My son and I spent the day school shopping today and after we were done, we treated ourselves to Cold Stone Creamery. 

I had the "Love It" size (this is comparable to medium) cake batter remix without the sprinkles! I was going to go for the smaller one, but I thought, what the heck, if I am going to do it, I may as well have the medium. At least I didn’t have the large!

When we got home, I immediately went on the Weight Watchers site and found out it was nearly 20 points!!!! But, I didn’t care. Every single bite was worth it. It tasted absolutely, positively heavenly.

And besides walking around shopping for nearly five hours straight, when we got home, my son and I went for a 5.5 mile bike ride. 

If I am going to eat Cold Stone Creamery ice cream, I guess I gotta pay the price!

I love pizza. Or at least I thought I did.

Not sure if I was tired (had a garage sale today from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), but for supper, we ordered pizza in. It was a long, long day – no one felt like cooking.

We used to order pizza at least once a week. I loved it. I usually ate half – whether it was a small, medium or large. I have even been known to eat a whole pizza by myself from time to time. But we haven’t ordered pizza from any of the chains for at least six months, if not longer. 

Now, it’s not that I haven’t eaten pizza, but we typically make it ourselves at home. My husband makes this AWESOME Greek pizza that I absolutely love. It doesn’t have any sauce on it, the crust (Martha White brand in the bag – the thin and crispy one) is sprayed with Pam and sprinkled with garlic salt. We top it with tomatoes, onions, green peppers, kalamata olives and fat free feta cheese – no meat! This is, by far, my favorite pizza. And, it goes wonderfully with a big, bold, bottle of Zinfandel. 

Tonight, we ordered from a chain pizza place. A place I used to LOVE! We ordered the same pizza we typically get – except we couldn’t have a thin crust – with green and black olives and green peppers. I ate my crust first, which I typically do, because I like to dunk it in the garlic butter sauce. Then, as I began to eat the actual pizza part, I started to frown. It didn’t taste very good. Everyone else around me, including my husband, son, mom and dad, seemed to enjoy their pizza. They raved about it. But, to me, it tasted greasy, spongy, thick and heavy.

I was kind of disappointed. No, actually, I was SUPER disappointed. I ended up eating just one piece. Not sure why I ate the whole thing, I really didn’t even like it. I also ate two small breadsticks, but they didn’t even taste good either.

I guess from now on, I will just stick to the Greek pizza! 

Hallelujah!

Whatever was going on last week – remember, I had a gain of 3.4 pounds – turned around this week. I had a loss of almost the exact same amount.

I lost 3.2 pounds, which brings me back down (barely) under my goal. I am now at 154.8. Goal is 155. 

I was pleased with this week’s results. Actually, I was more than pleased, I was ecstatic, thrilled and, most of all, relieved. I think the changes I made showed up (or shall I say down!) at the scale.

For those who may not know, I am a Weight Watchers member. When I started maintenance two weeks ago, my daily points allowance was jacked up by four points. After last week’s weigh-in, I dropped it down by three points. Before I reached goal, my points target was 21. After reaching goal and starting maintenance, I was at 25 points per day. I think having those four extra points really made a difference. A bad difference.

I am now at 22 points and will keep it at that for the next week to see what happens. In these next few weeks, I will have to play around with my points to figure out how many I need to maintain my weight. I also have to figure out how much exercise I need. This week wasn’t so hot. I need to bump that up!

For now, I guess I will have to play the waiting game. Oh so much fun.

On a side note, I am having a garage sale this weekend and I am really excited about it. I went through all my clothes – holy moly one person can accumulate A TON of clothes in a somewhat short amount of time (four years) – and I am getting rid of the ones that don’t fit me anymore. WOW!

My closet is now free and clear of my size 16′s, 14′s and most of the 12′s. I still have some 12′s that fit pretty decent. Most are 10′s, but I also have a couple of 8′s in there as well! I told my husband I was clearing it all out because I don’t – and won’t (hopefully) – go back. I know numbers aren’t supposed to matter, but come on, who am I kidding? I would be lying if I said that seeing a number 8 on a pair of pants didn’t make my heart skip a beat or two! You all know what I am talking about, don’t kid yourselves.

I didn’t want to hang on to anything for that "just in case" that might happen moment. I am determined not to let it happen again – ever. I don’t want to go back to that place…it was too unhappy.

Cleaning out my closet made me realize something else – I need to go shopping. I don’t have anything left!

The fair has come and gone and that means summer is coming to an end. I ate my corn dog. And yes, it was good. But, to be completely honest, not good enough that I wanted to eat another one.

I thoroughly enjoyed eating it, don’t get me wrong. It was exactly like I remembered. They are the best corn dogs at the Douglas County Fair. But, unlike in the past, I didn’t CRAVE another one. In fact, I couldn’t wait to get home and eat something healthy. I…for the FIRST TIME…craved veggies or fruit or something that wasn’t, umm…sorry to say…greasier than what I am used to eating.

I ate an entire cucumber, with vinegar and sea salt, immediately when I got home. And let me tell you, it tasted so incredibly good. Unbelievable good. I was surprised.

I also ate a cup of grapes and a cup of cherries. Yum-Yum! That, to me, is what summer is all about and a reason why I don’t want summer to be over. I have never enjoyed eating so many of the fresh fruits and veggies that are so plentiful this time of year than I have this summer. It has been heavenly!

But, that’s not to say I won’t eat a corn dog at next year’s fair! It really was good.

Our county fair started yesterday and I am ecstatic! First, the newspaper I work for has a booth at the fair and for some reason, I love working in it. I think it has to do with the people. I love the people. I work three shifts this year…one on Friday, one of Saturday and one on Sunday. I can’t wait.

Second, I am excited because this is the one time of year I let myself indulge. But only on one thing…corn dogs. There is one particular stand that makes the BEST corn dogs I have eaten in my entire life. Better than any state fair corn dog, hands down.

I typically have one every day I am at the fair, but this year. I am only going to eat just one. I haven’t had greasy, good food like that in a long time. I am actually excited to see how I like it. I think I will eat it on Sunday, the last day I am there. That way, if it is as good as I am anticipating, I won’t be tempted to eat another one.

So, watch out, corn dogs, here I come!

I had my weigh-in this morning at Weight Watchers. I wasn’t nervous, scared, apprehensive or anything else. I reached my goal last Wednesday and was pretty happy with this past week. I expected that the numbers weren’t going to budge much either way. I ate semi-normal. I actually exercised a little more. But, I got one helluva shock when I stepped on the scale.

I was up a little more than three pounds. I stepped off the scale and tried it again. Yep, same reading. My weight climbed 3.4 pounds. What? Are you kidding me? What the hell happened?

At first, I was pissed. And I mean pissed. Not even disappointed. Not sad. P-I-S-S-E-D!

I talked with the lady who weighed me in to find out what I did wrong or what I didn’t do right. We talked about how now that I am in maintenance mode, my daily points allowance jumped up by four. She said that for the next six weeks, I have to "play with my points" to figure out what works. Obviously having four more points a day doesn’t work. So, we decided to dial it back a little. 

We also discussed that it’s close to "that time of the month" and that could make a difference, as well. The more we talked, the better I was feeling. That is what I love about Weight Watchers. No matter how crappy I might feel, I always leave in a much better mood.

During the meeting, I also discovered another reason why I might have had such an increase. (By the way, this is the biggest increase since I started WW back in November of 2008.) I am a faithful food tracker. What goes in my mouth gets logged in my online food tracker. Seriously. I even log chocolate and wine and chips and ice cream!

Well, for three days straight, I didn’t log a morsel. Remember, I was at my sister’s cabin in Wisconsin and had no internet connection. I thought I did really well. Apparently, I overestimated. And I guess tracking does really work. 

Leaving my meeting, I was no longer pissed. I was determined. I wasn’t mad at myself or beating myself up because I had gained. I didn’t want to run out and eat a Whopper and large fry and forget everything I have worked so hard at. I am committed to this journey and I will be damned if I have a gain like that again. I am going to work harder this next week and make sure that next week, I have a decrease at the scale.

And I may have a McDonald’s ice cream cone just to get over what little pain may be left! But I will ride my bike there and back to get it!

I am finally home after a very long, but oh-so-wonderful, weekend. Now, where do I start?

First, I am really excited about the exercising I did this weekend. I ran, okay, it was more of a jog, I am so not a runner. But on Saturday and Sunday morning, I actually got up and jogged. And, I jogged, with a little bit of walking, for a little more than two miles each day. I couldn’t believe it.

On Saturday morning, I did 2.17 miles in 29 minutes, which for me, is pretty darn good. On Sunday morning, I did 2.22 miles in 28 minutes. Seriously, this is a huge accomplishment for me. Both days, I jogged most of the way. I only walked to catch my breath a little, then it was right back to jogging again.

And the crazy part is that both days I was up and at ‘em by 6:30 a.m. Why can’t I do that on the weekends when I am at home? I guess maybe it was because I was trying to impress my family and also because I didn’t have a computer to sit my lazy butt down in front of!

As for the eating, I didn’t get to log anything, because of not having a computer, and I didn’t write anything down either. HOWEVER, I could, if I really, really wanted to, take the time to log it now because I can remember everything I ate. I actually did very well. I was impressed with myself…for the most part.

Oh, don’t let me fool you. I ate some chips and some really good chocolate chip zucchini bread/cake that my sister’s neighbor brought over fresh and hot out of the oven. But, I didn’t pig out. I did well. Really well. And I didn’t feel cheated. I didn’t feel guilty eating the Dubliner cheese my sister cut up for everyone (by the way, she works for Sargento Cheese…so not fair!). I skipped the crackers, summer sausage, cheese (except for the Dubilner because it is my FAV), creamy dips, chips and chocolate chip cookies.

For lunch on Saturday, my bro-in-law grilled hamburgers for everyone and I had him grill a Boca burger, which is a meatless soy burger, for me. I didn’t even care what anyone thought. I even brought my own buns.

I also ate tons of fruit and lots of fresh cucumbers and tomatoes out of my nephew’s garden. For breakfast both days, I had my yogurt, Fiber One cereal and VitaTop for breakfast instead of fried eggs, sausage and toast loaded with butter. Again, I didn’t care if my family thought I "weird" or different. This is my lifestyle. This is how I eat now. 

When my sister was preparing supper on Saturday night, she asked me, "You are at least going to eat my supper, aren’t you?" I don’t think she was mad, maybe just little perturbed. At any rate, she made grilled teriyaki pork tenderloin, fresh green beans and a vinaigrette based coleslaw. I told her, "Yes! I couldn’t wait for supper." I then preceded to have a small helping of each thing, unlike what I would have done before, which would have been to totally pig out on everything…probably two or three helpings or more. For supper, I even ate TWO pieces of asiago cheese bread! It was delicious. But I also went for a walk after supper and even raced my 10-year-old niece. She whopped me, but it was fun and I could actually do it without much trouble. 

So, that pretty much sums up my weekend. I ate. I exercised. I lived through it. And I topped it off this evening after upacking and straightening up the house with my favorite treat…a McDonald’s ice cream cone!

I want to thank everyone for their comments on reaching my weight loss goal. I also want to let everyone know that the journey will continue…it is not stopping just because I reached my goal. The journey that I embarked on has no end. I plan to keep traveling down this healthy eating journey for the rest of my life. And, for now, I plan on continuing this blog. It helps me sometimes to get my thoughts down on paper. 

For instance, I am spending the weekend with my family in Wisconsin. I am not sure what this weekend will bring, as far as food is concerned. This will be the first time I will not be logging my food intake on the computer because I will have no internet connection for the entire weekend. For those who don’t know, I log everything I eat into my Weight Watchers website. I am addicting to logging my food, so this weekend will be interesting. I know I will at least be writing everything down, but I won’t necessarily know my points. Although I am little freaked out about this, I know it is going to be okay because this is life and life happens.

I am, however, bringing a large bowl of fresh fruit to my sister’s, as well as some of the other foods I enjoy, like my breakfast foods…my yogurt, Fiber One cereal and VitaTops muffins.

I am excited for this weekend and will blog about it when I get back!

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

I REACHED MY GOAL!!!!!

My total weight loss since November 16 of last year is 35.6 pounds! I started at 190.2 and am now at 154.6.

YIPPEE!!!!!!

Today is the day I might reach my goal. I only have one pound left. I am nervous and excited. I am apprehensive and happy. I am scared and giddy.

If I do reach my goal, then what? What I do? Maintaining has always been the hardest part for me. Although, I guess for the past eight months, I have been doing the same thing, so it should be kind of easy. Right? 

I love my new eating habits and I actually have been exercising more. I guess I just have to wait and see. 

I will blog again tonight and let you know whether or not I reached goal. If I do, my total weight loss at this point will be 35+ pounds. I can’t believe it. And for the first time, I did it right.

Wish me luck!

Any questions can be directed to celbeam@gmail.com or posted here and I will answer.