Focus, Focus, Focus!

Yesterday was such a sucky day for me. It began with the scale, and of course, I was very disappointed with myself. However, instead of giving up, I decided to stop and think about why I was sabotaging myself. I'm usually not an emotional eater, or so I'd like to think, so I don't often connect my mood with my eating, but I knew something wasn't right up here [touching head]. I also knew that for some reason I have been extra tired and hungry for about a week now. This is not to say that I'm not like this once in awhile, but this was different. This was day after day, which isn't usually "me."

The more I thought about it I realized that I was sort of in a funk ever since sending off my completed dissertation to my advisor for what should be his last review. At first, I felt a huge relief that this thing was off my back for a few weeks. I have worked on it for about a year now, dedicating at least a few days a week, every week, to writing it. It was a relief. But, then as the days passed by I sort of missed it. Now, it's not like I don't have other writing work to do, and I did start on other projects during this time, but I soon realized that.....shock and dismay....I'm almost done with this thing!

As most people who have gone to school in any form after high school knows, you get the "what are you going to do when you graduate" line from just about every Dick and Harry on the planet. Needless to say, working on yet another graduate degree, I get this A LOT! Right now, I can just brush them off with a "well, let me graduate first and then deal with it," and that actually satisfied myself to a certain extent too. But now, with the real possibility that I may really graduate in December, I realize that...crap!...I'm actually going to have to come up with something after this. And, damn! after all this time in school, it better be good! Plus, I'm going to be out of academia, possibly forever if I don't get a teaching job, right? Honeslty, I'm not 100% sure I really want to teach again, but even if I did, my prospects due to the fact I'm not in a position to just pick up and move are pretty dim, practically nill. When I first started this degree, this wasn't necessarily the case because I was teaching part-time at the local community college, but to cut to the chase here, we now have a mutal non-admiration society going on, so that school is not an option.

Okay, back to my food issues then.

I called C. last night and told her about all of this to a certain extent, and she told me that I could not control the future, that I need to focus on now and what my goals are now, and that happens to be losing some weight before my defense. I should look at this like another job, a writing project, and not let stuff that may or may not happen in the future stress me out now because there's really not a damn thing I can do about them (Okay, she didn't say damn, but you get the idea).

She's right. I am all over the road, and worrying about what I'll do come Jan. 2007 right now is a total waste of energy. Today, I started with writing out all the food I plan to eat today on my fitday.com account and coming here to post (which really helps me focus so I need to do more of...look out!). I also plan to do my walking DVD, which by the way, I did the 3 miles yesterday, amazing what a little depression will do for you! And, I plan to really try to eat a good amount of protein so I don't get hungry.

Oh, and one other weird thing, I stepped on the scale this morning (yes, I know!) and it said I weighed 2 lbs less than yesterday. That's right, yesterday! But, I totally don't believe it and so I tried on my green pants, and while they zip, I see no other difference in the fit. So honeslty, I'm not sure what to think about that scale or my whole weigh in once a week philosophy. I plan, however, to listen to the pants more so than the scale from now on.

Undoing My Good Work

I've held off posting until I got the news from the scale this morning: no change.

On the one hand, of course, I'm grateful that the few paltry pounds I've lost did not return, but on the other, it's very frustrating that my occasional slips make such a huge impact on my lack of weight loss.

I could understand this better if I was secretly scarfing down a pint of ice cream every night, or even every other night, but the handful of nuts, piece of lunch meat, or egg salad sandwich now and then is obviously enough to undo all my good work the previous days.

My dissertation defense grows nearer and that means my shopping date, scheduled for late Sept. does as well. At this rate, I'll be lucky if I lose 5 pounds let alone 10!

So, yes, I'm pretty disgusted with myself. In fact, it is very tempting to say f-it and throw in the towel, but the thing is that I know I can do this. I've done it before. My usual issue has to do with keeping the weight off once I lose it. It's a matter of dedication and consistency. So, no. I'm not going to say f-it. I'm going to say a big F, how's that? But I'm still determined.

When There's No Excuse

Yesterday, I so didn't feel like exercising. I'm not exactly sure what the deal was, maybe the fact that my allergies have been acting up, probably more so that I'm just lazy, but I really had almost no motivation last night. What is weird too is that the day before I actually went walking, outside no less, for 55 minutes for a total of 3 miles. I managed to catch a time that it didn't rain, but it was so humid outside that I was literally dripping from head to toe when I got back.

So, why the very next day was I so not in the mood to exercise? Well, obviously, if I had the answer to that question I would be rich because I think most people have this hot and cold issue when it comes to exercise.

I kept debating and debating with myself until finally a little after 7 pm I realized I really had no excuse. Tired is not an excuse. I popped in my walking DVD and did the 2 mile routine, and you know what? When I plugged the stats into fitday.com, I realized that (according to fiday) I burned as many calories marching for 30 minutes as I did walking for almost an hours the day before, 164 to be exact.

I spent a short time on my high school drill team and we marched like maniacs after school, so this does make sense to me, but it was still a pleasant surprise, and afterwards I felt so much better that I had gotten off my tush and done something, runny nose and all.

Weigh in Day Switch

My official weekly weigh in day has been Monday, but starting this week, I'm switching it to Friday. I got this idea from a fellow co-worker who does hers on Fridays because she explained that she often gets into trouble on the weekends, and this way she has the rest of the week to recoup. I think this is the case with most people.

For example, this weekend I had great plans. Heck, I was even working all weekend and would be away from home and temptation, or so I thought. But, of course, I'd forgotten that on Friday (when I wasn't there) a party was thrown for someone who was leaving. So when I got to work and put my oh-so-good-low-cal lunch in the frig, I opened it to find loads of yummy food. Now, actually, I was pretty good. I scumbed to some of those tiny triangle sandwiches, you know the kind that have tuna and egg salad in them, but that's about it. Still, it wasn't on the food plan for the day.

To top it off, yesterday at work we were one person short, so I ended up having to work in circulation and reference both and that meant going up and down the stairs all day. We do have an elevator, but I figured I could use the exercise. Plus our elevator smells like BO, so I do my best to avoid it. But, all this meant that I was exhausted when I got home and didn't do any exercise liked I'd hoped.

So, Fridays it is. I am resisting the urge to step on the scale today. My green pants still fit, so that is enough for me now. Hopefully, I can keep it together for the rest of the week and have a pleasant surprise on Friday.

Walking DVD Rocks

Maybe "rocks" is kind of stretching it, but so far I like the Walk Away the Pounds DVD I just got. I've done the 2 mile routine twice now, and it's definitely a good workout. I got my heart rate up and a pretty good sweat going. The 2 mile is 30 minutes long, and according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, exercising about 30 mintues a day is pretty much the minimum you need to do to stay healthy:

"To maintain health, all adults should be moderately active for at least 30 minutes per day on most days of the week," Karen A. Donato, program coordinator of the NHLBI's Obesity Education Initiative, said in a prepared statement.

"To help manage body weight and prevent unhealthy weight gain, at least 60 minutes per day is recommended. Children and adolescents also need to be active for at least 60 minutes per day," Donato said.

So, yes, obviously, I need to work up to doing the 3 mile routine on this DVD, which is 47 minutes long. I may try to go for it tomorrow. Today, I'm working about a half day, and if I can manage to get the 2 mile done when I get home, then I'll be okay with that.

I still miss walking outside, so I'll have to see how it goes with the weather and all. But, with the constant rain we have been getting and the fact that it is getting darker sooner now, this is a nice alternative.

Exercise Makes You Creative

Often during my daily walk, even if I'm now stuck walking inside these days due to all the rain, I find my mind wandering. Sometimes it is silly stuff like imagining I'm on the Ellen DeGeneres show promoting my new novel, which of course is wildly successful. But most often I've got something on my mind that needs figuring out. For example, maybe I'm thinking about the next section of my dissertation that I need to tackle. Or, I might have a jewelry design I'm working on. Repetitive excercise like walking or riding my bike always gets my creative juices flowing, and it looks like I'm not alone according to this article from the Kansas City Star:

Fitness buffs of all professions have long known that the best way to unlock creativity is to go for a bike ride, run or swim.

Now science is proving that eureka moments during exercise are more than anecdote.

Stephen Ramocki, a marketing professor at Rhode Island College, found that a single aerobic workout is enough to kick the brains of college students into higher gear — and that the benefit lasts at least a couple of hours. To function optimally, each person’s brain needs a physically fit body, Ramocki says.

Creativity tends to be the result of a two-stage process, says R. Keith Sawyer, a psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

The first stage is data gathering. That’s when you’re working hard to bone up on background material that you’ll need to solve your problem. But the moment of insight tends to come when, having worked hard, you take time off for a change of pace.

Perhaps that’s because during the preparation stage, the mind is so narrowly focused that it ignores random-seeming associations percolating in the subconscious. Yet creativity is, by definition, the process of making unexpected leaps.

When you’re deliberately working on a problem, such thoughts seem like distractions, so you tune them out. To free up the mind, Sawyer says, creative people tend to schedule “idle time” in which to do something completely different, such as listening to music or taking a bike ride.

There you go - yet another excuse to exercise regularly.

Back Into the Green Pants!

I've been pretty good all week, sticking to around 1500 calories, and yesterday my pants felt a little on the lose side. So, this morning, I took the "green pants" test and passed. I'm back in baby!

More good news is that my walking DVD showed up yesterday. I had to work most of the day at my crap job and it had been raining all day, plus my job is extra boring, so the day just dragggggeeeddd. I was really tired and arguing with myself on the way home about exercising. Could I go for a real walk? Would I get rained out? The skys were not looking good.

My new DVD was there to greet me when I got home, and I knew I had to at least try it out. There are 3 workouts on this DVD, a 1 mile, a 2 mile, and a 3 mile. I did the 1, which was only 18 minutes long, just to test the waters.

I was pleased to discover that she also uses hand weights, so I'll have to dig mine out. Today, though, I'm going to try the 2 mile. The 1 was okay and suprisingly I did get a little sweaty, but it was not really that challenging. I know I can easily do the 2 if not the 3. Another cool thing on this DVD is that she tells you how far you've walked throughout the exercise, so that's motivational.

Now, I just have to hang tough these next two days before my weigh in on Monday. Actually, I'm not anticipating too much trouble because I work all weekend. Yes, it's a holiday, but hey, that's one reason I call this a "crap-job." I just have to make sure I pack plenty of low-cal healthy food, and I should be okay.

Good-Bye Ernesto Hello Exercise!

Since waking up Monday to the news that Ernesto was coming, I've been running around cleaning the house, getting laundry done, washing every dish in the house, gasing up my car, getting a few groceries, and typing away like a mad-woman to get all my web writing done just in case the power were to go out.

Of course, thankfully, Ernesto has not been that bad. In fact, for whatever reason he decided to spare us here in Port St. Lucie, and we have been getting the occassional pocket of high wind and rain but nothing like we were expecting even as a tropical strom. And, knock on wood, we've had no power outages.

With all this running around the house, I have not had time to do my regular running, or actually, my walking and I really feel it. We are expecting more rain throughout the weekend, but this shows me that I really need a plan B. Where oh where is the Walk Away the Pounds DVD I ordered Amazon?

Yes, I do have other exercise videos, and obviously, it is time to break one of those out, but, still, even with DVDs and videos, one of the things I enjoy about my walk is getting out of the house. I tend to be a major home-body. In fact, I actually get a little OCD sometimes when I have to leave for my crap-job or even take a few hours away from home to run errands. What if the house burns down while I'm gone? What if someone tries to break in? What if? What if? Lots of stupid stuff like that.

Getting out of the house, even though it's down the block a little, helps me clear my head, not just my arteries. Walking is easy too. I manage to sweet (boy, howdy do I) and get my heart rate up, but I don't have too much trouble with injuries (which I used to have all the time when I ran many years ago). Plus, it's very low tech. You just need some decent tennis shoes, but other than that, throw on some grubby clothes, grab your cell phone/walkman, and you're set.

Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully, we will see enough sunshine so I can get a walk in. If not, then I have the following exercise videos to choose from: yoga, ballet, and aerobics. Which will it be? I'll keep you posted.

Fresca and Sodium

I recenlty posted about soda and sodium and how you have to watch the sodium content on diet drinks.

Well, I took another look at my liter of Fresca the other day and realized it does have sodium, though only 25mg a serving.

I was under the impression it didn't have any, so I thought I should correct myself here.

Of course, again, 25mg is pretty punnie compared with some diet drinks that have 65 to 70mg, but some people can be very sensitive to sodium.

If you notice things like your fingers or feet swelling after a salty meal or an extra few pounds gained in one day, then this could be caused by water weight which could be caused by the salt contained in what you ate.

Us fatand40 folks have enough to deal with when it comes to extra weight. We sure don't need to gain water weight!

(picture from zenandjuice.com)

Hurricane Weight Gain

We are waiting for Ernesto. Today I went by the grocery store to pick up a few things. We really didn't need much, and since we have a generator, we should be able to keep most of the food in the frig in case we lose power. But, since I usually go shopping mid-week, we were out of a few things, and after the storm, the stores tend to be bare, so I dragged myself in there.

I managed to lose pound number 2 per my weigh in today, but I really need to be on guard now with the hurricane coming. I saw lots of folks stocking up on things like potato chips, bread, crackers, carbs, carbs, carbs. Fat, fat, fat, and it reminded me of 2004 when we had 2 storms hit our area. It was very easy to just eat as a way to bring some comfort to yourself. And, mainly, I ate junk.

Plus, while MREs (meals ready to eat) are tastey and very handy when you have no power, they are loaded with calories, at least 2,000. Preparing for me now includes thinking about the food I'll eat when the lights go out and the wind and rain starts up.

Diet Drinks and Sodium

My sodium intake is something I honestly never considered before until recently. I've lost the same spare tire about 3 times, and now on attempt number 4, I've begun to realize that sodium can be a real problem when in comes to retaining water weight. So, I'm starting to pay attention. (Yes, I know I'm slow, but better late than never.)

Diet soda and other diet drinks are one of those things I thought were really harmless until I read the side of a can or liter bottle. According to the About.com Nutrition site, the average can of diet soda has about 60mg of sodium. I know, not much, but add them up with all the other foods and beverages you eat throughout the day, and considering that the average person shouldn't have more than about 2,400mg, it's something to think about.

I even read in an article recently that diet soda drinkers tend to have a hirer risk of weight gain, though the medical community has no clue as to why.

I've never been a big drinker of sodas generally because of the carbonation. It bothers my stomache if I drink too much of it. I really prefer drinks like diet lemonades or other diet drinks that aren't carbonated. However, even those I noticed have about the same amount of sodium as diet sodas. My own perference for an oragne and red diet drink put out by Tropicana, which are yummy, have 70mg per serving.

Here are a few alternatives though. First, for those who like the fizz, check out good old Fresca. It tastes great and has zero calories and zero sodium. Another drink option, other than water of course, is the various flavors of Crystal Light available. Again, zero sodium.

Still, I think nothing can replace water, so I try to limit myself to a few glasses of diet beverages a day, and instead, do my best to drink tons of water with a lemon wedge for a little added flavor.

Fat Chick Get Hits by Lightening

I got rained out again today for my walk. I knew I should have gone earlier today, but it was so dang hot out! It is much nicer to go in the evenings because it's cooler and then I can just come home, take a shower, and get in my jams and I'm ready to chill for the evening. When I walk early in the day, the heat just sucks out any energy I have, and then I have a heck of a time recouping when I get home and getting any work done.

If you know anything about Florida, then you know it's not a good idea to go walking when it's raining or even looking like it might rain. We are the lightening capital of the world, and for good reason! I have tried braving it a few times, only to see a bunch of lighting and chickening out and high-tailing it home. I kept picturing the headlines in my local paper "Fat Chick Gets Hit by Lightening." And, of course, readers would say, "What the heck was she thinking? Good way to get healthy! Not."

To help with this walking and rain problem, I finally broke down and ordered a walking DVD. I know. It sounds stupid, but a number of women at my crap-job have raved about Walk Away the Pounds and some of Leslie Sansone's other DVDs, so I figured for $15 (including shipping) what the heck.

One good thing about this DVD (I borrowed one from one the gals at my crap-job) is that it doesn't take much room to do it. You walk, but you also do kicks, move side to side a little, squats, march, that kind of thing, so you only need a few feet of room to do it. This is good because I may need to watch it on my computer screen rather TV due to the fact that we only have one (working) TV in the house, and that TV is also in the room where my dogs hang out, and oh, they just love helping me exercise. Just try to downward facing dog with two 95 lbs dogs in your face.

Poor Nicole Richie

On my most recent trip to the grocery store, I was cruising the magazine racks looking for something interesting to read while I waited in the deli because you never know how long you will be there. That place is usully jamming. And I saw the most horrific picture on the front of some stupid tabloid of poor Nicole Richie, skin and bones!

My heart just went out to her. Here I am struggling with getting weight off and thinking sometimes how nice it would be to just have enough control so that I wouldn't eat for a few weeks so I'd get down to the next size before my dissertation defense, and then I saw her picture and realized that my problems are just so small compared to some people's.

According to one article that popped up on my Google Alerts, her dad didn't even realize what was happening to her:

He says, "I didn't even notice it at first, because when you see somebody so much, you don't see what other people see. "I asked her if she eats properly. I always made sure she ate when she was at our home. I couldn't see any strange eating habits. She ate fine. So, I stopped worrying. "And no, I don't smuggle sandwiches into her Gucci bags."

Now, I am in no way falting him. He's her dad, but she is an adult and from the rest of this short article it sounds like she obviously no longer lives at home.

This whole food issue things goes both ways. It is all a matter of control, either lack of or too much control!

The Lure of the Scale

I have found myself doing something this week that I know is a big "no-no" - weighing myself every day. It is a horrible, horrible habit and very hard to stop doing. It's sort of compulsive. I can't help myself. They (whoever "they" are) say you should weigh yourself once a week at the most.

I know that from day to day everyone's weight fluctuates, and with a digital scale, you actually get down to point whatever - 1XX.5; 1XX.2; and so on - so it really does nothing but drive me insane.

I originally started doing this because I thought it would be a good way to get my mind set for the day, sort of like posting here. You start the day off right with "I weigh this much, and I'm going to be good today no matter what temptation comes my way." But, in reality, it's more like "Damn! I was so good yesterday and I'm .4 pounds more than I was yesterday? What the h*ll?"

So, that is it! I am not going near that thing until Monday, which is supposed to be my normal weigh in day. That's just 2 days. I can handle 2 days. Sure, yes, I can.

As far as the diet, things have been okay this week. Yesterday was tough because I had to help set for a program at work and that meant putting out chips and cookies for the guests, which I didn't eat any of, but later I had the terrible munchies. I did munch, but luckily, I still managed to stay under my 1500 calorie mark for the day. Though I'm beginning to wonder if that is still too high for the sort of weight loss I need right now, those 10 lbs I need off by October. But, I'll wait to decide on Monday.

Costly Cantaloupe

The cantaloupes at the grocery store have been beyond horrid lately, and I have really missed eating them. Not only do they taste great, especially mixed in with some 2% cottage cheese, they are super duper low in calories.

Today, I saw a pile of beauties while shopping. But, of course, they were twice as much as I was paying for them before. $3 each!

I hesitated for a few moments and then realize that it was worth the $3 because (a) I like them; (b) they are good for me; (c) I can get a few meals/snacks out of just one.

This reminded me of one lesson I learned while on Weight Watchers. I normally didn't like to go to the meetings because they were usually full of people talking about how they had cookies hidden in their closets or how they got up at midnight and ate a gallon of ice cream or other way out there stories. But now and then, espeically if I was falling off the wagon, I'm make myself stay for a meeting, and very often, I'd learn a tid bit or two that I did find helpful.

At one of these meetings the instructor talked about how she loved red peppers (which give me the burps, ick), but they are so expensive. However, they are very good for you and hardly have any calories, so she treats herself to them now because she feels she is worth it. Her point was that sometimes good food is not cheap, but we are all worth a few extra dollars when it comes to our health.

So, buy the cantaloupe, red pepper, aspargus, whatever it is because we are all worth it.

Fatand40 Going Mainstream?

I'm considering a change to Fatand40 and I thought I'd consult my huge fan base here ;)

I have the opportunity to maybe (as in also maybe not) moving Fatand40 to a blog network. Here are some of the pros and cons as I see them.

Pros:

• Possibly a little money. I have to put this up at the top of course, but we are talking "a little" as enough to keep me well stocked in Pria bars. It eventually could turn into more, but I have learned this isn't something to count on when it comes to writing on the web.
• More readers and more incentive. As part of a network, you immediately increase your readership because each blog on the network is linked to each other. More readers would, for me, equal more incentive (or pressure depending on how you look at it) to lose weight.
• Expanded weight loss and diet topic. Though I'll continue to journal my progress or at times lack of, I will also broaden my writing topics to cover more about wieght loss and diet. Being so into this now, I've been reading more and more about it, and really, it's always been a topic of interest to me, so I'd just share from what I've learned myself.

Cons:

• Some loss of control. Of course, as with anything that you don't completely own yourself, there is a price to pay and with a blog that means that I would have to answer to someone else for a change. That means posting regularly (though I'm pretty prolific right now) and thinking about stuff like search engine optimization.
• Being really out there. This is a public blog now, but with about the 6 people who actually read it, I feel pretty safe to talk about personal stuff. With more people reading, I wonder if I would start to censor myself more. Would I lose my "voice" so to speak?
• Not an expert. I'm very much not an expert on this whole diet and exercise thing. Heck, if I was, I wouldn't have started writing about it in the first place. I'd be skinny and in great shape and wonder why everyone else was so fat. Again, with a larger readership I worry that people might expect me to be an expert rather than understand that I'm just like the average 40 something who will always have a battle with the bulge.

I'd really love your feedback on this. While money is always a good thing (those Pria bars aren't cheap!), I wouldn't be doing this for just money. Should I just stay here and be safe and keep it fun, which it is? Should I venture out? Am I insane for even thinking about it?

No Fat Chicks

Driving home today from shopping for some new walking sneaks and some other exercise clothes, which I was in dire need of, I passed a rust-bucket of a truck that said "No Fat Chicks" on the back.

Now, we are talking about a major crap car that you couldn't pay this fat chick to stick her pinky toe in. And, as I listened to my Cyndi Lauper CD, I thought about want an idiot must be driving that icky truck.

Why so much pressure on women to be skinny and not men?

I pictured the driver with a wad of chewing tobacco in is upper lip and a gut hanging over his greasy jeans. He wishes he could get a fat chick, any chick for that matter.

Why doesn't he just put a "I'm a Loser" sign on the back of his truck instead?

When the Body Says Nope

One thing that really sucks about getting old is the fact that your body just doesn't do what you want it to, what you used to do a million times before. Sometimes it just says, "U-u, nada, nope."

Since my getting back to my walking routine and adding crochet to the mix, my body has been very uncooperative.

I started seriously walking in Janurary, and while I did notice my body was extra cranky, I basically ignored it until recently when I couldn't walk for awhile and then started back again. When I wasn't walking, the crankiness stopped. No stiff hips, no stiff or pain in the feet. Now, it's all back. What gives? Here I am exercising regularly and my body is not a happy camper.

To top it off, my hands are having major carpel tunnel (did I spell that right?) to the point of numbness. Not good. I know this is due to the crochet. I do tend to have hand issues with all the typing and jewelry making I do, but not to this extent. Plus, I have had the same kind of thing happen in the past when I was waitressing. My hands would go totally numb and I'd lose control and drop stuff. It was like my brain was saying, "Pick up the plate." And the message just didn't make it to my fingers.

I have no way to remedy this for now. Really, just venting. It sucks getting old, but I so don't plan to stop doing either. So, Body, get ova it!

One Pound at a Time

It is now official. Since getting sick and having to restart my diet all over again, I finally got my first real pound off. Admittedly, it would probably have been 2 if it weren't for my party hardy attitude on Saturday, but I'm still happy to see one pound gone.

I've got plans to eat some fish today, red snapper, and even bake a potatoe, and use faux butter on it, so that's a nice low-cal lunch that should stick with me most of the day. I have noticed that if I make an effort to eat more protein I don't get so hungry.

Fingers crossed, it won't rain tonight and I'll manage to get another good walk in.

Birthday Party Report

Yesterday I finally had some good news from my scale, so the pressure was on to be good. And, I think I was pretty good at the party, though not fabulous. I wasn't eating carrot sticks all day, but I didn't go crazy either. Plus, when I got home not only did I go for a walk, though I really wanted to take a nap after all that driving, but I managed to walk for almost an hour versus my usual 30 minute deal. It's my goal to get up to an hour of walking a day, so this alone was very encouraging. Hopefully, I can do it again tonight after I get home from work.

Some of my strategies for the party worked, but they need some tweeking before I go to another party. My egg breakfast actually stuck with me, so I wasn't hungry when I got there and I barely ate any of my grapes even while I was driving. When I arrived, they were getting ready to cut the cake because my sister had sort of 2 shifts of guests, kids in the morning and immediate family in the afternoon. So I just ate a very small piece of cake, basically a few bites, but that was pretty much it until the rest of the guests left.

She didn't have the vegies plate like she usually did, but I brought a salad and low-cal dressing. This was a good idea actually. However, she didn't set it out until after the food on the grill was ready to eat, so by then I was getting kind of hungry and I ate a few wings and some fried shrimp she had out for us to snack on. Looking back, I should have asked to have the salad put out and maybe next time I'll bring extra plates for it so it could work as an appetizer too. I could have filled up on salad while I was waiting instead of wings and shrimp. I made a really large salad, so there was a lot left after we all ate. Thus, plenty of salad was there to eat before and during the meal.

I'm back on it today, and while I don't dare step on the scale right now, I know what I did last week was working, so I'm just going to keep doing it. Hopefully, Monday when I weigh myself, things won't be too bad from my Saturday splurge.