 1 point for the bread!).

I found some frozen veggie medley in the freezer that I have no idea where it came from. It was Green Giant Healthy Weight medley: Sliced Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas, Black Beans and Edamame. I thought it was pretty good for taste and convenience purposes, but it did have a light butter sauce on it, so I had to absorb some points. But it was still worth the points for how filling it was with the dinner.

I also found a package of grasshopper cookies (100 calorie) packs in my drawer at work and ate those as a little treat in the afternoon.

I’m also hitting the grapefruit. I’ve had about 1-2 grapefruit per day in the past few days. It’s really good and inexpensive lately! Also perfect for an afternoon snack if you have a grapefruit knife or an easy and non-messy way to eat one in the office!

Today, I had a bowl of the Jumbo Krispies (rice krispie cereal with a touch of honey). It’s high in fiber and actually one of the lowest point cereals I’ve found so far (other than FiberOne – which gets boring and gross after a while).

For lunch, I took some rotisserie chicken (sans skin) from the fridge at home and melted a small amount of Cabot’s 75% low fat cheese over it, adding some fresh garden salsa (thanks to Costco!) over top. I figure that to be 3-4 points tops.

I also made a kick ass salad this morning with everything I could find in the fridge: romaine, mushrooms, green peppers, carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes, scallions and broccoli. Only problem is that I am lacking dressing options. So, today I am basically overdoing the points in the dressing department by putting full fat dressing on my salad, but using it very, very sparingly. (Looking at the points and actual serving size of salad dressing is depressing). I am doing to give myself 4 points for the small salad just based mostly on the dressing.

Anyone have any good suggestions for salad dressings?? I usually like Ken’s parmesan peppercorn, Hidden Valley Ranch, Marie’s blue cheese vinaigrette. Any low-fat, low-point dressings that might go well with my tastes??

I joined a Sunday morning group that my fun neighbor is in and this group is raucous! It’s too funny!

Also, I discovered that the Weight.Watchers application for the iPhone may just be the coolest thing ever!

My allowed points are 30 (It could be 35 if I consider myself to be solely breastfeeding) and the last time I did this, I was allowed 24 per day. I have a feeling it’s going to be easy for me to slide back into the routine of points. Especially now that the iPhone app makes everything so stinkin’ easy!

Lo already went to the grocery store to get some items to get me started. I also made a pot of turkey chili last night from a WW recipe. Although, I improvised and ended up with way too much chipotle peppers and it was quite spicy. I ate it, but I’m hoping Dylan isn’t in abdominal pain when it ends up in my breastmilk.

As for now, I’m exploring some recipes that Lo would also eat. My goal on this is 40 lbs, I think. I would love 50 but I’m going to take things one step at a time.

For now, let’s just look at the first 5% – 10 lbs.

I do weigh pretty much the same as my pre-pregnant self but that was not a good place to be either. Just now, the weight is in different places.

We fell into this comfortable unscheduled laziness when I was home. For 3 months, our lives revolved around the home and our 2 boys. I didn’t shower on most days until close to noon. I spent all day nursing, sitting around, changing a diaper or two, watching a movie with the Shmoo and nursing again. The days went by quick.

We didn’t go crazy trying to have nice healthy things around the house because we just didn’t feel like it. Even worse, now that the Shmoo is in his “helpful”  stage, he wants to make cakes, cupcakes and cookies all the time. ugh.

So, I’ve looked into the various plans for weight loss, including those that supply the food. I thought a food plan might be a good way to go, but  I don’t want  to spend $300 per month on Nutrisystem and still  need to buy all of my fruits and veggies at the store.

I think I’ve decided on Weight Watchers. It worked so well for me in the past and really seems like the only plan that really works with my lifestyle – the “I might have to go to a house party or work meeting and cannot bring my own food” lifestyle.

My neighbor buddy is back on track with WW and she goes on Sunday mornings. She also started walking.

I think that having someone here to physically drive with me to WW meetings might be a good thing too.

So, this Sunday may be my all new Day One of this journey. Wish me luck!

How’s everyone doing out there?

There’s usually a triggering factor that gets someone on the road to weight loss. I think that a trigger is what gets you off your butt and is also there to remind you of why you started when you feel like giving up.

For the past 8 years, I have allowed myself to put on an excessive amount of weight all while thinking it would be easy to lose, or that I would take care of the problem “tomorrow.”

Certain things starting piling up that sent me in the direction of Weight Watchers originally back in 2008.

In no particular order of importance…

1. I moved back to the town next to where I grew up and have been running into people recently that I haven’t seen in years. It’s very apparent that some people need a minute to recognize me or that they say “you look well” all while having this expression on their face “wow, what happened to her?” Maybe I imagine that part, but the truth is that I avoid people in grocery stores because I don’t want to be embarrassed when they see the fat me.

2. Many of my current friends have only known me as a fat girl. Every so often, they’ll look through a photo album from when Lois and I met or before that and I’ll get the “holy shit! Is that you!!?!? OMG! Look how skinny you were!”

3. My boys. I want to be a healthy role model for my sons. I want to be healthy for them. I want to not be embarrassed to be in pictures with them. I don’t want to be too embarrassed to get into a bathing suit and play in the pool with them.

4. I’m tired of saying “I used to be…”

I used to be athletic.

I used to be skinny.

I used to be in shape.

The reality is that the “used to be” was much longer ago than I think I’m willing to admit. The “used to be” was now 10 years ago!

This is why I am starting. And this is what I hope will keep me going.

Anyone else have a trigger they want to share?

I did not have the best week when it came to eating but I was gaining confidence with my increased workouts on the elliptical and the wii fit.

Then, Saturday happened.

Saturday was the day I was up in Vermont hitting the slopes with my family.

Skiing may not be the smartest thing to do for someone who just had a baby 10 weeks prior due to loose joints, excess weight and general post-pregnancy hormonal clumsiness, but I did pretty well.

I mean, I’ve been skiing for 30 years and know my limitations and when to take things a little easy. So after a few good runs on the face, I took the soon-to-be 3 year old Shmoo for some runs on the bunny slope.

Of all the slopes I’ve taken on in my life, I never would have thought that the bunny slope would be my downfall.

And there, in line for the magic carpet, it happened.

Shmoo started falling and took my ski with him. I have no idea what happened next or why I couldn’t stop it but I went down. And I both heard and felt it….the POP!

Now stop reading here if you are grossed out easily…

After I realized that I really couldn’t move and actually needed to be taken out of the magic carpet lift line on the bunny slope in a ski patrol sled, I allowed myself to feel my knee.

Let’s just say that I realized that I wasn’t overreacting about the pain when I felt that my kneecap was not in the place it was supposed to be.

2 hours later, I was in a small hospital in Vermont allowing a ER doc to straighten my leg and “relocate” my patella without the benefit of any painkillers.

And it hurt like holy hell.

So, I dislocated my knee. I’m not sure what it all mean yet. MRI was yesterday and results are tomorrow. I expect to avoid surgery altogether bur may need some PT.

It may be a while before o can get back on the elliptical but this just means I need to focus more on my eating now!

Ugh.

I will weigh in tomorrow and consider this point another restart.

Maybe it will be worth considering WW at this point.

I weighed in.

It was awful.

But I have a starting point. ugh.

This morning, I set out to do my Jillian.Michaels Wii Fit game and started a 30 minute weight loss workout. 4.5 minutes into the program, Andrew came downstairs and stood next to me asking questions.

Less than 2 minutes later, Dylan started screeching over the baby monitor.

So, I got about 6.5 minutes done so far. I will try again around 1 pm if I get Andrew down in his playroom or down for a nap! That’s hoping I can keep Dylan on the same nap cycle!

Lo also wavered a little from our plans and brought home some things from Costco yesterday that are not the most helpful:

- Costco sized muffins (banana nut and corn)

- frozen Texas toast

- a ginormous bag of tortilla chips

I will try to refrain. I am leaving for Vermont tomorrow afternoon and will probably have to eat for convenience for 2 days, then will have to survive the Super Bowl.

But if I cheat, I will try not to achieve the expanded belly level of fullness that I usually shoot for!

Week One is already proving to be a challenge, but then again I’m not giving up!

If anyone wants to write their own blog, I can put a “blog roll” on the side of my page so that we can all connect to each other.

Or just keep commenting on my page to keep status and communications going.

Any other suggestions?