Play-doh's Journal

[lakegran72]

Congratulations on your renewed commitment to this WOE and especially for the 5 lb loss .... Hip hip hooray for you!

[play-doh]

Congratulations on your renewed commitment to this WOE and especially for the 5 lb loss .... Hip hip hooray for you!

Thank you, Lakegran! I appreciate the words of encouragement. You've been doing awesome too! Is it cold and snowy up there in your neck of the woods?

I just read over my own journal which goes all the way back to 2008 and you know, it's probably not the fastest way to lose weight, but I do think SBD is the best way. I read about how I started years ago and worked so hard to lose 12 pounds, averaging a mere 1/2 pound loss a week and then there was a period where I kept gaining. But, gosh, I sure hung in there and did it. Several times I thought about quitting, but it's hard to justify giving up good eating habits when it makes you feel so good. That's why I came back.

The lowest I've weighed over the years has been 135, so I've never reached my 130 pound goal. THIS time I will though!

[dotty53]

Great job on losing the 5 lbs!

[play-doh]

Hi Dotty, thanks! I'm really happy about the loss and I can already feel my clothes are looser!

I had a great day eating-wise:
B - broccoli, scrambled eggs, thin slice cheese, salsa, dollop nf Greek yogurt
S - green salad, two slices turkey lunch meat, cheese stick, slice avocado, sprinkling brown rice vinegar
L - 1/2 chicken breast cooked in hot salsa, 1/2 c. quinoa
D - lentil veggie chilli w/ 2t. peanutbutter
S - 2 Wasa crackers w/ cheesestick
exercise - none

I will exercise tomorrow! I will!

[happymo4]

Hi play-doh, I just logged on for motivation to read if anyone has lost this week and you should be soooo proud of yourself! I ended up reading through your journal and you have written down so many things that I have been thinking about myself too. That is so funny that you wrote about What Not to Wear! I was just talking about it to my sisters and I said that I am afraid that they are going to pop up somewhere in my life because I wear the same jeans and workout pants and hoodie sweatshirts everyday! I weighed 152.6 at the beginning of the year and I was totally shocked too. That is what I weighed when I was pregnant with my son so now one of my goals is to get under 145, then 140, etc...those used to be scary weights for me. I also was my happiest when I was thinner. I want to be back there, when I felt healthy and had more clothes to pick from. I have four children and I want them to remember me as energetic and healthy and happy. Life would be easier. Thank you for writing because you have totally motivated me! Stay strong!
Maureen

[play-doh]

Hi Maureen, I'm so glad to meet you! Yes, we are very similar. I wonder all the time how I ever let myself go and why I did it. This time around on SBD I'm going to focus on the thought that "I deserve to look and feel my best!" I want very badly to reach 130 this time.

And, again, I have to emphasize, it's not that I weigh a lot, it's just that I don't carry the weight well. I know a lot of women who weigh as much as 50 pounds more than I do and they look fabulous! I envy them! So, I know that being heavy for many women isn't because they stopped caring, they just know they still look good. Lucky them!

How old are your kids now, Maureen? Mine are 14 and 12. With my first baby, I started at 120 pounds and reached 200!!! I was 32 years old and most of the weight came off by itself, but when she was about one year old, I went on the zone diet and lost it all. With my next baby I only gained about ten pounds, but that's because we adopted her. I lost that weight by exercising and just eating well. I really didn't start gaining weight until they were older and I went back to work. It's so hard to find the time to take care of myself!

Let's stay in touch and cheer each other on, want to?

[play-doh]

I stayed home from work yesterday because my daughter was sick with a stomach bug and although by night she seemed to feel pretty good, she still wasn't eating. She wanted to go to school but I said no, she needed another day to get her strength. She begged to go to school and I said no. It was a weird conversation.

So I'm home with her again today.

Yesterday I ate:
B - 2 sardines, 1 Wasa cracker, hummus, celery
S - green salad, lf feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, small handful roasted chickpeas
L - quinoa, roasted broccolli and cauliflower, peanutbutter/tamari sause, lf cheesestick
D - crockpot chicken breast, beans, hot salsa, slivers of cheese
exercise - none

I think today's menu will be pretty much identical, but I think I'll leave off the cheese at dinner. And somewhere in that menu I'll add a heaping serving of swiss chard because I've got some in my fridge that needs to be cooked up.

I am very much looking forward to getting on the scale Saturday. I'd sneak a peak today but since I'm a bit crampy and bloated, I'm afraid I might see a diappointing number. So, Saturday's the day! Plus I'll be entering Phase 2 on Saturday!

MID-DAY update
Just got off the treadmill where I had two workouts. The first one was intervals and even though it was short, it was really hard for me. I got a bit woozy which bummed me out, but it gives me something to aim for, right? The workout was 4.0mph for 3 minutes, 5.5mph for 7 minutes and I think I did the workout for about 30 minutes. My daughter needed me, so I stopped to tend to her, and all i really paid attention to was the calories burned which was 270. So, about a half hour later, I put on the TV and did longer, more relaxed workout for 44 minutes, burning an additional 300 calories.
I burned 570 calories total.

EVENING update
(Okay, this post is starting to get ridiculous. Looks as though I'm getting a little OCD about the SBD, OMG!)
Here's what I ate today:
B - 2 sardines, 1 Wasa cracker, celery, hummus
S - salad, same as yesterday
L - collards, turkey ham, avocado (not a tasty lunch. oh well.)
D - 1/2 chicken breast, black beans, quinoa
exercise - treadmill, 570 calories burned

[play-doh]

Yesterday was a busy day and I didn't have time to post. Nor did I have time to exercise.

But today was my weigh-in and look at my new signature! 144! I'm glad to have lost the first 8 pounds so quickly and losing 14 pounds isn't nearly as overwhelming as having to lose 22 pounds. I suspect the loss will slow down significantly now and maybe I'd be wise to avoid the scale in order to avoid frustration. I'm still going to keep my mini-goal of 140 by mid-March.

I'm thinking that maybe I should set some other kind of goals that aren't about the scale. Something along the lines of running a 10K this summer. I don't know... I'll think about it. Since time is such a factor, I don't want to set myself up for failure.

I'll pop back in later and record my eating today and my exercise.

Edited to add:
this is what I ate today
B - 2 sardines, 1 Wasa cracker, 3 stalks celery, hummus
L - hot dog, sauerkraut
S - 10 walnuts, yogurt, 1/2 apple
D - roasted veggies (broccolli, eggplant, zucchini), parm cheese (abt 2.5 tbs) 2 Wasa crackers, hummus, 2 glasses wine
exercise - 500 calorie burn

I tried the interval workout again and AGAIN I couldn't get through the last set of 5.5 jogging. I was exhausted! But walking at a 4.0 pace was easy-peasy and I did that until I got to 500 calories burned.

Dinner was rather haphazard for me. We (the family) played a game while we ate - they had spaghetti - my main course was the veggies with parm cheese. I really enjoyed the wine, but I won't have any more until next weekend.

[play-doh]

I've been 16 full days without cheating! I feel so good. There's cake in the kitchen that the girls made yesterday and although it looks like it could be the most delicious cake in the world, I'm not tempted. One lick of the icing though and I think I'd be a goner.

Let's see if I can remember what I ate yesterday:
B - nf yogurt, walnuts, 1/2 apple
L - egg, zucchini, hummus, celery
S - samples at Costco - meat and cheese, small piece of cracker with brie, bite of bean burger (they were delicious and we bought some!)
D - lentil chilli w/ 1T. peanutbutter
vodka, sf cranberry juice -- only one
S - 1/2 bean burger
exercise - none

I've been thinking a lot about control and how I don't regard myself as a control person. I tend to let the chips fall where they may and then try to be happy with the outcome. Still, I have a lot of wishes for things that are completely out of my control. My book goes out on submission to a new round of editors this week and even though my agent and I think this book is wonderful, I'm still just getting rejections on it. I've done everything I possibly can to get my novel out there: I've written a great story; I have an awesome agent who stands behind my work; I'm absolutely willing to revise to meet the needs of whatever publishing house wants to buy it; and I've networked well. Those are the only things I can control. The rest is up to... I don't know... the gods of publishing?

So, my weight, which has been an issue for me for several years, is something I can pretty much control. I feel good about being able to do something about it and I'm looking forward to the day when I'm happy (well, as happy as I can be) about my appearance and it won't be an issue anymore. Maybe 2011 will be the year that I clear my life of the issues that have been pulling me down.

[dotty53]

Good luck with the novel!! I really love what you said about clearing your life of issues that have been pulling you down. I am a work in progress on that myself. Keep on keeping on.

[play-doh]

Hi Dotty! Thanks for the good luck! I can sure use it.
I think you're right. Getting the issues out of the way is a work in progress, a lifetime's work, yes? I have been so grateful to not be waking up in the wee hours of night and kicking myself for not exercising and for eating badly. I wake up and think "As far as exercise and food goes, I'm doing the best I can." So now, you know what I do? I wake up in the wee hours and feel guilty because the basement is such a disaster! Yeesh, if it's not one thing it's another!

Anyway, here's what I ate today:
B - 2 sardines, 1 Wasa cracker, hummus
L - zucchini, quinoa, peanutbutter/tamari sauce, cheese stick
S - beanburger, yogurt
S - almonds
D - green salad, lf feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas
exercise - 400 calorie burn on treadmill

[play-doh]

Last night we watched American Idol and I had a couple of drinks made up of vodka, sf cranberry juice and a splash of orange juice. I've felt sluggish and generally yicky all day. Note to self: next time, just have one drink.

Today I ate:
B - 1/2 zucchini sauted in evoo, 1 egg, parm cheese
S - egg salad (2 hb eggs, 2 tsp mayo, 1 T. cream cheese) 2 Wasa crackers
L - quinoa, roast beef, yogurt, 1/4 apple, almonds
S - bean burger
D - steamed brocolli, roast beef and quinoa (again)
exercise - 250 calories burned on treadmill

Not the greatest menu - too many eggs, not enough veggies... tomorrow I'll do better.

[play-doh]

I just read my last post here and was like, oh yeah, I forgot about that vodka drink I had during American Idol. Well, on Saturday night I did the same thing - I had two glasses of wine and then had cravings galore. I caved in to the cravings this time by eating chocolate chips and the next day I felt crappy all day. Today I did well and I'm hoping the funky, lazy I-don't-care feeling will go away.

And I see I forgot to post on Saturday my weigh-in. I GAINED two pounds! That was before the chocolate chips. Ugh, so depressing. But I'm trying to move quickly onward.

I'm also getting strangely and uncharacterically sick of vegetables. I hope it will pass quickly because I really do love them... and need them!

Today I ate:
B - 2 eggs, zucchini, spoonful of hummus
S - 2 wasa crackers, hummus
L - roast beef, quinoa, broccolli, greek yogurt
S - bean burger
D - chicken chilli w/ beans
exercise - none

[happymo4]

Hi play-doh! Thank you so much for posting in my journal! I have not gotten a chance to get in here but I have a renewed commitment, again.....LOL! You are totally motivating me by showing me that I can lose the weight if I really try. You have done so great! I am trying again today and I am going to try not to give up, even if my life gets stressful. I tend to quit everything when I don't get sleep or can't exercise. I need to stop that and keep plugging along and I will succeed. Thanks so much for putting into words all of the thoughts that I have. I always wake up feeling like my eating is going to determine if my day was good or not. It should not have that much control over me. If I control it, I will feel better and not have to worry about it anymore. I hope you are doing well and I just want to thank you for motivating me!
Maureen

[DCLissa17]

Hey Playdoh!

Just stopping by to check on you and give your journal a bump! I know you've had a rough SB week but don't let it pull you down. Like I was saying on the Jan3rd thread, we all have rough patches and it's soo easy to give in to a craving or slip up and then give into the "well this day/week/month is blown I'm just gonna do whatever" feeling. Whereas if we acknowledge the problem, maybe figure out what triggered a specific craving (such as certain foods/times/combos or outside stressors), and just shake it off and move on to the next meal or snack, we can move past it.

For me, the cravings go back and forth. I know that sitting around home triggers them because I am always munching when reading or watching TV. I also know that fruit in the morning gets me going. And of course, alcohol is a huge trigger. If I have a glass of wine and then go to sleep right away, it's fine. But if I start drinking earlier in the day, or when I plan on being up for awhile afterwards.....look out! Sometimes I get into a "reward myself" mentality. Like, I have a great coupon shop and want to treat myself to a candy bar. Or whatever. Obviously not a needed correlation!

Anways, hope things in life are going well and that soon we see you more on the boards again!

Take Care,
~Lissa